How to Do Virtual Home Staging the Right Way: Tips for Fast Sale Success
Real estate agents deal with a lot, and staging the home for sale is one of the most important things on their list. Well, as important as it is, it also takes up a lot of time and resources. Traditional, physical staging is a costly investment that will lose a lot of precious time for agents. One solution to this problem is virtual staging. All real estate agents should get to the bottom of how to do virtual home staging and utilize its benefits as often as they need.
The Basics
Virtual staging, or also known as digital staging, is a modern approach to home selling. It will put the property on the online market – the place where most prospective buyers start the search for their new home. The online presence matters, and without virtual staging, it is impossible to be competitive there.
The digital time is here, and all fields (including the real estate world) are advised to follow up. Virtually staged homes will present a photorealistic image of what space offers, and will allow buyers to imagine themselves living there. This way, you are one step closer to making a sale. Real estate agents already have it rough, so, saving time and money on staging is a big bonus. Here is more on that.
The Daily Habits of Successful Real Estate Agents
As you may well know, real estate agents create their own schedule. This can be both beneficial, and a recipe for disaster as well. This freedom does not entail sleeping till 10 am, or having long lunch every workday. You need to make an effective routine and stick to it daily. Sure, there are exceptions, and you need flexibility. However, you do need to plan and successfully execute that plan. We can help with the planning part, whereas the execution is all you.
5 Rules to Follow When Planning
Rule #1: Define your personal and professional goals
Where am I now? Where do I want to be at the end of the month/year? What are my goals? – These are some of the questions you need to answer to yourself, and then PLAN the time to achieve your vision.
Rule #2: Set your priorities
Know your priorities, and always start with them. Let’s take staging for instance. It should be a priority when you are starting a new project, so don’t forget to PLAN its EXECUTION. This is when you see the benefits of the home staging virtual option. Once you have the gist of how to do virtual home staging and you imply it – you will save a ton of valuable time.
Rule #3: Avoid negative people
Distractions are a reality, and if you do have negative energy-sucking people in your team – it is high time you say goodbye. You do need all your focus, and this type of distractions are a big no.
Rule #4: Get things done in blocks of time
If you are unable to multitask some of your daily responsibilities, don’t fret! You can always divide your time into blocks, and decide how much time each activity may take. Leave some wiggle time, of course.
Rule #5: Put your plan in writing
If you don’t write your plan into your schedule it is simply not a reality. Yet. So, get it out of your head, and put it on paper. It gets more real, and you will try harder to follow it.
An Hourly Timetable for You to Consider
- Early Morning (5am-6am): Time to wake up and follow up on your nutrition habits. This is the time when you nurture your body and mind and prepare it for the day.
- Morning (6am-8am): Create your morning routine that gets you in the right state of mind and use this time to execute it. Concentrate on your goals, meditate (if that is your thing), or write in a journal. Whatever works for you.
- Start of the Workday (8am-10am): This is when you discuss ideas with your assistant (if you have one), you go over the objectives of the day, you set your appointments, and you start the day organized.
- Break Time (10am-11:30am): Once you have the entire day planned and scheduled, it is time to unwind a bit, clear your mind, and get ready for the tasks ahead. Use this time to have lunch too.
- Appointments and Listing Presentations (12pm-4:30pm): Here you have the time to go through with your appointments for the day, or listing presentations. Whatever you have planned before. Use this almost 4-hour window to complete all your plans so that you can be home at a decent time and feel good about yourself.
- The Rest of the Day: This is the part of the day where you reflect, see whether you had a successful day, and see whether you can do better tomorrow. Think about your goals for tomorrow, spend some quality time with your closest, and go to bed early enough so that you can have time to recharge and rest.
From what we can witness above, once you decide to take your day on fully, you have little to no time to waste on traditional staging. Knowing how important it is for making a sale, you do need to consider the digital alternative. And here are a few more reasons why.
The Dilemma: Traditional vs. Virtual Home Staging
As already stated, virtual staging is a real time saver. However, that is not the only difference between the two. Let’s start with the fact that once you get into the whole concept of how to do virtual home staging you will also start creating a powerful and effective online marketing strategy. And you do need it since most buyers go online in search of their future home. And they do care about the photographs of the listing, and knowing that virtual home staging companies create the best ones – you are golden.
Another thing that matters when comparing traditional and virtual staging is the cost of staging the home for sale and getting it ready for a showcase. Quite often real estate agents are the ones paying for it, or if the homeowners pay it, real estate agents take out the cost from their commission. Either way, you need the more cost-effective option, for sure. Here virtual staging does it again. Traditional staging can cost up to a few thousand dollars, whereas the virtual option is much cheaper.
Additionally, once you provide a photo of the room(s) you want staged, a virtual stager can use a wide variety of designs – for virtual furniture staging, for the walls, floors, and whatnot. The design possibilities they have are almost endless, and with the top notch virtual home staging software they use you will end up with an image that will undoubtedly attract many buyers. Contrary to this, traditional staging doesn’t quite allow that much design freedom.
How to Do Virtual Home Staging the Right Way
Start by getting to know the design trends that are in style and in high demand now. Once you do your research, you should ask the virtual stager to use that design when creating the room. This way, you can make sure that the final product is attractive for a wider group of people.
Next, if you come to the conclusion that the place is not attractive enough to only stage it, you can ask the virtual stager to do a virtual renovation of the property. This is a way to show prospective buyers what they can do if they want to incorporate changes. And when on the topic of changes, it is a good idea to invest in more than one design. You should be able to present the room in more than one style so that more people can envision themselves living there.
Remember to always inform buyers that the photos they see are virtually staged. Include a disclaimer explaining that. No one wants to be deceived. Even though you reflect the real size and potential of the room, it is still right to let them know about it beforehand. Once prospective buyers know that the photo they see is virtually staged, they will know that once they see the place in real life, they won’t see the same furniture pieces.
And lastly, don’t forget about exterior staging and everything that goes with it. If you do your research properly about how to do virtual home staging you will know that virtual stagers can take care of the exterior as well. This will provide a complete virtual experience for the buyers, and make them want to buy the place even more. They will appreciate you doing that. No doubts there.
A Complete Virtual Experience: Take Buyers on a Virtual Home Tour
Let’s explain the term virtual tour first. Namely, as the name suggests, it is a 3D tour that allows prospective buyers to digitally “walk” through a for-sale home. The buyers navigate the tour, and they can control which room they will see next, and from which angle too. It’s like Google Maps for a home. For a tour to be successful you need to make sure that you hire the right company for this job. The end result should provide a realistic view of the home, smooth navigation that is easy to operate, a high-definition picture, and compatibility with different devices.
Once you find the company, provide all necessary images and everything they need, and schedule the tour. This will be a fun and engaging experience for viewers that will help them get a real feel of the property, from the comfort of their home. Priceless, right? This type of showing will be worth your time, money, and effort. In the long run, potential buyers will find it useful when making their decision – and in most cases, the answer will be a solid “yes”. “Yes, we want to buy the place”.
FAQ
How much does virtual staging cost?
The amount can vary somewhere between $39 and $199 for one room. The price mainly depends on the contractor you hire, your location, and how big the room you want staged is.
How do you virtually stage a house?
The virtual stager gets a photo of an empty room, and uses graphic software to digitally add furniture pieces, décor pieces, and any other thing the real estate agent or homeowner may have in mind. The end result is a photorealistic view of a completely furnished and decorated room. In the same parameters as the real room.
Is virtual staging worth it?
The answer is simple – yes, it is worth it. You will provide a room as it could be once furnished, and allow the prospective buyers to connect to it, and imagine themselves living or working there. Moreover, it is much cheaper when compared to traditional, physical home staging.
What is the best virtual staging software?
Virtual staging software will put your property on the digital market by using technology in the process. Some of the best virtual staging software include PadStyler,VRX Staging, RoOomy and many others.
Do agents pay for staging?
More than half of the real estate agents out there say they offer to pay the costs for staging (or a part of it). Even if they don’t pay for the whole process, they still pay for a consultation with an expert stager.
How is virtual staging done?
Professional virtual stagers digitally enhance photos of empty rooms. They utilize graphics software in order to insert furniture and décor pieces into the provided image. Just like with traditional staging – everything goes. They can add or remove pieces, large ones, smaller accents, add modern wall designs or attractive color schemes.
How do home stagers get paid?
They are either paid by the home sellers or by the real estate agent. Some opt to pay only for a consultation, then DIY the rest of it. There are some cases when the home sellers pat the costs, and after the sale is successful – the real estate agent would reimburse all the funds spent on staging from their commission.
Do home stagers rent furniture?
In some cases home stagers buy the furniture pieces from local stores or other furniture providers. And in other cases they rely on a rental company which is affiliated with a home staging association.
Do home stagers sell their furniture?
If the clients like the staged room with the furniture pieces in it, they will be charged additionally for the pieces they want to keep. The furniture in staged rooms does not go with the initial sale.
Share this Article!
