In crowded virtual staging category, Collov AI offers ease, affordability: Tech Review

Collov AI is an AI-powered home design platform that specializes in fast, easy virtual property staging. The solution is transparent and lightweight but risks being piled up among a number of competitors and further pushed around by a number of existing real estate brands providing similar solutions, like Matterport, Zillow, Compass and others. (FYI, every proptech needs to consider Zillow a competitor, even if you’re not in search.)

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Highlights

• Affordable, transparent pricing
• Moderate, almost flat learning curve
• Competitive with others in the space
• Tailor-made for social marketing
• Reduces delays in getting home to the market

Company summary

Collov AI is used by a lot of agents in the space — according to its website — and it competes with a quickly growing number of vendors in the industry. It’s a small company of under 50 based in Silicon Valley, a location convenient to big partnerships like the one it forged with the San Francisco Association of Realtors this summer.

Its core AI marketing product has a range of real estate use cases, from residential sales to multifamily, interior design, staging and architecture. Its CEO is Xiao Zhang, who is part of Collov Labs, a larger AI entity building solutions in spatial design intelligence and part of something ominously named, “World Engine.”

That could suggest a couple of things. One, that Collov AI is merely a test-run, or MVP for whatever Collov Labs is out to create. A spin-off of sorts. And two, what its parent entity creates will filter down into Collov AI for its users’ ongoing benefit. To date, the company has raised $46 million.

Same, but different

I think it’s time people cease viewing virtual staging as an alternative to actual staging and more as a tool for engaging the viewer. It’s creative stimulation, a way to hold attention and engage a potential buyers’ interest. It’s retail merchandising for your listing — shelves of accessories and set pieces — and part of the experience.

There are indeed practical applications for it, such as filling vacant rooms after the seller has moved out to complement the actual staging of a family room or to demonstrate what a property is capable of becoming. And let’s face it: It’s much cheaper and less time-consuming than physical interior design. It can be changed quickly, in case a listing isn’t getting attention and its marketing strategy has to be refreshed.

Collov works like others you’ve seen. The user uploads images of either empty or furnished space, and with some preferences and prompts on room type and style, the AI works its magic to offer four options. The company calls it “one-click staging.” It can declutter, provide stand-alone item erasure and generate MLS-compliant images.

As is becoming a common use of AI, Collov also offers image-based virtual tours. This means you don’t need to set up a camera system or use another product to have a pretty useful tour. It’s not a fully fleshed-out digital twin, but it does a good job of providing an immersive understanding of room flow, feel and space experience. It’s pretty sharp technology, actually.

Collov users can provide a few images, up to six, that they want to be made part of the tour, and each one will result in what feels like a camera dolly smoothly tracking through a room for five seconds. You can re-order the sequence, add music and input room descriptions. It typically takes under 10 minutes to generate.

You can save your tours and manage your content in your account, which is divided by staging and tour projects. You can upload a brokerage logo and identity information, make and manage payments, and discover other tools, like API information and an idea center. It’s all very nimble and navigable, with no burdensome attempts at unnecessary value-adds or integrations.

Know that this is largely for the agent or marketing team that doesn’t always use a professional photographer. Certainly, your go-to media professional can work with Collov, but most of them already have access to and use such tools. This is a superb option for the motivated new or evolving agent wanting to make listings look great quickly and do so without spending a ton.

There’s a massive, fast-moving influx of these tools in the market, and the competition has notoriety. Zillow recently added it to its Showcase Listing suite of services, Styldod partners with Matterport and markets directly to the MLS market, and Pixlmob offers a national marketplace for real estate media professionals.

Nothing about the underlying technology is unique. The companies that will make a difference in this space best understand how real estate agents work and how to position their product in the market, which means selling on price and ease of use. However, can they ensure long-term adoption and loyalty, or will they have to cope with a run of one- or maybe two-time users?

I’m concerned Collov could arguably be passed over at times by companies that offer exterior updates/editing, floor plan renderings and additional types of marketing media.

Agents move in and out of listings, and each one needs a different marketing approach. And in this market, there’s significant time between them. Thus, Collov and its ilk need to find ways to sustain revenue. Such strategies may include pushing hard into multifamily, SFR and even short-term rental marketplaces. White-labeling, too.

Collov ai is a great solution for the cost-conscious, marketing-smart agent who doesn’t depend on a broker or their MLS to make their technology decisions — until Collov strikes some enterprise partnerships. It helps that the company itself is very clever on the marketing front, creating an environment of online credibility that agents can leverage when working with sellers.

For example, my social feeds are inundated with influencers shilling its benefits after I spent some time on its website. Its PR team is also very active. Overall, the company is making a big push into the space, and that helps the consumer connect their agent to a popular product.

Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe

Craig C. Rowe has been writing software reviews for Inman since 2015. He started in commercial real estate at the dawn of the dot-com boom, helping an array of commercial real estate companies fortify their online presence and analyze internal software decisions. He consults with residential brokerages and agents on technology decisions and marketing and helps Inman readers understand the ever-evolving landscape of proptech.