How Austin Agent William Zhang Virtually Staged Listings With Claude
Published October 29, 2026 · Source: realestateaisociety.com
Austin agent William Zhang built a Claude project and skill that sends a folder of listing photos to image models through the Higgsfield MCP. It stages each room and adds a "virtually staged" label. He says some results changed counters or an island, so he reviews and regenerates them.
Result, in their words: The skill stages the whole folder and returns labeled photos. He called the staged bedroom "the best surprise," but one result changed an island and he had to regenerate it.
From the original
Once it’s connected, Claude can run the models for you. I drag my listing folder into the project, tell it to use the virtual staging skill, and approve the folder access. It stages the whole set and hands the photos back in a folder. In my test the staged bedroom was the best surprise.
What they did
William Zhang, an Austin real estate agent who also founded realestateaisociety.com, wrote about using Claude to virtually stage empty rooms before a listing goes live. He set up a Claude project he named "Smithy" that stages a whole folder of listing photos, labels each one as virtually staged, and then turns the photos into a listing website. He discloses that the video this post is based on was sponsored by Higgsfield, the image-model platform he used, and that the post includes Higgsfield affiliate links.
How it worked
According to the post, he first staged photos one at a time on Higgsfield to compare Nano Banana and GPT Image. His prompt told each model to keep walls, floors, windows and fixtures unchanged and to add only modern furniture and decor. One Nano Banana result changed a counter slightly. GPT Image added a vase and removed a painting, but he says it kept the original room closest overall.
Next he wrote a Claude skill. It's a file of rules that sets which model to call, what to preserve and how to label each photo. He connected the Higgsfield MCP to Claude as a custom connector. From then on he could drag a listing folder into the project and have it staged in one pass. A second skill builds a listing website from the staged photos.
The result
He says the skill staged the full set and put a "virtually staged" note in the bottom right of each photo. He called the staged bedroom "the best surprise." One output changed a kitchen island, so he regenerated it. In his view, that's why a human has to stay in the loop.
How to try it on your listings
- Write your staging prompt around what must stay the same: walls, floors, windows, counters and fixtures.
- Put every staged photo next to the original and regenerate any that changed the room itself.
- Virtual staging changes how a property looks. Label staged photos, and check your MLS rules on disclosure wording. Some MLSs may limit or prohibit certain edits.
- Think about showing the empty original next to the staged version so buyers see what's actually there.