Virtual Staging
The $30 fix for empty rooms.
Virtual staging adds photorealistic furniture to the photos we already shot — $30 per image on any photo package, $30 per room on video. It's an add-on, not a package: pick the rooms that sell the house, and skip the moving truck.
How the add-on works
$30 per image — photo packages
Add virtual staging to any listing photo package. You pick the frames after you see the gallery, so you only stage the rooms that earn it — most vacant listings need three to five, not thirty.
$30 per room — video
On video deliverables, staging is priced per room. Same rule: stage the hero spaces the camera lingers on, skip the hallway.
An add-on, not a package
There is no staging tier to decode. Add it when you book, or reply to your gallery email after delivery with the frames you want furnished — the price is the same either way.
The math, worked: Base package ($250) plus 5 staged hero rooms ($150) is $400 all-in — photos, floor plan, and a furnished-look listing for a fraction of what a physical staging contract starts at. Every package price lives on the packages page.
What virtual staging is — and what it may never change
Virtual staging digitally furnishes a real photo of a real room: sofas, beds, rugs, art, and decor rendered into the actual frame at correct scale and lighting. Done well, it reads as a furnished room, not a video game — and it only ever adds things that could be carried in the front door.
The line is the MLS accuracy rule, and we hold it. Staging may add furniture and decor that isn’t permanent. It may neverremove power lines, add landscaping, cover flaws, swap fixtures, or repaint walls — edits Stellar MLS prohibits because they change what the property actually is. If a buyer walking in would feel misled, the edit doesn’t ship. The full rulebook is in our Stellar MLS photo requirements guide.
Why vacant listings need it
Vacant homes shoot fast and read emptier — bare rooms photograph smaller and colder than they are, and they hand every buyer the same homework: guess whether a king bed fits, guess where the sofa goes, guess what this room is even for. Furnished photos answer those questions before they’re asked. In NAR’s Profile of Home Staging, over 80% of buyers’ agents in recent editions say staging helps buyers visualize a property as their future home.
The traditional answer is a physical staging contract — real furniture, real trucks, and a bill that starts in the thousands and runs monthly for as long as the listing sits. That still has its place on luxury and lived-in listings. For a vacant villa, an estate-sale property, or a snowbird condo that emptied out in April, staging the 5 frames that lead the listing costs $150 and is ordered with a reply to an email.
It also pairs naturally with what vacant listings already lean on: every listing package includes a floor plan, and the combination — staged hero photos plus a floor plan for the measuring-tape questions — is the honest, inexpensive version of “help buyers see it.”
Disclosed, always — here’s exactly how
Stellar MLS allows virtually staged photos with a hard requirement: the words “Virtually staged”in the photo description and the virtually-staged field checked on that photo. Skipping it is one of the most commonly flagged photo violations — and, more to the point, it’s the kind of shortcut that makes a buyer feel tricked at the showing.
So delivery makes honesty the easy path: every staged image arrives clearly labeled, side by side with the true unstaged original. You upload the staged frame, paste the disclosure, check the box — done. Buyers get the vision and the truth, which is the whole trick of virtual staging done right.
Turnaround — the listing never waits
The 24-hour photo clock doesn’t change: your full unstaged gallery delivers within 24 hours of the shoot, MLS-ready, and the listing can go live immediately. Staged frames follow once you’ve picked the rooms — the exact timeline is confirmed when you order, and staged images slot into the existing photo set as a mid-week upgrade rather than a launch blocker.
Ordering at booking? Tell us the rooms and the staged frames are queued the moment the gallery is edited.
Questions agents ask
How much does virtual staging cost?
$30 per image on any photo package, $30 per room on video. It is an add-on, never a standalone package — so a vacant listing on the Base package ($250) with 5 staged hero rooms is $400 all-in. Industry-wide, virtual staging typically runs $25–$100 per image, and physical staging for a vacant home starts in the thousands.
Do I have to disclose virtual staging on the MLS?
Yes — and we build the disclosure into delivery so it never becomes a re-edit. Every staged frame arrives clearly labeled and paired with its true unstaged original: upload the staged image, paste the disclosure wording, check the box, done. The exact Stellar MLS wording and field requirements — and everything else the MLS checks on listing photos — live in our photo-rules guide.
Which rooms should I stage?
The rooms where buyers do their imagining: living room, primary bedroom, and dining or lanai — the spaces that anchor the listing’s first six photos. Kitchens and bathrooms rarely need furniture, and staging every frame dilutes the effect while multiplying the cost. Three to five staged images is the sweet spot for most vacant Gulf Coast listings.
Can you stage photos after the shoot? What about photos from another photographer?
After our shoot, yes — anytime. Reply to your gallery email with the frames you want staged and the order is placed; no new visit needed.
Photos from another photographer, no. MLS photos must be owned or licensed by the broker, and editing files another photographer owns is a copyright problem we won’t hand you. If the listing needs new media anyway, a Base shoot plus staging usually costs less than agents expect.
Does virtual staging make sense for Airbnb listings or land?
Honestly: no. A vacation-rental photo is a promise about what guests will find, so staging furniture that doesn’t exist earns you reviews you don’t want — our STR packages include real light staging on-site instead. And land has no rooms to furnish; lot lines and aerials do that job. Virtual staging is a for-sale listing tool, best on vacant homes.
Ready when you are
Stage the rooms that sell the house.
$30 per image on any photo package, $30 per room on video — added at booking or after you see the gallery.
Questions first? Email hello@visualsamples.media