Traditional VS. Virtual Staging of a Home – Which One is Better?
The staging of a Home is an important factor. When it comes to selling a house, the way you present it to the potential buyer is the most crucial part of raising the interest for that particular listing. Yes, the location, surroundings, the price, and the house itself are the most important factors when buying a home, but to get the potential buyers to consider these factors, you must get them interested first. For that purpose, the staging of a home is of utter significance. You need to show the full potential of the house and present it in a show-stopping way so that the buyer is swept off their feet. There are two ways to do that: in a traditional way and in a more contemporary, digitally enhanced way.
Table of Contents
But which one is better? Here is everything you should know about them.
Traditional Staging
Traditional staging of a home consists of the real-life staging of a room-filling a room with pieces of furniture in a preferred interior design style. Decorative elements are also added, and focal points are chosen. The rooms must appear as if someone is living in them but in a neat way. To stage your selling house, you need to make a contract with a staging agency or staging agent who will take care of everything. However, keep in mind that it won’t be cheap. Such contracts can get to a sum of $5500 and must be signed for several months, meaning, even if the house is sold, the seller would have to pay the staging company until the end of the contract.
Also, traditional staging asks for regular updates and refreshing the look of the rooms, which means that changes of furniture pieces and decorative elements should be done regularly, especially if the house is on the market for a prolonged period.
Nevertheless, the complete staging experience gives a very tangible feeling of how the future home could look like, and the fact that the buyer can take it all in real life is a massive positive reinforcement of the decision. However, to get the potential buyers personally in the house, some high-quality photos of the rooms must be presented first, as today, more than 90% of the home buyers start their search online.
If you add the sum of money that should be spent on professional photography as well, it is pretty clear that a large portion of the budget must be planned for the staging aspect.
Virtual Staging
On the other hand, you have the alternative of virtual staging of a home, which is a digital representation of the full potential of the rooms presented online to potential buyers. The higher the quality, the more interest the photos will attract, therefore, choosing a highly professional virtual agency that gives virtual property staging services is a must. They will fill the space with furniture pieces of any style you want and will do that so naturally that you won’t be able to tell the difference, whether it is real life or only in the picture.
Usually, two types of homes are the best candidates for virtual staging of home services — the empty ones and the ones that are too cluttered. Professional staging designers will get rid of the clutter digitally by using specific software and make the rooms look airy, spacious, and comfortable.
They can also work on the exterior look of the house by creating a virtual twilight environment in which the house will be presented, which is known to evoke warmth, luxury, and a high-end sight. The best of all is that it doesn’t cost as much as the traditional staging as it is paid per photo, and the rates for this service are from $30 and up.
However, the user of such photos must use a disclaimer which will bring focus to the digital presentation of the house. This means that people won’t be able to see the setting in real life, as it is shown in the photos. Instead, they will find space or rooms with furniture from the owner. Even so, the service is very popular, especially with real estate agents, since it saves time, energy, and money and raises an immediate interest with potential buyers.
The Bottom Line
A hugely important factor when it comes to staging is the size of your budget. If you can put aside a substantial sum of money to hire a staging company and a photographer to take photos of the staging of a home, that would be great. If not, you can always hire a virtual staging designer who will create a fantastic presentation of your house for online promotion.
Both of the ways have their pros and cons, and it all comes down to attracting the right audience to come and see the house you are selling. If you are looking for quicker results, go with the virtual staging as all you need is a virtual staging agency that you can contact online, send them photos of the space of the room, and wait for them to design the space. After one, two, or several days (according to your deal), you will receive your photos ready for promotion.
Traditional staging of a home is a whole other experience, but once again, it costs far more money.