When it comes to using virtual staging by real estate agents, they often look at the advantages of such tools and products from the perspective of sellers. They rightfully believe that it quickens the process of listing properties online and reduces overall marketing costs. No argument there, as virtual staging has completely transformed the seller experience. Nonetheless, if you turn your eyes to the other side of the equation, there you have the buyers, and in this article, we’re going to have a look at how virtual staging in real estate benefits the buyers. Let’s dive in!
Virtual Staging in Real Estate: The Buyer Perspective
Virtual staging has come a long way – even though it’s been around for a relatively short time – to make life easy for agents, sellers, and even buyers! From saving time to reducing costs to helping people avoid slaving away for a simple decor change, virtual staging has certainly plowed many roads.
We’ve talked at length about how it has helped sellers and their agents. This time, it’s the buyer’s turn.
Imagine with ease: Visualize all you want
Let’s kick off by highlighting the most immediate benefit of virtual staging: The fact that it helps buyers visualize the true value of the property, which is vividly evident to everyone. For every individual with a good sense of space and capable of envisioning a house in different layouts, there are hundreds who struggle to see or imagine anything beyond empty rooms! This is where virtual staging comes into play, aiding the, uh… for lack of a better word, unimaginative mass to see how the space can be furnished and utilized effectively.
Saving buyers’ time: Hunt houses more quickly
Though buying a house – a lengthy process in essence – usually demands time and patience, that doesn’t mean buyers should go around in circles all over the city!
And if you’re thinking about the importance of in-person house visits to visualize your furniture in a house for sale, rest assured that you can visualize your day away with a well-performing virtual staging service.
It’s true that visual uncertainty can lead to missed opportunities, as buyers may overlook properties that could have been just perfect for them. However, virtual staging can easily bridge this gap by providing a clearer picture of how the space could be utilized. After seeing virtually staged photos, house hunters can easily decide whether they want to proceed further or move on to the next listing by ensuring whether the property provides a suitable space for them or not.
Reducing buyer’s anxiety: No more nibbling your nails
An important aspect of home buying is to make sure that the place you’re buying is healthy. That is to say, there are no cracks in the floor, no holes in the walls, no signs of water damage or mold, and no pest infestations. One serious problem with real staging is that, whether intentional or not, it might hide such issues from buyers’ eyes!
The good thing about virtual staging in real estate marketing is that it allows buyers to see the bare skeleton of the property since the majority of MLSs require agents to list the vacant version of the property as well as the virtually staged photos. This ensures that they can assess the condition of the home without any items getting in the way. At the same time, thanks to those digitally staged photos, they can see how the place would look when furnished.
Seeing the true value of the property and knowing that it has no hidden damages relieves them from any anxiety and allows them to approach the deal with confidence and peace of mind.
Optimized presentation: No concern for awkward spaces
If you check out ten properties in your neighborhood, you’ll probably come across quite a few cases where there are small or awkward spaces that lack clear functionality at first sight. It’s just hard to imagine how they could be effectively utilized or which piece of furniture could awkwardly stand there! On real estate listings, such spaces are usually left unfurnished or depicted in ways that only scare off the buyers. In worse cases, you don’t see them in any of the listing photos and only come across these nuisances when you drop by.
With virtual staging, real estate buyers are able to no longer worry about such issues. Using a reliable virtual staging service, you can efficiently turn such areas into appealing, functional spaces that leave buyers with no doubts about their potential and versatility. This is especially helpful in the case of small rooms that might otherwise look cramped or unusable!
A Point of Caution
Choosing the right virtual staging tool may at first feel much like finding a needle in a haystack. With so many options available, it’s important to be cautious and set some criteria to find the right tool. Just as you wouldn’t buy a car without a test drive, you shouldn’t buy a virtual staging service without a first try. Whether you want to go for manual virtual staging or buy an AI-driven virtual staging service, you must be given the privilege to test the service before buying it.
What’s more, it’s important to use virtual staging tools that do not manipulate the space – that is present it in a falsely, misleading manner – as that is against MLS rules and regulations. So, when testing your options, make sure to rule out the ones that make such drastic or unreal changes in the photos.
Another thing you should have in mind when looking for a real estate virtual staging app or platform is to prioritize the ones that offer online customer support. For various reasons, you might need assistance while working with any given virtual staging service. These AI tools don’t have much of a learning curve, but you may have questions on how to use their various features or about the results you get. So, it won’t hurt if there’s someone to help you there!
It’s to Everyone’s Benefits
A practical tool in real estate interactions is one that equally benefits both parties in a deal. Virtual staging has long been recognized as a technique that benefits sellers. In this blog, we discussed four superbly beneficial aspects that virtual staging benefits buyers as well. Though it’s sellers who should first decide whether or not they want their properties virtually staged, considering these buyer-related benefits will probably tip their mind toward certainty regarding using virtual staging technology.
