Virtual Staging for Rental Properties: Attracting Tenants in a Competitive Market

If you think real estate is a difficult industry, rental properties are the endgame boss! Renting out a house happens quicker than selling it, but rentals have their fair share of headaches. When finding tenants, owners often face a few common dilemmas.

Putting a property up for rent often means listing an occupied property. Waiting until the property is vacated leads to lost time, opportunities, and rental income. On the other hand, the most recent styling and décor —sometimes chosen by the last resident—might not appeal to all renters; therefore, showcasing the place as it is might make it harder to attract new renters. Moreover, the quick turnaround of rentals demands more frequent and quicker advertising.

This is where virtual staging comes into play. It provides a solution to the above and other advertising challenges, enhancing the property’s appeal, reducing the risk of prolonged vacancies, and decreasing the workload.

How Does Virtual Staging Help Rent Properties?

Time Is Money? So Save Some!

A rental property doesn’t bring in a fortune, so owners can neither afford to leave it vacant for long nor can they spend a long time on advertising. Maximizing rental income requires quick turnover between tenants and minimizing downtime.

Instead of waiting for the occupants to leave, decluttering the house, shooting it, and then relisting it, virtual staging enables you to list the property the very day your tenant informs you about their departure. All you need are a few good shots of the place, and the rest will be done in no time!

If the photos show the property vacant, so much the better. If not, a suitable virtual decluttering service can erase all furnishings for a fresh start, allowing you to choose new designs, styles, furniture layouts, and so much more!

Never Again Burn the Budget

As mentioned above, rentals create smaller incomes in the world of real estate. As a result, you might want to consider a more limited budget to market your rental property. Moreover, every buck counts since expenses can add up quickly when you think of repairs, advertisements, legal fees, and so on.

In this regard, virtual staging gives a new meaning to cost-efficiency. Unlike physical staging which can end up anywhere around $3,000-$5,000, virtual staging can be done with less than $50, provided that you find a suitable provider.

Declutter and Redesign to Draw Attention

As a general real estate rule of thumb, an efficient listing should include two photos of each room: One showcasing the room vacant and the other featuring the same space eye-pleasingly furnished. This side-by-side comparison helps potential renters visualize the space’s full potential, whereas few photos of an occupied property often lead to confusion and deter viewers.

With a reliable virtual staging service, you can remove all items and clutters from each given space in a few seconds and then proceed to virtually stage the same area to showcase potential. Moving back and forth between the empty and staged photos, potential renters will quickly and easily realize the exciting possibilities that await.

Showcase the Versatility of the Space

Another benefit of virtual staging is playing around with the furniture, changing the design style, and showcasing your place in different layouts. That way, you can cater to any need or desire. If you notice that the residents in the area favor a certain style or furniture set, you can easily tailor the staging to match their preferences.

You can stage certain rooms with more than one style. When house hunters see the same living room designed in, let’s say, Modern, Contemporary, Traditional, Farmhouse, and Scandinavian styles, chances are that they will find their taste in one of those styles and become more eager to rent the property.

Getting It Right: Tips for Efficient Virtual Staging

Work with the Pros: Hire a Real Estate Photographer

The task at hand is quite easy with empty spaces. You can shoot the place using your smartphone. When the space is cluttered, however, you need a relatively advanced camera and someone familiar with angles and lighting techniques. A professional photographer knows his or her way around the different spaces of a house and understands how to technically capture a cluttered space that is going to be virtually staged.

Browse for Best Results: Find a Reliable Service Provider

If you’re going to try virtual staging for the first time, you need to look for a provider that:

• Prepares the photos in the fastest time possible;
• Has a reasonable pricing that fits your limited budget;
• Does not manipulate the house fixtures, lighting, etc., and,
• Provides additional support when needed.

A tool like AI HomeDesign for example, takes only 30 seconds to declutter or stage a room all for just $0.24. It does not manipulate the house fixtures, and it has so far provided exceptional support when needed.

Learn from Experience: Read the Reviews and Check Samples

Inquiring about virtual staging service providers online will eventually lead you to some names. Make a list of those names and see if they have portfolio samples. Almost always, the good ones do! Such samples can tell you a lot about the quality of their service.

It’s also a good idea to look for customer reviews to see how satisfied the previous clients are. This can provide valuable insight into both the quality of work and the company’s prices, as well as their reliability in meeting deadlines and expectations.

Get a Test Run: Try Services Before Buying a Plan

Reliable virtual staging services should offer free trials so that you can generate a few photos before committing to a purchase or subscription. When testing a virtual staging service provider, check if the generated photos have a photorealistic appearance with accurate lighting and shadows.

Make sure the room’s size and the furniture you select are balanced. For example, a king-size bed in a small bedroom wouldn’t make much sense!

Also, a trial is your chance to check the type of rooms and styles a virtual staging platform offers. Keep a sharp eye out and ensure they align with your needs and intentions. With some tools, you can only stage living rooms and bedrooms; with others, you can stage dining rooms, kid’s rooms, home offices, etc.

The Bottomline

How tenants perceive your rental property depends on how effectively you showcase it on multiple listings. On a similar note, you reasonably have limited time and budget for rental properties, and that’s why you need to work as quickly and efficiently as possible if you’re looking to profit from rentals.

Virtual staging is arguably the best option for such properties as it showcases the full potential of cluttered spaces in the best way possible, using minimum resources. The benefits are out there in plain sight, but there are a few tips to observe in order to get satisfactory results.

Make sure you hire a professional photographer when needed and always spend enough time finding a suitable virtual staging service. Keep your eyes peeled for customer reviews and previous work samples when doing so. To stay on the safe side, also ask for a trial period and have a great time renting out those properties!