Step 1: Sort every edit: better, or different
Some edits make a photo look better. Light, exposure, white balance, color correction, sharpening, straightening, the angle, and cropping are all fine with no label, as long as the home looks the way it is. Other edits make the home look different: adding, removing, or changing furniture, fixtures, flooring, walls, paint, landscaping, the view through a window, or the homes next door. Virtual staging counts, AI edits count, and so does emptying a room of furniture that doesn't come with the sale. When you're not sure which side an edit is on, label it.
You do
- Deciding which edits you order for each listing
Hand off
- Sorting each delivered photo into a fix or a change
Step 2: Know what can't go in the MLS, even with a label
A label doesn't make every change OK. CRMLS doesn't allow changes to a real part of the property, such as wall color, flooring, cabinets, wall dimensions, or landscaping. A landscaping change can show only when the seller will make it as part of the listed price, and AI-generated landscaping isn't allowed in the MLS at all. Staging with furniture is fine once it's labeled and paired. If you want to show a buyer what a new kitchen could look like, share it as an idea, outside the listing photos. Each MLS draws its own lines, so check yours.
You do
- Telling the seller what the photos can and can't show
Hand off
- Checking each edited photo against your MLS's rules before it goes up
Step 3: Keep the original as the master file
Never let an edited photo exist without its original. Ask your photographer to deliver the originals with every edited photo and to say which ones they changed. Ask even when you didn't order staging. Name each pair so it sorts together in any folder or upload screen, like 12-kitchen-original and 12-kitchen-staged, and keep a one-line note of what changed: staged, furniture removed, TV removed. That note becomes the label, and it's your answer if anyone asks.
You do
- Asking your photographer for the originals and a list of edits
Hand off
- Naming the files in pairs
- Writing the one-line note for each edited photo
Step 4: Upload the pair, with the label on the edit
In CRMLS, the original goes immediately before or after the edited photo, and the edited photo gets a label in its photo description field, with words like "digitally altered," "digitally enhanced," or "virtually staged." No watermark is needed. A missing label gets a warning first, then a $250 fine if it isn't fixed in time. Other MLSs have their own fields and rules, so check yours before the first upload.
You do
- Approving the photo order before the listing goes live
Hand off
- Uploading each pair in order
- Adding the label to each edited photo
Step 5: Carry the label into every ad
AB 723 isn't only about the MLS. Any ad or promotion for the sale that shows an altered photo, from a flyer to a post to your website, needs a clear statement on or next to the photo that says two things: the photo was altered, and the original can be seen at the link, URL, or QR code you include. "Digitally altered image. See the original at [your link]." covers both. On a website you control, show the originals or link to them. One page with every original for the listing makes this easy, because every flyer and post can point to it. After the listing goes live, open it on the portals and on your site, and check that the labels and the originals came through.
You do
- The last look at each flyer and post
Hand off
- Adding the statement and the link or QR code to each ad
- Keeping the page of originals up to date
- Checking the portals and your site after the listing goes live
Where Reddy fits
Make your listing videos on the Reddy Content page, from the photos and videos you already have. Reddy never generates or edits a photo.
The label and the link to each original stay with you, and Reddy doesn't post for you.