Although professional home staging is becoming more mainstream, my experience lately is that it is still greatly misunderstood. There seems to be a trend towards what I will call "faux staging via manipulated photos."
This week I received a call from a seller asking if I could "Photoshop" a picture of the exterior of their home so that the grass showed.
They wanted me to remove the snow and replace it with a green lawn.
Several weeks ago I had a seller mention that she intended to Photoshop her photo to show green grass instead of snow. She also wanted to add a large pot of flowers by the front door.
It's winter in New Hampshire - you are not supposed to have a green lawn or flowers by the front door.
If you edit exterior photos in this way, you will be dating them. You will make it appear as though the house has been on the market since last Summer and/or your realtor is too lazy to update the photo.
You don't want a summer picture if you are listing your house in the winter.
Instead of actually making improvements, I've had clients request that I edit their pictures to remove:
- the rusted car on blocks in the driveway
- the broken glass in the sliding door
- the stacked fire wood in the front yard
- busy, dated wallpaper
If we remove unsightly items "in photos only" then potential buyers will still see them when they visit the house in person. Making a buyer feel as though they have been deceived or tricked is not a good way to introduce them to your house.
Home staging is preparation and presentation.
Home staging is NOT trickery or deceptive manipulation.
NOTE: It is a good idea to have some photos available at showings that show your property during other seasons so buyers can see how beautiful the yard looks during other times of the year.
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