The Hairy Footstool of Virtual Staging

Okay, so you sent me that Zillow link this morning and I just have to ask, did you actually look at the shadows on that third picture?

I knew you were gonna bring that up! Yes, the shadows were completely backwards. The couch was literally casting a shadow towards the window.

Towards the window! I mean, I know virtual staging has gotten a lot better recently, but come on, at least pretend to understand the sun.

Wait, so that is exactly what we're talking about today. Virtual staging. Because I feel like I am seeing it everywhere now, and half the time it looks like a mid-2000s video game. How are brokers actually doing this? Are they just having an intern Photoshop stuff in?

Some are, yeah. I mean, the really cheap ones are definitely doing that. But most agencies use dedicated services now. Like, BoxBrownie is a massive one. You send them a photo of an empty room, pay maybe thirty or forty bucks, and they send it back with a perfectly scaled, mid-century modern living room.

Thirty bucks? That is insanely cheap.

Right? Especially compared to actual physical staging which is—

Thousands. I mean it's literally thousands of dollars just to rent a generic beige couch for a month.

Exactly. Plus you have to pay movers, staging consultants, insurance for when they inevitably scratch the floor. So brokers obviously love the virtual option. But honestly, the latest trend isn't even outsourcing it to humans anymore, it's just using AI generation. You upload a room photo, click a button that says 'scandinavian minimalist', and boom. Done in ten seconds.

Okay, but does it actually work as a substitute for real staging? Because when I walk into an open house and it is completely bare, empty walls, echoing floors... but the photos online had this gorgeous plush setup? I kinda feel lied to. Like a real estate cat-fish.

See, that is the big debate right now. A lot of buyers do feel bait-and-switched. But from a broker's perspective, the goal isn't to trick you, it's just to demonstrate scale. People have absolutely zero spatial awareness. None.

Hey, I resemble that remark. I can't eyeball a square foot to save my life.

Ha, well, you're not alone! If you show a buyer an empty primary bedroom, nine times out of ten they'll look at it and say, 'Oh, a king-size bed will never fit in here.' But if you digitally drop a king bed into the photo, suddenly they realize it actually fits fine with room for nightstands.

Okay, fair point. But what about the weird digital artifacts? My buddy was looking at a condo last week and the virtual staging left the old tenant's actual cat in the shot, but the software didn't know what to do with it, so it turned it into, like, a really hairy footstool.

No way. A hairy footstool?

I swear on my life. It still had an ear. It was terrifying.

Oh my god. Yeah, that is the danger of relying purely on the AI tools. But to get to the listener's last question... if I'm a buyer, can I just do this myself? Like, if I'm touring an ugly empty place, can I see my own stuff in it?

Yeah, absolutely! Obviously there's the IKEA app, which has been doing augmented reality forever.

Right, you just point your phone camera and drop a virtual bookshelf in the corner.

Exactly. But there are also dedicated apps now like RoomPlanner, or you can even just use an AI app if you're slightly tech-savvy. You snap a picture of the empty open house, run it through an interior design filter right there on your phone, and it gives you an immediate visualization.

I actually tell my clients to do that now! It totally stops them from getting hung up on someone else's ugly wallpaper. Just look at the bones.

Just, you know, don't let it turn your dog into a footstool.

Good advice. On that note, we'll catch you guys next time.