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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Professional Home Staging services for the New Hampshire Seacoast
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Sharon: Its really unethical to hide or alter, photographically or otherwise, substantial defects in photographs posted on the MLS. In fact, in some states, its grounds for a lawsuit (false advertsing. fraud?)
I won't work with clients that ask me to do something unethical. If they are treating others unethically, it means they probably won't have a problem with treating me unethically as well. And I don't want to be party to their deceptions. Good for you for standing your ground!
Sharon, I can't tell you how many times clients have commented on the ability of Realtors to make a place look so much nicer in the photo than it really is. As long as it is done honestly, there is nothing wrong with taking a great photo, purposely cropping out the toxic waste dump is another thing all together
Sharon - what an interesting post. I agree with you 100% on this. You raise a very good point when you say that altering photos because of weather conditions will date the photo. It just looks like everybody concerned is too lazy to get it together for up to date photos.
Excellent post. Thanks.
Hi Sharon ~ VERY good points made here ... and I tell my clients the same thing. I won't even cover up a badly worn floor with an area rug ... I think it's important to allow buyers to see the good and the bad.
Michelle: Thanks! Our job is to draw attention to positive and away from negative...not to hide the negative and deceive potential buyers.
Gerry: I tell my clients before I even start the consult that the quality of their mls pictures should be their priority. When all is said and done, they need pictures that will appeal to buyers.
Donna: They were not trying to deceive, they just wanted people to see their yard at it's best and Summer is when it looks it's best. When I explained how it would be perceived they totally understood it would be a bad idea.
Maureen: Thank you! I agree - covering up only creates more problems.
Wow Sharon, I haven't been asked anything like that yet. I will be prepared though when it does happen...I say...no way...be true to what it is, people will appreciate it.
Sharon- like Valerie, I've never had a client ask that of me. But you've brought up a good topic that everyone needs to be aware of. The camera doesn't shouldn't lie.
Absolutely right on Sharon! I can't imagine the thinking that would allow for this kind of disappointment when an actual showing takes place.
Debi
Aside from disappointment-it is unethical! We are not to hide or cover up anything-ever.
Agree Sharon!
So I have to ask ... what do you all think of the new "virtual staging" that seems to be making a surge?
I wrote an article last July about this new practice: http://mioaklandcounty.com/blog/2009/07/31/virtual-home-staging-good-idea-or-recipe-for-disappointment/ My viewpoint at that time was that while good MLS photos may help get buyers through the front door, they won't keep them there once the buyers find out they've been duped. I stand by that theory.
Hi Sharon the Super Stager, very valid points in your post and a pretty darn good observation about dating the photos. Another great post you've written to ponder!
Sharon - excellent post! I completely agree with you and while my partner and I have never been asked to photoshop pictures to make the home more appealing, we *have* been asked to stage homes to cover up the fact that the sellers didn't want to make the necessary updates or repairs. We absolutely refused and said that staging wasn't meant to *fool* buyers and that they would be smart enough to figure out the home's issues regardless of whether it was staged or not. Umm home inspection? Trust me, the issues are going to come up. Then the sellers will have spent a lot of money on staging and be left with a house they can't sell. It just doesn't make sense and its not a house we want *our* name attached to.
Valerie: Honesty being the best policy, and all that!
Kathy: I've gotten pretty darn good at photo manipulation and I have been known to "erase" some stray wire or book left on the floor...but deceptive editing for the sake of hiding a flaw from buyers is never a good idea.
Debi: In the two cases re: green grass that I stateed above, it was a matter of wanting people to see the house when it looks it's best. The intention was good, they weren't trying to hide anything.
Cathy: I totally agree.
Marianne: Virtual staging is another issue. The work of Michelle Molinari, for example, is brilliant. It takes a very special talent to do what she does. It is used to enable people who cannot visualize to actually see potential and possibilities. I don't consider it deceptive unless it is used without the explanation that it is not what the house currently looks like.
Another form of virtual staging is to stage only for photos and then leave the home vacant for showings. I'm not a real fan of this concept, but I don't consider it deceptive. It is conceivable that the photos were taken before the sellers moved out. Buyers may be disappointed to find the house vacant, but they can refer to the photos to get an idea of furniture placement possibilities.
Cynthia: I love it when you stop by! Gee, I wonder why?
Heather: That's the important thing to consider. Do you want your name and your business reputation based on deception? Thanks!
I think that's funny. Why would sellers think that stagers are photoshop experts who manipulate photos for the MLS.
I have photos of homes with green grass and then change them by the season.
Who really wants to see the house with green grass now?
Virginia: Your guess is as good as mine!
I just had great photos taken of a house in our most recent snow storm and of course realized after the fact that I will have to have the exterior photos reshot in a month - who wants a dated photo - snow in April, green grass in January? but photoshopping the grass out of the picture? wow - how 'bout just doing it the right way - new photos - move the trash dump, put the flowers in for real.
I've had clients that have wanted me to cover imperfections with their home with my furnishings, and I told them it was unethical and I wouldn't do it. I also said the home buyers would see it and it could kill the deal at inspections.
Lise: It's too bad you will have to reshoot, but it is what it is. Mother Nature can really mess things up sometimes!
Cindy: I've had clients that were looking to deceive too, but in this case they just wanted to put their best foot forward.
I have a house right now that I would really like to show "in the spring" but I would never do that. So it is posted in the snow just like the weather shows. You just have to make the best of it like you said.
Debra: Does the home owner have any photos of the landscaping in the Spring or Summer? I've had sellers leave photos out for potential buyers to see the home in different seasons.
Too funny! One of my pet peeves is when photos taken in the winter with no snow but dormant brown grass and trees and shrubs without leaves, stay online through the summer. Doesn't that agent realize that in the summer, it looks like the lawn and shrubbery are DEAD AS A DOORNAIL right now, not dormant in the winter.
Janna: It is surprising how many pictures are left in the wrong season. Another reason for "what were they thinking" to be asked.
Well Sharon, that's a new one on me. I have never been asked to do such a thing.
Amazing what people will ask to get out of doing the work!
Sharon -- What an interesting discussion that has resulted from this excellent post. To date, I haven't had a client ask me to do any creative editing in my photos. If they asked, I'd most certainly tell them in no uncertain terms that I would NOT do this.
Regarding the question posed above about virtual staging...I believe that it is a very valuable tool for stagers. It shouldn't be used as a substitute for actual "live" staging, rather it should be used as a sales tool, as it can assist sellers/realtors to visualize the actual potential of a staged space/property. In presenting these virtual images it should be made clear to the client that what they're seeing is a representation of what their space(s) can become once the stager gets his/her hands on it.
Excellent Post, Sharon, as well as great comments. I always learn so much from your blog!
Thanks, Jan
Hi Sharon, glad that the "virtual or conceptual" stagings came up in this discussion. I do believe that it does have a place in our businesses and if we don't do it, then someone without our staging backgrounds will.
A couple of years ago I was asked to stage a house for just one day....then photograph and destage. The budget was extremely low and the location was long distance so I declined. I just had a bad feeling about possibly misleading buyers with what they would see online and on MLS. Today I might reconsider that practice (if the budget was right).
Great discussion here and food for thought, thanks!
Liz: Just doing the work instead of wasting energy on deception would be the best way to go.
Nancy: Virtual staging as a visual tool is a very good idea. People are much easier to convince when they can see what we are suggesting.
Jan: Thank you! I'm happy to hear you enjoy the blog.
Ginger: I would certainly consider doing a one-day staging. I think it is better to have pictures of the house staged than not having the house staged at all. There is a big difference between having furniture in pictures/not having furniture in person and freshly painted in photos/dated ugly wallpaper in person.
That is a great idea Sharon!
Hi, Sharon. I've used Photoshop for years so this post made me laugh! My husband photographed the bedroom in a new listing last week while I measured the room....we should have switched jobs! He didn't think to straighten the lampshade or plump the pillows. It was too cold, too late and I was too tired when I realized how much more appealing the picture should have looked so....I "fixed" it in Photoshop.
Leslie: I have made changes like that many times. I had a picture of a bedroom once that only had one lamp next to the bed. I "cloned" the lamp onto the other nightstand so both sides of the bed had lamps. It looked so much better!