№ 01 — Free Tool
Virtual staging disclosure,
by U.S. state.
Pick a state. Get the rule that applies, copy-ready label phrasing for the photo and the listing, and a link to the state REALTORS® association where the guidance is documented. The summary is general information for working agents, not legal advice — verify with your brokerage and the MLS you list in before publishing.
Select state
The checker covers all fifty states and the District of Columbia. The shared baseline applies everywhere; state-specific notes appear where a state association or commission has published guidance.
The rule in California
Permitted, with disclosure. The underlying space must be shown truthfully.
No state real estate commission in the United States bans virtual staging outright. The operative requirement is honest representation under NAR Code of Ethics Article 12 and the state's prohibition on misrepresentation by a licensee. The safe-harbor practice — accepted by essentially every MLS that has addressed the question — is to (a) leave walls, floors, windows, ceiling height and overall layout untouched, and (b) clearly mark every affected image as virtually staged.
Notable in California
The California DRE has issued repeated guidance against any photo edit that could mislead a buyer about a feature, condition or measurement of the property. CAR-published practice notes describe a clear "Virtually Staged" label on each affected image as the safe-harbor standard.
Recommended label phrasing
The four phrasings below cover the places a disclosure typically needs to live: on the photo, in image captions, in MLS remarks, and in property descriptions. Same intent, four registers.
Virtually Staged
Photo caption or corner watermark on each affected image.
This photo has been virtually staged. The room is otherwise vacant.
Long form for image captions on portals that allow them.
Some photos in this listing have been virtually staged for illustrative purposes. Furniture and décor shown are not included in the sale.
Listing remarks / public remarks field on the MLS.
Virtual staging: furnishings are illustrative. The home is sold unfurnished.
Property description on agent sites and social posts.
State association reference
California Association of REALTORS®
www.car.org →
The association publishes the legal hotline guidance, model forms and continuing-ed material that working California agents reference. Membership is usually required to access the full library, but the public-facing pages link to the operative rules.
№ 02 — Inside Vestaro
Every Vestaro export ships with the label already on it.
The staging, restage and decluttering tools bake a discreet Virtually Staged mark into the corner of the image and write a copy-paste disclosure block for the MLS remarks. Compliance counsel on the team plan can swap in their own wording. You get the photo, you get the disclosure, and you do not have to remember to add either.
№ 03 — Frequently asked
The questions agents ask before they hit publish.
- Is virtual staging legal in the United States?
- Yes, in every U.S. state. No state real estate commission prohibits virtual staging. The shared requirement across jurisdictions is honest representation — the underlying space (walls, floors, windows, layout, square footage) must be shown accurately, and any virtually staged image must be disclosed.
- Do MLS rules require a virtual staging disclosure?
- Most MLSs explicitly require a disclosure on any altered image. The rule sits inside the MLS’s image-handling or photo-integrity policy. Even if your state real estate commission has not addressed virtual staging by name, the MLS you list in almost certainly has — check that policy before publishing.
- Where does the "Virtually Staged" label have to appear?
- The strongest practice — and the one that satisfies the largest set of MLSs — is to put the label both on the image itself (as a caption or corner watermark) and in the public remarks field of the listing. Many MLSs accept either; both is the safe-harbor combination.
- Can a virtually staged photo hide a defect or change a wall color?
- No. The shared line across every state’s misrepresentation rule and the NAR Code of Ethics is that the underlying structure must be shown truthfully. Virtual staging adds furniture, art and décor. It cannot remove damage, hide stains, change layout, alter dimensions, or repaint walls — those edits would be considered photo manipulation, not staging.
- How does Vestaro handle the disclosure for me?
- Every image Vestaro produces with the staging or restage tools is exported with a "Virtually Staged" label baked into the file and a sidecar disclosure block that copy-pastes into MLS remarks. Brokerages on team plans can configure the label position and wording to match their compliance counsel’s preference.
DisclaimerInformation on this page is provided for general educational purposes and is summarized from publicly available REALTORS® association and real estate commission material. It is not legal advice and does not establish a client relationship. Rules change. Before relying on any phrasing here, confirm it with your brokerage, your state real estate commission, and the MLSs you publish in.