For every listing I have, I hire a professional photographer to come in and photograph the property. Something I also do for almost every listing I put on the market is staging, having a home furnished and decorated nicely to create beautifully designed rooms to photograph. Even if a seller already has a nicely-furnished home, staging helps to make the decorating more neutral. That way, when buyers come into the property they see attractive spaces in which they could live.
Sometimes a property is unfurnished and in that case you definitely want to help buyers envision their new home. I recently represented sellers in Sausalito who had a two bedroom view condo which was about 1000 square feet in size. From the living room, the condo had a lovely view of Richardson Bay out one window and a spectacular view of Mt. Tam out the other. To get the unit ready for market, I introduced my sellers to two stagers and they received two staging proposals; one for $7600 and the other for $7200, which only included furnishing the condo, not painting or cleaning to prepare it for market.
“Virtual staging” is when the apartment is staged using digital manipulation of photos only. I had never virtually staged a property before but was interested since if there was a condo where virtual staging could work, this was the one! It had an open layout and was all about the views. I used Open Homes Photography to photograph and virtually stage it and the staging cost $300 (the cost of the photography is separate) and as you can see from the photo they did a great job. The condo sold for over the asking price and my clients were happy to have saved $7200! For the right property, I think virtual staging can be a good option.
If you want to work with a real estate professional who works creatively to serve your best interests, give me a call!
