By Alison Gregor

FOR the longest time, if brokers wanted to "stage" an apartment to sell, they needed to buy or rent furnishings, wall covering, carpets and other interior decorations. Then, a few years ago, advances in computer rendering gave them a simple and cheap way to hire a virtual staging company to render those items into a photograph of an empty room.

Now, advances in virtual staging enable brokers to do even more. They can remove clutter from a photograph of an apartment, spiff up a scratched stainless steel refrigerator, even open up the kitchen to the living room by removing a wall.

"I've gone to dozens and dozens of open houses, and I'm always being told to use my imagination by a broker," said Vince Collura, the president of the Gotham Photo Company, which offers the services. "Customers don't have imagination; they're looking for the potential risks, not the possibilities."

Gotham offers what it calls "Gotham Renew" to brokers who want to clean out cluttered spaces, and "Gotham Revamp" to brokers who want to show what renovations could do for an apartment. Gotham also continues to offer virtual staging, which it calls "Gotham Envision," to add furniture to an image, as do a handful of other companies, like Virtual Staging Solutions and Virtually Staging Properties.

Full Article

By Jill Urban

Most brokers say that it's a lot easier to sell a furnished apartment than an empty one, which is why virtual staging has become a popular tool, and some companies are taking it to the next level.

Instead of just dressing up an empty home, they offer services that will virtually renovate and restore it.

"The biggest challenge to get over is for buyers to be able to envision their space. You can walk into a space and tell a buyer we can open this kitchen or knock down that wall, but people don't see that. So, this is a chance for them to render it out," says Vince Collura, president of the Gotham Photo Company.

Their "envision program" allows for all types of digital work on a home, from simply removing clutter or changing out wall colors to cutting out walls and renovating kitchens.

"We are replacing any areas in the photo that we need to replace. So, if it's a photo where we are adding French doors or changing the size of a hallway, we are creating a wire frame of that unit, then altering it, rendering it out and blending the photos together," says Collura.

Lauren Wagner, senior vice president of Prudential Douglas Elliman, says this tool is extremely helpful. She had one unit on the market for 10 months. After she virtually renovated it, it sold in just a couple of weeks.

Full Article

By Liana Grey

Not long after Vince Collura, president of Gotham Photo Company, launched a virtual staging service, a broker asked him to touch up a listing that was too cluttered to attract buyers.

No less than 85 picture frames adorned the living room walls. Another agent called when a seller refused to stow away half-packed boxes during photo shoots and open houses.

"Depersonalization is very important," said Collura. "Sometimes sellers aren't willing to clean, remove diplomas from the den or children's artwork from the fridge."

So Gotham does it using Photoshop, and posts the finished product online. The service, Gotham Renew, launched last month after repeated demand from brokers. But it's not quite as popular as a program that designs model units from scratch. "Our first experience with this came from new development," Collura said.

Some clients are so hands-off that they do little more than select a color scheme or style, like elegant or modern, and let the staff at Gotham do the work. "We've built a fairly extensive catalogue of furniture," Collura said. "We pre-stage a lot, and create furniture groupings."

Full Article

For all media inquires, please contact our
Personal Representative: Charlotte Kullen

Sept 7, 2011 | Source: PRWeb
Gotham Photo Company today announced its latest new product offering, "Gotham Envision," a virtual staging, cosmetic renovation and clean-up product exclusive to the New York City real estate industry.

Full Article

Jul 22, 2011 | Source: Yahoo! News
Gotham Photo Company today announced its latest new product offering "Gotham Motion," exclusive to the New York City real estate industry.

Full Article

Jun 17, 2011 | Source: The Real Deal
The Real Deal was on the party circuit this week, soaking in the New York City views from Dumbo to Harlem.

Full Article