Free Agent Kit for Virtually Staged Listings

Seven habits for photos that stage well, whether you shoot on a phone or hire a photographer. Each one is explained, with pictures, in How to Photograph Rooms for Virtual Staging: 7 Rules.

1. 1

   Daylight, lamps off. Open the blinds, switch off every lamp and overhead light, skip the flash.

2. 2

   Level, at chest height. Phone upright, about 1.2–1.5 m (4–5 ft) off the floor, so walls run straight up and down.

3. 3

   The 1x lens, not 0.5x. Back into a corner or a doorway for width; never switch to the ultra-wide.

4. 4

   One room per frame. A glimpse through a door is fine; a 50/50 split between two rooms is not.

5. 5

   Clear the loose stuff. Mail, cords, dishes, toys off the surfaces and floor. Leave built-ins, radiators and the fireplace.

6. 6

   Sharp and steady. Tap to focus on the far wall, brace your elbows, landscape for most rooms.

7. 7

   Straight from the camera. JPG, PNG or WEBP up to 15 MB, no filters — the render works from about 1024 px, so any phone photo has pixels to spare.

Three short emails: asking whether to stage, sending the staged photos with the label they will carry, and saying plainly what was edited. None of them promises a faster sale or a higher price.

• Should we stage the photos?

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  Before the photo shoot, when the home is empty or half-furnished.

  Subject: Staging the listing photos for [Address]

  Hi [Seller name],
  
  Before we publish the listing, I'd like to ask about virtual staging. Since [the rooms are empty / most of the furniture has moved out], I can add furniture and decor to a few of the listing photos with an AI staging tool, so buyers see one way the rooms could be furnished.
  
  What it is: furniture and decor added to the photo only. Nothing in the home changes.
  What it is not: a renovation. If a staged photo shows a different paint colour, floor or light fixture than the home has, I'll either say so in the listing or not use that photo.
  How buyers will know: each staged photo is labelled "virtually staged", and [the original photo goes beside it / the remarks say which photos are staged], as [MLS name] asks.
  
  I'd suggest staging these rooms: [living room, primary bedroom, dining room].
  Cost to you: [nothing, I cover it / amount].
  
  Would you like me to go ahead? If you'd rather keep the photos as they are, that's completely fine too.
  
  [Your name]
  [Brokerage] · [Phone]

• Here are the staged photos, and how they're labelled

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  When the staged photos are ready, before the listing goes live.

  Subject: Staged photos for [Address], ready for your OK

  Hi [Seller name],
  
  The staged photos are ready: [link to the photos].
  
  Staged: [living room, primary bedroom, dining room]. Every other photo is exactly as the photographer took it.
  
  This is how they'll be labelled on the listing:
  - On or under each staged photo: "[Disclosure wording for your MLS]"
  - [The original, unstaged photo of each room goes right after its staged version / The remarks list which photos are staged.]
  
  Please look through them and tell me if anything doesn't match the real home, even a small detail. I'd rather fix or drop a photo now than have a buyer notice it at a showing.
  
  Once you're happy with them, I'll publish the listing.
  
  [Your name]
  [Brokerage] · [Phone]

• What we changed, and what we didn't

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  With the final photos, or when a seller or buyer asks what was edited.

  Subject: What was edited in the photos of [Address]

  Hi [Name],
  
  Here is exactly what was edited in the listing photos of [Address].
  
  Added in [rooms]: furniture, rugs, art, lamps and plants. None of it is in the home, and it is not included in the sale.
  Also changed: [wall colour in the living room / a light fixture in the dining room / nothing else].
  Not changed: the size and layout of the rooms, the windows and the view, the floors, the kitchen and bathroom fixtures.
  
  I compared every staged photo with the original before publishing. The originals are [in the listing / available on request]: [link].
  
  If you see anything that looks different from the home itself, tell me and I'll correct or remove that photo.
  
  [Your name]
  [Brokerage] · [Phone]

Plain text for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or a newsletter. Each one says that some photos are virtually staged. Keep your brokerage name in the post if your board or regulator requires it in advertising.

• Just Listed

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  The day the listing goes live. Pair it with one staged photo and its original.

  JUST LISTED · [Address], [City]
  
  [Beds] bed · [Baths] bath · [Size] sq ft · [Price]
  
  [One line about the home: the morning light in the kitchen, the quiet street, the yard.]
  
  Some photos are virtually staged to show one way to furnish the rooms. The furniture is not included.
  
  All photos and details: [Listing link]
  
  [Your name] · [Brokerage] · [Phone or email]

• Open House

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  Two or three days before the open house, and again the morning of.

  OPEN HOUSE · [Day], [Date] · [Start time]–[End time]
  
  [Address], [City]
  [Beds] bed · [Baths] bath · [Price]
  
  Come see it in person: [one thing worth seeing, like the renovated kitchen or the corner lot].
  
  A heads-up: some listing photos are virtually staged. At the open house the rooms are [empty / furnished as they are today].
  
  [Your name] · [Brokerage] · [Phone or email]

The emails leave a placeholder for your MLS's wording rather than guessing it. These free tools fill it in.

• Disclosure wording generator

  Pick your province or state and MLS: the exact words for "[Disclosure wording for your MLS]" in the emails, where they go, and the rule they come from.

  Open

• Virtually staged label maker

  Stamp the label on a staged photo in the words your MLS's rule gives, in your browser. It tells you if your MLS bans text on photos.

  Open

• Staging cost calculator

  What an empty listing costs per day and per week, virtual and physical staging side by side. Useful for the "should we stage?" conversation.

  Open