If you are looking to sell a house, you are driven by the primary objective to sell the property as fast as you can and at the the best possible rate. However,it is quite challenging to develop an appropriate strategy that would help you maximize the outcome of a property-sale deal. With growing competition in the real estate market and with a recent study claiming that 35 percent of residential properties get sale-offers before the buyer even visits the properties, you may want to do your best to create an edge and stand out from the crowd. Delivering exceptional property presentations would help you to garner the attention of your target audience and one way to do that is to make use of virtual staging in all marketing collateral. By using virtual staging, you would not only create professional presentations, but you would also allow prospective homebuyers to get a clear and in-depth view of the property.
With stats indicating that virtual staging actually helps to promote faster property sales at the best rates, you may consider keeping a budget aside for virtual staging. Virtual staging is a cheaper alternative to physical staging that has limitations with regard to feasibility due to multiple constraints such as location, cost, and fast turnarounds.
What is staging and virtual staging?
Staging refers to the process of adding furnishing and objects of decor to the indoor spaces of a property so as to appeal to a large population of the audience, to properly define spaces, to conceal the defects, to reflect the architectural style in a more prominent manner, and to allow prospective home-buyers to imagine themselves residing in the property. This is important because prospective buyers often find it difficult to get an idea about the actual potential of a property if it is vacant or if it remains infested with the current homeowner’s furniture and personal belongings. You can also get customized 3D designs of furniture incorporated in your property images by the help of any 3D product design companies.
Virtual staging refers to the process of using technology to showcase a property in the best light. Professionals performing virtual staging digitally incorporate stylish furniture and decor items in the images of a house’s vacant rooms. This is what makes property images look more stylish and grand and allows potential buyers to get a sense of scale and evaluate if the property would be a right fit for their requirements and how they can use it in the best possible way.
Why should your Online Property Listings be Attractive?
Stats indicate that more than 95 percent of people check out online listings and real estate portals to look for real estate properties online. So if you are looking to make the most out of online listings, you should focus on using high-quality, detail-oriented property images. Notably,traditional newspaper listings and open house techniques are fading out day by day and a new study claims that just 9 percent of buyers use the open house method to find their new homes. However,buyers would still look for high-standard visual experience when they would scroll through the listings. No wonder why images form the most vital part of a real estate listing.
While information about the room sizes and a description of a property work well, but they would prove to be more effective if they are paired up with high-quality images. If your property’s images fail to impress your target audience, there are chances that they would move to the next listing. Your property may have the best features and the price that you have set may be the best in the industry, but you may still lose potential buyers if you are using images of vacant properties, which fail to provide buyers an idea about the layout, room-size, and the purpose for which different rooms can be used. On a similar note,property-images showcasing furniture and family pics of the existing owner may serve as another reason why potential buyers may fail to identify the true beauty of the property. When buyers get impressed by photos, they are more likely to go for a private visit of the property or make an offer right away.
Using Virtual Staging to Full Potential
Virtual staging is not just about placing a bed in the bedroom and a sofa in the living room, but it involves significant creative prowess and exceptional photo retouching expertise. A designer has an immense responsibility to creatively stage an entire property including its backyard and front yard.
With virtual staging, you can enhance the curb appeal of your property as well as hide its flaws. For example, even if you are selling your property in winter, you can still showcase your property’s full potential by digitally incorporating flowers in your front yard,enlivening a closed pool and adding poolside loungers, and converting an empty deck into an actively-used area of activity.
Virtual staging can help you elevate the overall look of a room in such a way that flaws such as obsolete cabinets or overused carpets can get easily overlooked. Virtual staging keeps eyes “busy” by allowing people to look at a variety of interesting objects and this way, it prevents them from detecting not-so-perfect aspects of a property.
However, you must note the fact that you should not use virtual staging in a dishonest manner so as to manipulate the entire look and structure of your property. Potential buyers should not feel that the actual property looks completely different from how it is portrayed virtually. That way, you will earn a bad reputation in the market.
Who Benefits the Most from Virtual Staging
For some real estate agents and homeowners, physical staging is a feasible option. For example,it is easy to implement physical staging in model homes of new properties, luxury homes, and vacation rentals. On the other hand, virtual staging proves to be really useful for showcasing historic or low-cost homes or homes that have been completely renovated. Virtual staging benefits sellers in rural areas where there’s no scope for physical staging.
What to Look For in a Virtual Staging Company?
If you are looking for reputed company for offering professional virtual staging services, you should do business with a company that has been in the industry for quite some time and has earned considerable repute. Here’s what you should consider
Reviews: Conduct a thorough online search and evaluate the company’s online presence. Check the reviews to get an idea of what customers feel about the services of the company.
Ethics: As a seller or an agent, you should look for honest partners. If you are looking to work with a company that has promised to do major changes in the images by altering truth,there are chances that you might end up being in trouble.
Portfolio: Evaluate the portfolios of the prospective service providers. Check if the photos appear realistic. You may come across samples with “floating furniture” effect. These are mainly displayed by companies that are experienced.
Design: The success of virtual staging depends on the creativity level of the designer and the photo enhancement skills that he possesses. Check if the sample images demonstrate the designers’ attention to detail or if the furnishings match the architecture of the property.
Virtual Staging is a Cost Effective Alternative to Physical Staging
There’s no doubt about the fact that physical staging would ensure a high return on investment. However, physical staging involves high investment with fees starting from $200 a month. And it may prove to be a burden for you if you are not able to sell your house quickly. A homeowner has to think if he/she would really be able to commit to an initial upfront investment.
When you opt for virtual staging and hire the services of a reputed real estate photo editing company, you can expect to get high-quality versions of property-images and that too at a fraction of the cost that you might otherwise spend on physical staging. You can use these images in your marketing collateral such as fliers and brochures as well as on your website and different online listings. This will allow you to sell your home faster at the best rates.