A seller called me in early April. Her condo had been sitting on the market for over 70 days without a single offer, and she was interviewing agents because her current one wasn’t budging on strategy. When I pulled up the listing, I saw immediately what the problem was: virtual staging.

If you know me at all, you know how I feel about virtual staging. It’s a mistake, every single time.

Here’s my thing with it: we spend so much of our lives online that it’s easy to forget what actually sells a house. It isn’t the listing photos — it’s the moment someone walks through the door. Yes, you absolutely have to market and present a property beautifully on the internet. That part matters. But if walking in is a disappointment? The sale doesn’t happen. The internet got them there. The house has to close the deal.

This condo was a perfect example. It was a little basic when it was empty, and it was genuinely hard to envision the space — which was a shame, because the space was actually great. 850 square feet, one bedroom plus a den, a breakfast nook, a bedroom big enough for a king bed. Under $300K in Arlington. That’s a story worth telling. Virtual staging wasn’t telling it.

The previous agent had also refused to hold the property open and had turned down the seller’s suggestion for a more aggressive price reduction. To be fair, the price had come down to a reasonable place, so that wasn’t the core issue. The core issue was presentation.

I told the seller it needed to be actually staged. She was on board immediately — one of those clients who just says yes and means it. I connected her with Coast to Coast Staging, they turned around a proposal fast, and within about a week the condo was staged and back on the market.

A week after that, we had a contract.