Many homeowners have heard of various types of staging. At its most basic level, it means sprucing up your home with decor, new paint, and removal of excess items.
The next level is a hybrid where the homeowner institutes a few of the aforementioned basics, and hires a stager for a room or two.
Yet another level is when a home stager is hired to show the home in its best light. That's wonderful, but it can get very costly.
The most cost efficient way is to virtually stage a home, and that means having furniture photoshopped into the home, or items removed from rooms where you have excess furniture.
And no, it doesn't look fake if it's done right. Here's a real world example: