When preparing a new listing for the market, a great deal of
energy, time and money is often spent on staging, and rightfully
so. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, 77 percent
of buyer's agents reported that home staging made it easier for
their clients to visualize a property as their future home. You
want buyers to feel at home when they walk through your listings,
and properly staging each room in the house is a big part of
that.
One area where staging is often overlooked is the exterior
property of a home. The yard is often the very first impression
potential buyers have of a home — whether in person or online — and
can taint or enhance the overall feeling they take with them after
viewing it. Sometimes a messy or unattractive exterior will turn a
buyer off to the point where they won't even bother to look at the
inside.
Sometimes a full-blown makeover of the yard is not an option,
whether due to weather or cost or time restrictions. One option
many agents are choosing in these situations is virtual landscaping
using the iScape app. Similar to interior virtual staging, users
can start with an existing image or take one from right within the
app, and then add various design elements in moments to create the
outdoor oasis they desire. This is perfect for giving a "boost" to
your listings with "less than desirable" curb appeal or helping
your buyer clients envision what the exterior of their dream home
could be.
Features of the iScape app include:
- Use a saved image from your device, take a new picture or use
the augmented reality feature to design right within your
space.
- Replace brown, dry, patchy lawn with lush green grass.
- Create areas, drawn by hand, of mulch and straw, pavement, rock
and other ground cover options.
- Add landscaping items such as trees, shrubs and flowers, garden
benches, water features, gardens and even holiday decor.
- Easily edit the image — including removing unattractive
elements from the original photo — using tools such as crop,
cut-out, duplicate, flip, resize and clone.
- Save and/or share your work in moments.
You can try iScape for free at first — after creating a free
account, you will receive storage in the cloud for one design and
access to a limited number of images. Upgrading to a consumer
subscription ($4.99/month) unlocks access to more than 150 images
and cloud storage for up to two designs per month. The iScape app
is currently available for iOS only.