Guides

Disclosing edited listing photos

Every rule is quoted from its source with the date we read it. Where we could not read a rulebook, we say so.

• Virtual staging cost per photo in 2026, from each company’s own price pageWhat virtual staging costs per photo in 2026, quoted from 9 companies’ own pricing pages and ours on one day: human editors and AI tools, with the billing terms, rush fees and renewals each page states.
• How to virtually stage a room, from photo to MLSFive steps from an empty room to a staged photo on the MLS: how to shoot it, how to pick a style, how to choose a render, and how to disclose it, shown on real renders of the same rooms.
• What 21 MLS rulebooks say about AI-edited listing photosDuskly checked the published rules of 25 US MLSs on AI-edited and virtually staged listing photos and could read 21. What they require for labels, originals and changes to the house, and the fines, quoted.
• Bad virtual staging: 10 things to check before a render goes on the MLSTen things to check on any virtual staging render before it goes on the MLS, each shown on a real render from our lab next to its original, with what caught it and the MLS rule it breaks.
• Sky replacement in listing photos: when it’s allowed, how to disclose it, and how to make it believableWhen a new sky is allowed in a listing photo, how to disclose it, and 7 checks that make it believable, each shown on real renders from our lab, including two that passed our own checks.
• What counts as a digitally altered listing photo? 25 common edits, sortedWhich listing photo edits need a disclosure? 25 common edits, from HDR and white balance to sky replacement, staging and power lines, held against California’s statute and 10 MLS rules.
• Is virtual staging legal?Yes, with disclosure. Every MLS rule on staging we could read allows it, as long as the property itself is left alone. California’s law, NAR’s Code of Ethics and 11 MLSs, with the fines they publish, quoted with sources.
• “Virtually staged” watermark or caption? What each MLS asks forSome MLSs want "Virtually Staged" on the photo itself. Others ban any words on the photo and want it in the description. What 11 MLSs ask for, quoted from their own pages, and how to cover more than one.
• AB 723 and listing photos: what the law saysSince 1 January 2026, an altered listing photo in California needs a disclosure statement and a link or QR code to the original. The statute and the CRMLS, San Diego MLS and Bay East rules, quoted with sources.
• Is day-to-dusk allowed on the MLS?One MLS rule we could read names twilight photos: Stellar’s, which allows them with disclosure. What AB 723, Stellar, CRMLS, San Diego MLS, Bay East, Canopy, ARMLS and MLS Now say about skies and lighting, quoted.