Virtual staging or real staging: which suits a listing?

Virtual staging suits vacant homes, homes with outdated furniture and properties with tenants, because furniture and décor are added to the photos digitally. Traditional staging uses real furniture and décor in the rooms.

Orevos offers virtual staging as part of its photography service: empty rooms digitally furnished so buyers can picture the scale, layout and lifestyle.

What is virtual staging?

Virtual staging is done on a computer, with no real furniture, area rugs, potted plants or other décor. Decorative elements are placed into high-resolution photos to show an empty room's potential.

Which listings suit virtual staging?

Virtual staging suits three kinds of listing:

• Vacant homes: furniture and décor are added to photos of empty rooms.
• Homes with outdated furniture: it can help a home with older pieces stand out.
• Properties with tenants: it can help when a homeowner has little control over how the space looks.

When might real staging be the better choice?

Virtual staging does not work for every home, and in many cases traditional staging may be a better choice. If the seller still occupies the home and the furnishings can be staged to appeal to buyers, whole-house virtual staging is probably not the right choice. Some rooms can still be virtually staged if the seller and agent think it is the right approach.

How is an occupied home readied for photos without staging?

The photo day checklist adds the steps for the day itself: every light on, lamps included, with curtains and blinds open; TVs and ceiling fans off; family photos, documents and anything with a name or address put away; every bed made; cars and trash cans moved off the driveway; and every room, garage, gate and yard open.

Does staging help buyers picture the home?

The 2025 NAR Profile of Home Staging reports that 83% of buyers' agents said staging made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home. Sixty per cent said staging affected some buyers but not always, and 26% said it affected most buyers' view of the home. Among sellers' agents, 21% staged all of their sellers' homes before listing and 10% staged only homes that were difficult to sell.

Which rooms get staged most often?

According to the same NAR profile, the living room is staged most often (91%), followed by the primary bedroom (83%) and the dining room (69%).

What are the trade-offs of virtual staging?

Redfin lists the upsides: it shows off an empty home's best qualities, one room can be staged several ways (a spare bedroom shown as a home office, for example), nobody has to move furniture or belongings, and it is much quicker than traditional staging. The downsides: staging exists only digitally, so agents should provide both the staged and the empty photos so buyers are not surprised at a showing, and a lived-in home is harder to stage unless earlier empty-room photos are available. Redfin also says virtual staging may help a home sell faster, but only if it is done well, and that the photographer has to capture the right angles or staging will be difficult.

Redfin's list of common mistakes is useful too: choosing a provider whose results do not look realistic, misleading buyers, overdecorating, and staging rooms whose furnishings already look fine.

What does real staging offer?

Redfin credits traditional staging with giving buyers a real-life sense of the home, keeping them from touring an empty space, helping rooms feel larger so buyers can judge their size, and leaving a lasting impression after they leave. On the downside, stagers may need to declutter and rearrange a lived-in home.

See the project: Finestra, Surrey