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Virtually Staged Label Maker: Stamp Your Photo by MLS Rule

Pick your province or state and your MLS, then a photo. If your rule allows words on the photo, the tool stamps a plain label in the words the rule gives, and you save the photo as a JPEG. If your MLS bans text on listing photos, it says so and stamps nothing.

Your photo never leaves your device. Nothing is uploaded to our server: the browser opens the photo, draws the label and saves a new JPEG, without the camera, location and date data (EXIF) of the original.

The rules come from our published guides, which quote the rulebooks. It is not legal advice, and rules change: your MLS handbook and your broker are the final word.

1. Your market and MLS
2. Your photo

Stays on your device. Nothing is uploaded.

Choose your market and a photo. The tool checks what your rule says about words on the photo before it stamps anything.

Free tool by AI Flip Room · aifliproom.com

Where the tool will not stamp, or asks first

Some MLSs ban words on listing photos, want the label in the listing's fields, or put their own watermark on. Others restrict text, or we have not read their rulebook: there the tool stamps only after you confirm.

Alberta MLS® rules (all ten boards)

Alberta

Stamped after you confirm · Restricted: ask your MLS before adding text

  • Rule 2.04 b bars logos, advertising and any message other than “Sample Photo” on listing photos.
  • Whether a plain "Virtually staged" label passes is not settled in the text; the remarks are where the rule asks for it.

Rulebooks we have not read

Rest of Canada

Stamped after you confirm · Not verified

  • We have read the rules of four provinces.

CRMLS

California

Not stamped · Not required: the label goes in the listing fields

  • CRMLS's guidance says no watermark is needed either: the term goes in the image description.

New York City: REBNY's RLS

New York

Stamped after you confirm · Restricted: ask your MLS before adding text

  • REBNY's RLS rulebook and the OneKey pages we could read set no labelling rule; label anyway, and ask the compliance desk before adding text to the image.

Long Island and the Hudson Valley: OneKey® MLS

New York

Stamped after you confirm · Not verified

  • REBNY's RLS rulebook and the OneKey pages we could read set no labelling rule; label anyway, and ask the compliance desk before adding text to the image.

Stellar MLS

Florida

Not stamped · Banned: no words on the photo

  • Words on the photo itself are "strictly prohibited".

SEFMLS (Miami)

Florida

Not stamped · Banned: no words on the photo

  • Miami's SEFMLS has no staging rule but bans text and watermarks on photos

BeachesMLS

Florida

Not stamped · Banned: no words on the photo

  • BeachesMLS bans "Text or overlays of any kind, unless it is solely for exterior location identification purposes" (section 3.2.2a).

realMLS (Northeast Florida)

Florida

Stamped after you confirm · Restricted: ask your MLS before adding text

  • realMLS allows text only to clarify the type of listing or market the property.

HAR (Houston)

Texas

Not stamped · Not required: the label goes in the listing fields

  • Our reading: put the label in the fields and keep text off the image.

NTREIS (Dallas–Fort Worth)

Texas

Stamped after you confirm · Restricted: ask your MLS before adding text

  • NTREIS bans "decorative borders, other embellishments"

Unlock MLS (Austin)

Texas

Stamped after you confirm · Restricted: ask your MLS before adding text

  • Unlock may remove "any embedded, overlaid, or digitally stamped text"

SABOR (San Antonio)

Texas

Not stamped · Not required: the label goes in the listing fields

  • Our reading: put the label in the fields and keep text off the image.

NWMLS (most of the state)

Washington

Stamped after you confirm · Not verified

  • Our reading: put "virtually staged" in the photo description whatever you do with the image, and confirm with NWMLS whether text on a photo is permitted before you rely on the stamp.

ARMLS (Arizona Regional MLS)

Arizona

Not stamped · Required on the photo

  • ARMLS's page says photos uploaded to Flexmls "must use the required Flexmls Digitally Altered disclosure".
  • What goes on the photo there is the MLS's own "Digitally Altered" watermark, applied in Flexmls with the sunburst icon; ARMLS says its old Virtually Staged watermark "is no longer ARMLS-approved", and rule 8.23(e) bans any other text or watermark on the image.

MRED (Chicago area)

Illinois

Stamped after you confirm · Restricted: ask your MLS before adding text

  • Nothing in the rulebook asks for a watermark, and 6.1.1 bans "audio/video/text commentary" and "logos and/or branding" on photos.
  • We found no MRED statement on whether a plain "Virtually Staged" line counts as text commentary, so we treat it as text and keep it off: answer the field, and repeat the fact in the remarks if you like.

MARIS (Metro East)

Illinois

Not stamped · Banned: no words on the photo

  • On MARIS, in the Metro East, text on a photo is banned outright: photographs "shall not include any added text regardless of message".

Bright MLS

Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia & DC

Not stamped · Banned: no words on the photo

  • Section 3.A bars "any text or graphics that have been added or superimposed", images of any identifiable person "whether real, animated, computer-generated, or otherwise", and "Signs or identifying logos".
  • Our reading: a "Virtually Staged" stamp is added text, so it stays off and the words go in both remarks.
  • The one exception is a home that is to be built or under construction, where the disclosure may go "in the photos/videos".

FMLS (Atlanta)

Georgia

Not stamped · Banned: no words on the photo

  • FMLS bans any text on the photo.
  • FMLS rule 10.6 says "No text may be superimposed on photos", and the photo fields are for "descriptive text of the property's attributes"; the disclosure goes in the public remarks.
  • The rule was written against self-promotion, but its words cover any text, and we found no FMLS statement that a staging label is an exception; our reading is that it is not.

Georgia MLS (GAMLS)

Georgia

Not stamped · Banned: no words on the photo

  • Georgia MLS bans "watermarks" and "overlays of other images or logos", and wants the words in the public remarks.
  • Georgia MLS's photo policy says "Alterations to images such as decorative frames, watermarks, time stamps, or false color representation are not allowed", "Digitally altering images to include overlays of other images or logos are prohibited", and "Images must not include contact information, recognizable signage, or marketing/promotional messages."
  • Our reading: a "Virtually Staged" stamp is a watermark in everything but name.

elevateMLS (Colorado Springs; formerly Pikes Peak MLS)

Colorado

Not stamped · Banned: no words on the photo

  • On elevateMLS, no: photos are displayed without "Any overlay, graphic or text" except its own marks, and its "Virtually Staged" watermark is applied for you when the Photo Remarks carry the phrase.
  • On elevateMLS switch it off entirely: the MLS adds its own watermark from the Photo Remarks, and any other text on the image breaks its rule.
  • "Fades or borders" are not allowed either, and neither are "Images of people", so check every render for people.

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Some MLSs ban text on listing photos, so check before you add a badge.

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Questions about the label

Is my photo uploaded anywhere?

No. Your browser opens the photo, draws the label on it and saves a new JPEG on your device. Nothing is sent to our server, and the saved file carries no EXIF data: camera, location and date are left out.

Which MLSs will the tool not stamp for?

It will not put words on the photo for CRMLS, Stellar MLS, SEFMLS, BeachesMLS, HAR, SABOR, ARMLS, MARIS, Bright MLS, FMLS, Georgia MLS and elevateMLS: their rules ban text on listing photos, put the label in the listing's fields instead, or apply the MLS's own watermark. For Alberta, the rest of Canada, REBNY, OneKey, realMLS, NTREIS, Unlock MLS, NWMLS and MRED, it stamps only after you confirm your MLS allows a plain label, because the rule restricts text on photos or we have not read the rulebook.

Can I put “Virtually staged” on the listing photo itself?

Only where your MLS allows it. Upstate New York's Alliance MLSs require the label on the photo. Florida's Stellar MLS, SEFMLS and BeachesMLS ban text on listing photos. Alberta's rule 2.04 b bars any message other than “Sample Photo”, so the disclosure goes in the public remarks. In Ontario, ITSO's rule accepts a label on the image as one of its two ways. In Arizona, ARMLS allows only its own “Digitally Altered” watermark on the photo, and Tucson's MLSSAZ wants “virtual staged” along the top of the image. In Illinois, MRED keeps text commentary off photos and MARIS bans added text. Bright MLS bars added text and logos on photos. In Georgia, FMLS bans text superimposed on photos and Georgia MLS bans watermarks, while Hive MLS accepts a plain label on the image as one of its two ways. In Colorado, elevateMLS shows photos without any overlay or text except its own marks, and REcolorado allows a plain watermark as a non-predominant feature but bans company names on the photo. In Texas, NTREIS bans embellishments and Unlock MLS may remove stamped text. Check your MLS before you add a badge.

Does a label make any edit acceptable?

No. A label says that a photo was edited, not what changed. Furnish freely; never touch windows, walls, ceilings, floors, fixtures, damage or the view.

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