The Elegance and Edge of Luxury Virtual Staging
Virtual home staging is quickly becoming an essential part of nearly every real estate marketing package. The staging designers take your vacant (or furnished! Or partially furnished! Or full of boxes!) photos and digitally transform them by adding furnishings and decor - similar to traditional staging, but with way more flexibility. In the same way that you carefully select your live staging team, you definitely want to deliberately select your virtually staging services and not just go with the first sponsored listing on Google. It’s important the company’s style, furniture availability and communication styles match what you’re looking for.
If you don’t yet have a trusted virtual staging company in your marketing arsenal, finding a top firm takes a little research. Consider asking others in your office. Or, if your organization offers an Agent Experience Team, they often have a short list of virtual staging services to recommend that are trusted to provide high-quality virtual staging across many offices.
Among the best virtual staging companies you’ll find that some of them specialize in certain types of real estate. One may focus strictly on New Construction homes, others on condos and high-rise living, and others on luxury home virtual staging. In this article, we intend to break down what luxury virtual staging is; why it’s worth the investment; what extra benefits you can expect; and several case studies of when luxury virtual staging has made a big difference.
Understanding Luxury Virtual Staging
What is Luxury Virtual Staging?
Luxury virtual staging is the art of digitally furnishing and decorating luxury homes, typically homes above $1,000,000.00 in listing price; although technically any home can be staged with high-end furniture. Just as in traditional staging, luxury home staging is a niche market that requires specialized knowledge of the real estate industry. This includes an aptitude for working with somewhat particular sellers, buyers and real estate agents.
Virtual staging also furnishes digitally vacant listings, but doesn’t offer near the quality of furnishings and decor items. Virtual staging designers (the ones crafting and working on your pictures) are also not as skilled or trained in interior design and generally just don’t have a high-level understanding of the luxury homes market. Can they throw virtual furniture and art in a vacant room? Yep. Will it meet the standards of you and your clients? Not likely. Instead of a half-dozen rounds of revisions with a cheap virtual staging service, consider using a luxury virtual staging company from the start.
Key Differences between Standard and Luxury Virtual Staging
As we’ve highlighted, the differences between luxury and standard virtual staging will make-or-break the quality of your finished photos and--by extension--the effectiveness of your listing. Luxury virtual staging features the following benefits:
Why Invest in Luxury Virtual Staging?
Benefits of Luxury Virtual Staging
The benefits of using luxury virtual staging include enhancing the visual appeal to drive more interest and traffic to the listing; both online and in-person. While the seller may not have the ideal furnishings for staging, a luxury virtual staging done right will help potential buyers envision what’s possible.
Offering luxury virtual staging as a key part of your total real estate marketing package helps increase your ability to continue to attract a higher-end clientele. Referrals are undoubtedly a huge part of growing your real estate business. When you can really impress your sellers with how you market their home, especially because they’re probably never seen their spaces professionally designed to sell, they’ll happily refer you to their friends and family. They’ll also love that the price is so much lower than if you were to bring a traditional luxury home stager (lower by tens of thousands of dollars!).
Better quality images lead to more engagement and faster sales. We all understand by this point that staged homes sell faster, and for more money. This can also translate to virtual staging, except just as with live staging - - it needs to be high quality in order for these benefits to remain true.
The Cost-Benefit Analysis
When comparing the price of standard virtual staging with luxury virtual staging, the cost difference is really negligible. Typically, the price for regular virtual staging is going to range from $25 - $35 per photo, and fir luxury virtual staging from about $40 - $60 per photo. There are of course companies who will charge more in both spaces, but you’ll have to really examine their offerings to see if paying extra is worth it for you and your clients. There are also services who would be happy to establish an enterprise relationship with you in exchange for being your exclusive virtual staging vendor. This would typically bring a discount (10-15%) with it.
The cost of virtually staging a home typically ranges from around $100 to $600, making it consistently more affordable than traditional staging. If you're looking for a little extra flair, luxury virtual staging offers additional benefits and costs only about 10% more than standard options. Many find this extra 10% to be a worthwhile investment, given the advantages!
Here is an interesting case-study. A potential client had just finished construction on a home they would be listing for $18,000,000. They decided they would like to virtually stage the home and had a very specific vision for what they’d like to see. They first reached out to a popular virtual staging company that we will not name and purchased staged photos from them. They explained their price-point and their desired outcome. Here are a few photos staged by that company:
Once they received these photos back, they realized they could not use them in their MLS listing, and that their money had gone to waste. They weren’t even going to try and revise with this company because what they needed was so far from what was provided it just wasn’t even worth it. The home was also going to be featured in an architectural design magazine (both in print and online) and they absolutely could not showcase their gem with low-quality photos such as these.
It was then that the potential client began to research virtual staging for luxury homes, and reached out to us at Luxury Staging Pro. After a short phone call, we understood exactly what they required for this project. Within 24 hours the client had lovely, professional, high-quality images delivered to their inbox. A sample of what we delivered is below, and you can see the rest of the photos for this listing at Luxe Magazine.
Superior Customer Care and Account Management
Personalized Service
One aspect that seems to be overlooked so often in the virtual staging industry is customer care and account management. With standard virtual staging companies, it can be excruciatingly difficult to get a hold of anyone to discuss, well, anything. Most of the companies don’t even list a phone number on their website, so if you have an issue with your photos or need a quick revision it’s pretty much impossible. That means the “free revisions” they advertise are virtually worthless.
(Person on phone photo)
In a luxury virtual staging company, more often than not you’ll have a dedicated account manager. That means you’ll be working with the same person (or team) every time. When your order is placed, it's immediately routed to your account manager who has notes on your style and design preferences and has already spent time getting to know you and what you like to see. Good communication is absolutely vital for a successful outcome, and a good virtual staging company will work hard to both establish and maintain timely and clear communication with you. It’s clear they care about building a long-term working relationship with you.
Conclusion
In conclusion, luxury virtual staging is a game-changer in real estate marketing, beautifully blending artistry with strategic appeal. This innovative approach helps realtors showcase properties at their best, using top-notch digital technology to craft realistic designs and furnishings. As we've discussed, the attention to detail and quality digital furnishings in luxury virtual staging not only boosts property visibility but also engage potential buyers in ways standard options can't. These virtual setups let buyers envision a space's potential, imagining it as a stylish and inviting home.
While investing in luxury virtual staging might be a bit pricier than traditional methods, it's well worth it as it sparks buyer interest and speeds up sales. A well-staged virtual space can stir emotions and help buyers personally connect with the property. Realtors should definitely explore this creative marketing tool and choose a reputable luxury staging provider that matches their vision and offers great customer service. Doing so will elevate their listings and strengthen their reputation in a competitive market, giving them a leg up over others who haven't yet adopted such advanced technology. In today's digital world, where first impressions happen online, luxury virtual staging can truly set you apart and lead to success in real estate sales.
If you’d like to learn more about luxury virtual staging, consider visiting Luxury Staging Pro, where you can see hundreds of virtually staged homes we’ve worked on.
