The PROPERTY DOCTORS, Sydney Australia Novak Properties
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The PROPERTY DOCTORS, Sydney Australia Novak Properties
EP. 1423 - WHAT THE HELL IS VIRTUAL FURNITURE?!
Ever looked at property photos online and fallen in love with the styling, only to discover later that none of that furniture actually exists? Welcome to the fascinating world of virtual furniture – a game-changing tool that's revolutionising real estate marketing across Australia.
Our deep dive into virtual staging reveals why empty rooms are a missed opportunity when selling property. Many buyers struggle with spatial awareness, finding it difficult to gauge room sizes or envision how they might use vacant spaces. At just $30 per room, virtual furniture offers an affordable alternative to traditional staging, which typically costs upwards of $10,000 for a complete home. The technology has become so sophisticated that even experienced real estate professionals sometimes struggle to differentiate between virtual and physical furniture in photographs!
We explore practical applications beyond just making properties look better. Virtual furniture provides elegant solutions for tenant-occupied homes where occupants don't want personal belongings photographed, eliminates the stress of maintaining hired furniture throughout a marketing campaign, and allows creative visualisation of multiple styling options for the same space. We even share how AI tools like ChatGPT are democratising access to this technology, making it possible for anyone to create stunning virtual staging with minimal technical knowledge.
The podcast features a remarkable case study of a Seaforth property where virtual furniture was so convincingly integrated that it fooled even those within the industry. As one agent explains, "A great real estate agent deletes the hurdles in the sprint" – and virtual furniture removes a major obstacle in the buyer's journey. Whether you're selling a studio apartment or a luxury home, this technology ensures potential buyers can easily visualise themselves living in your property, potentially leading to faster sales and better prices.
Ready to transform your property marketing? Give us a call today and discover how virtual staging can showcase your property's full potential without the hassle and expense of traditional furniture hire.
Ladies and gentlemen, life in the virtual world. Yes, real estate agents, we are using virtual furniture. We also use proper furniture to refurnish properties. We're going to talk about the difference and the value that are add station.
Speaker 2:I'm the ringleader, so let's hit it, whoa.
Speaker 1:Billy the old man stuck in a young man's body. How are you?
Speaker 2:I'm good. I'm good, how are you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, real good, real good. What do do you know? What do you know about virtual furniture?
Speaker 2:I know that's taking over. I was talking with a client yesterday in a living room scenario, talking about preparing their property for market, talking about styling. Uh, virtual furniture is certainly widely, you know, used now and I think most people have got their heads around it, but um, still don't quite understand the difference between digitally putting uh new furniture in photos and then and then the comparison to the real thing yeah, it's getting big.
Speaker 1:It's getting big. Uh, yeah, and and it's funny when when you sort of um actually show people, then they go, ah, that's what virtual furniture is, um. But I cannot believe in this day and age that agents are running photos of properties that are vacant inside in the day of virtual furniture totally unnecessary, spatially silly, because people can't get an idea of what's where. They can't look. Half of the people have the capacity of the brain they can actually go. Yep, that's a good size room. The other half um are like uh, is that, is that a small room? That looks like a small room?
Speaker 2:you don't want them to think that you could lose your buyer yeah, yeah, and and this is so affordable it's about 30 a room to. If you've got a vacant room and want to put furniture in there really nice stuff as an example um, the middle, the middle screen there, that's that's virtual, virtual furniture and doesn't have any hassle. It also works really really well if you've got a tenant that doesn't want their personal items in any photography. It's a good way to work around that and it's also a really good way to not have any hassle. So if you've got kids and you're worried about renting furniture or you're worried about the hiring and then looking after it for a six-week period, this is a good solution as well super smart.
Speaker 1:so just what it is. Just to be sure, so people know, we have the ability to take a photo, remove the furniture inside the photo and replace the furniture inside the photo. Why would we do that? To present the property better. There may be people that have got a loud bed cover, quilt, bedspread, and we can actually change that. We can put bedside tables in, we can put lamps in, we can warm up a room.
Speaker 2:Do buyers get the shit?
Speaker 1:with the building Do they go? This isn't the furniture we expected. Rarely, very rarely actually expect it.
Speaker 2:Rarely, very rarely actually, in fact, as you alluded to in the opening statement, it actually goes the other way around, where people get then some inspiration and they can sort of visualize how they can fit it out, because it doesn't. I guess the difference is you can't abuse the power. You can't put a home cinema in a small living area, otherwise it looks funny. So you've got to start with something that sort of works to the space, and we've got pros that do this. So it's not AI generated, not all of it. This is done by sort of graphic designer sort of quality. But I'm going to show you an example we've got this beautiful home for sale in seaforth.
Speaker 2:Maybe we can just touch on this yep, yep, because I know here the owners were looking at doing both. You know they wanted their campaign up and running, with no downtime properties vacant very smart. But in the meantime they're organizing, you know, some professional styling and then they'll just swap out the photos. Genius. So this is actually all virtual furniture. Every for every photo you see lies, which is great. It's really, really clever, because otherwise, as you said, it's all empty. It's a bit a bit um, cold shell style billy you're not telling the truth.
Speaker 1:What's the truth?
Speaker 2:that's real furniture oh, so you got that, you got the new you've tricked.
Speaker 1:You've tricked even the real estate agent. Look at that. Not even the real estate agent knows the difference. That's how good virtual furniture actually is. The agents can't even tell the difference now another one.
Speaker 2:Another thing that we did here was actually put what eight vehicles or six vehicles would look like in a garage. I think that's genius as well, just to give someone that spatial awareness it's got to be done and you know what people are going like.
Speaker 1:Surely I'm sure people are watching the gang look? Surely you know? Surely that can't add a dollar? Um, surely that can't add five thousand dollars? Surely people just get an idea when they see a picture of property? I just want to see a picture of property. I don't know if I like it or not.
Speaker 1:I've got to say, guys, a great real estate agent deletes the hurdles in the sprint. So you may have a 200 meter sprint line and you may have 10 hurdles in the order of a sale. So every sale there's hurdles. The better the agent gets at deleting the hurdles, the better the agent gets at making the hurdles lower, the better the chance is that. The better the agent gets at making the hurdles lower, the better the chance is that, the better the money is going to be. Better, better, better. So it's the art of a fantastic real estate agent and we see this with our reps in the office is they go to such an nth degree to make sure everything is presented as close to 10 out of 10 as possible. That's the path to a great sale, by deleting the hurdles, and that is what people employ us for and most of the time, we're not charging for it. It's about agent selection yep mike.
Speaker 2:Mike elter says totally agree, been in the industry for years. Potential buyers seem to struggle to visualize and grasp the concept of space. It's a tricky concept. Once again, the client is still looking at the room. So it's it is. It is popular, but people, people get upset when you, when you, abuse that power.
Speaker 1:Yeah, look they do. Can I say something to Mike? Even Lisa's making comments here, I can't click on those comments. Mike's on Instagram, Is he? I've got to say to Mike Mike, go on to ChatGPT4, which is the newest one, updated version, 20 bucks a month. Upload your vacant photo, Wait for it. Tell it what furniture you want in there, not where to put the furniture. What furniture you want in there.
Speaker 2:Oof.
Speaker 1:It'll do it for you.
Speaker 2:You want to see one? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I'd love to. Okay, I did this yesterday. I was blowing everyone's mind. I was inspired by Tiffany in the office. Let me show you this virtual furniture. I was given this photo. You say that yeah?
Speaker 2:looks like this. Yeah, look like a blank room.
Speaker 1:It's just a blank tiled room. I wrote this to ChatGPT. I said, ChatGPT, this is a Northern Beaches property. Can you please put a dining room table and lounge room suite and a coffee table with a contemporary beach finish? I'm looking to put virtual furniture in this room and make it feel light and bright and contemporary. You ready kids, Give me a full screen, Billy Bob.
Speaker 2:Give me a full screen Coming up, give me a sec, you ready, hang on.
Speaker 1:You ready for this? Okay, that's good. That's good, okay. Okay, that's the photo of the room. Yep, go Hit it.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's good, that's good, okay, okay, that's the that's the photo of the room.
Speaker 1:Yeah, go hit it.
Speaker 2:And in 15 seconds I'm not joking in 15 seconds chat.
Speaker 1:Gpt gave me the same room, boom, fantastic, fantastic, unbelievable for free unbelievable for free yeah, that's astonishing so there you go that's the future that's the future, guys, that's the future, and you know what. Red tools guys you've got no excuse. Commercial property guys you've got no excuse. Go ham with virtual furniture, go chat gpt with furniture. Virtual furniture, take furniture out, put furniture in, move furniture around all on chat gpt for free. Pretty sure you need the paid version.
Speaker 2:And I'd love to know what does it cost to style the beautiful home in Seaforth? What was it about 10 grand? Yep, 10 grand, there you go. So just going back to Lisa's comment there, not everyone has 10 grand at their disposal. I would suggest 10 grand is better spent in carpet and paint If you can just do touch-ups around the property with property improvements and then virtual furniture it. If you've got some bits that you can move in Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, really, bob. Thank you everyone.
Speaker 2:Hope you enjoyed our expose on virtual furniture today thanks guys if you need any help, give us a call, let us know.
Speaker 1:Cheers love you, see ya, bye you.