Do the photos need to be professional?

While the highest quality photos produce the highest quality virtual staging results, we can definitely work with photos you take yourself. Please take them on a tripod with the largest view of the room possible - and from 5’ off the ground. If they are much higher, or much lower than 5’ we will not be able to work with them.

Can you replace furniture digitally?

Generally, we can remove + replace items in a lightly-to-moderately furnished room. If the room is heavily furnished, it diminishes the picture quality too much to be useful in a listing.

Do you stage exteriors?

We love exteriors! Decks, pool patios, front porches and yards - we love staging the outdoors.

Can you update wall color or change kitchen cabinet colors?

Yes, and it will make an enormous difference in your photos!

How many photos should I stage?

We recommend a minimum of three per listing, so that your potential buyers can really visualize the spaces of the property. The best case scenario is to stage each major area of the home - Living, dining, kitchen, master bedroom, one exterior scene, and either a kid bedroom or an office.

Will I get to have input in the design of each room?

Of course! It’s easier for us when we know what you’d like to see. You can be as detailed (i.e.,“a modern, navy blue velvet couch in the lower right hand corner”) as you like. Alternatively, you can suggest a style that you’d like to see in the home (i.e., Modern, traditional, farmhouse, etc..) and let our designers handle the rest.

How long will it take to receive my staged pictures?

We guarantee that your photos will be returned to you staged within 24 hours of your paid order. If you request adjustments or revisions, we respectfully request an additional 24 hours.

What is your return policy?

To date, we’ve never had to issue a return. We guarantee our work and we will revise it until you are completely satisfied! In the unlikely event that we just can’t get there with you, we will happily refund you fully.

Do you stage homes that aren't "luxury"?

Sure! We are happy to discuss any virtual home staging needs you may have.

Pros and Cons of AI Staging | Luxury Staging Pro

Virtual staging is the process of adding digital furniture, plants and decor to a home that’s listed for sale. The idea is that the listing will have many of the same benefits as a property that’s traditionally staged, but without the headache of moving everything in (and out!). The cost is also lower -- by about 90% or more! Virtual Staging also helps improve online traffic to a listing, by showcasing a property at its absolute best.

The real estate industry was just becoming accustomed to incorporating virtual staging into a sizable portion of listings (around ⅓ of active realtors in the US have used virtual staging at least once), and now some brokers are already integrating photos AI-based virtual home staging.

What does this mean for your business? In this article, we’ll go over just that; along with the Pros and cons of AI staging. We’ll also compare and contrast the benefits and drawbacks AI staging with regular virtual staging, and occasionally with traditional home staging, as well.

Top Three Pros of AI Virtual Staging

1. Cost-Effective

If cost is your biggest concern, then AI virtual staging is definitely your best bet. Some Artificial intelligence in virtual staging company stage photos for around $1-$2 a piece. Stage a whole house for $15 bucks? Sounds great! Most of the AI VS companies charge on a subscription-bases, so you’ll estimate how many photos you’ll need to stage each month and then choose your pricing tier based on that. From what we found, the lowest tier was $16 per month for 6 photos per month. That’s a really great deal!

When compared with standard virtual staging, AI staging is way less expensive. If an actual human has to spend around 30 mins - 1 hour digitally decluttering and then designing your space it makes sense that they’re going to want to be compensated fairly. Even if you pick up a freelancer off Fiverr, they’re still going to charge 10x what AI staging costs.

For a large property where you’d normally stage 20-25 images, the costs-savings can be hundreds of dollars. That’s money your seller can keep in their pocket for the inevitable surprise costs that pop-up when selling a home.

2. Quick Turnaround

AI virtual staging takes about one minute or less per photo. Could you even want it to be faster? Not really! Once you have the photos you’d like to stage ready, just upload them to your chosen AI virtual staging company. They’ll be processed nearly instantaneously, and then you can go through them to make sure they meet the standards you have for your listing.

The speed of AI staging also means that if you don’t like what the generator spits out, you can just resubmit it until you’re happy with the output. Another added benefit of the rapid staging generation is that you won’t waste days waiting for a regular virtual staging company to return your staged photos. That means you can get your listing up quicker and get a jump on the sale.

3. Engaging & Fun

Let's face it - AI is cool! It’s fun to see what it does with your listing photos and how the designs it comes up with can inspire potential buyers and new home shoppers. Heck, it’s even fun to see what AI can come up with for our own houses. It presents ideas most of us who aren’t design professionals would never think of. If it can do this for us, it definitely does this for home buyers.

Seeing a home staged vs. unstaged has already been shown to decrease time on the market, and increase the final sales price. The same hold true for virtually staged, and AI virtually staged homes.

Cons of AI Virtual Staging

1. Limited Customization

This is the top complaint for users of AI virtual staging, especially in higher-end or luxury homes. These clientele can be notably particular about how their homes are presented. Naturally as their agent, you want the ability to be able to swap out this lamp for that one, or make the pillows navy instead of red. With AI virtual staging, this just isn’t possible. You’re not working with a human and because of that, your customization options are really limited to whatever fully staged image the software generates for you.

In regular, manually-curated virtual staging the realtor and home seller have a lot more say in how the final image turns out. Typically, a real estate virtual staging company will get specific details from you - like a copy of a furniture plan or a photo of how the furniture was laid out in the home prior to the owner moving out. Then you’ll have a conversation to discuss what you’d like to see.

Once the images are produced, you can have another conversation and discuss any revisions you’d like to make. You may go through a round or two of this and by the end of it, you have virtually staged photos you’re really happy with because you were able to customize them. The very nature of AI virtual staging means it lacks customization.

2. Creativity Constraints and Bad Style

AI virtual staging software is limited to what the creators of it have programmed it to be capable of. As you may begin to see, there’s a monumental difference between being an AI software programmer and being a skilled interior decorator and home stager. A lot of the staged images their software produces are just…not effectively staged. Are they furnished? Yes. Do they look good? Eh…

A human-created virtually staged image is limited only by the imagination of the skilled designer doing the staging. A home stager can look at a photo of nearly any room type, in any style or condition of home, and know exactly what to place where in the most aesthetically pleasing ways. As interesting as AI is, it is still currently pretty limited.

4. Absence of Human Touch

Along these same lines, the human element is clearly missing from AI staged photos. I’m sure you’ve seen the “hand phenomena” when AI generates a person with six hands, or hands with ten fingers each. Similar flubs happen when using AI for virtual staging. At first glance, your photo can look ok, or even good. But then once you look closely you realize the dining table has twelve legs or the chandelier has way too many lightbulbs. It could even change something you don’t notice, like the baseboards or the ceiling fan. Real estate is not an industry where we want to advertise a space where the fixed features have been altered without us noticing.

5. Reliability Concerns

The reliability concerns with AI virtual staging are valid. There are some things that an AI system just can’t understand. Take a look at these images below. This is a pool house. There was no way to explain that (1) - we don’t need furniture outside the pool house, or that (2) - the furniture should be more casual, or that (3) we would like a refrigerator placed in the kitchen in the empty space on the right hand side of the room. Sometimes, every room in home requires specific instructions like this and with AI virtual staging, it’s just not possible.

An AI Virtually staged image of a poolhouse

5. Limited to Single Viewpoints

The final drawback of using AI virtual staging -- and one that we hear from customers about all the time-- is that AI cannot stage different views of the same space, in the same way. Think about it like this: You like the way it staged your living room photo, but there’s no way to recreate it from the other angles of the room. You’re either stuck showing the other viewpoints as vacant, or as staged completely differently. This can limit a potential buyer’s impression of the space.

Conclusion

In conclusion, AI virtual staging presents a compelling option for real estate professionals and home sellers looking to efficiently enhance property listings without incurring significant costs. Its main advantages lie in its cost-effectiveness, quick turnaround time, and the engaging experience it offers. AI virtual staging can reduce home marketing expenses, making it accessible to a wider range of sellers. The speed at which AI can stage images allows for rapid listing updates, facilitating faster sales and potentially improving market outcomes. Additionally, the novelty and creativity of AI-generated designs can captivate potential buyers, offering fresh perspectives and inspiring design ideas that might not have been considered otherwise.

However, these benefits have to be weighed against the limitations inherent in AI virtual staging. The lack of customization can be a significant drawback, especially for properties in higher-end markets where clients may have specific preferences for how their homes are presented. The inability to make detailed changes to AI-generated images can be frustrating for sellers and agents accustomed to having input in the staging process. Furthermore, the creativity constraints of AI software can result in less-than-ideal staging outcomes. AI lacks the nuanced understanding of spatial design that experienced human stagers possess, potentially leading to less aesthetically pleasing presentations.

Despite these challenges, AI virtual staging continues to evolve and improve. As technology progresses, we can expect to see advancements that may address current limitations, offering more customization and creativity in the staging process. For now, AI virtual staging serves as a unique tool within the broader staging and real-estate marketing landscape. It has the potential to enhance real estate marketing strategies, ultimately contributing to successful sales in an increasingly competitive market. The key for users is to understand both the advantages and constraints, leveraging AI virtual staging where it best fits their needs and goals.

The Pros and Cons of AI Virtual Staging