Plotpane · Washington state (NWMLS: Western WA + parts of Oregon)
Washington state (NWMLS: Western WA + parts of Oregon)
NWMLS virtual staging compliance: Rule 105(d) and the Washington brokerage overlay (RCW 18.85, WAC 308-124)
The Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) — headquartered in Kirkland, Washington and owned by its member brokerages — is the controlling MLS for Western Washington and parts of Oregon, covering roughly 30,000 brokers across 2,300+ offices from Bellingham and the San Juans down through King, Pierce, Snohomish, Thurston, Clark, and Kitsap counties. For any listing in Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Mercer Island, Medina, Clyde Hill, Laurelhurst, Madison Park, Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, Windermere, or Tacoma, virtual staging compliance is governed by NWMLS Rule 105(d) (photo disclosure), the NWMLS Real Estate Photography guidance (nwmls.com/real-estate-photography-101/), the NWMLS Statewide Forms and Rules page (nwmls.com/statewide-forms-rules/), and — layered on top — Washington's Real Estate Brokerage Practices statute RCW 18.85 and the Department of Licensing rules at WAC 308-124. This page is an advisory compliance reference for Windermere, John L. Scott, Compass Seattle, Realogics Sotheby's International Realty, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Realty, and Redfin agents — it is not legal advice, and rules evolve, so always verify the current NWMLS handbook before relying on any section below.
What NWMLS Rule 105(d) actually says about virtually staged photos
NWMLS Rule 105(d) is the direct, controlling provision for virtual staging on a Northwest Multiple Listing Service listing. It requires that any photo or video altered to show a different appearance of the property be clearly and conspicuously labeled as "virtually staged." The rule gives the listing broker a choice: the disclosure can be burned into the image itself (a visible overlay on the frame) or written into the photo description / caption field in the NWMLS Matrix photo tool. Either route satisfies Rule 105(d); NWMLS does not mandate both. The public-facing guidance at nwmls.com/real-estate-photography-101/ reinforces the underlying principle in plain language: "Do not manipulate images in a way that misrepresents what is for sale" — and uses three concrete examples that are out of bounds with or without a disclosure: removing power lines, adding a lawn that doesn't exist, and removing property defects. Separately and independently of Rule 105(d), NWMLS prohibits photos that include people in the frame, and it prohibits third-party watermarks, agent or brokerage contact information, logos, phone numbers, email addresses, and URLs on MLS-uploaded photos (see nwmls.com/real-estate-photography-101/). Non-compliant images can be removed by NWMLS staff and can trigger participant-level fines under the NWMLS automatic fine schedule.
Source: NWMLS Rule 105(d), Real Estate Photography guidance at nwmls.com/real-estate-photography-101/, and the Statewide Forms and Rules index at nwmls.com/statewide-forms-rules/
Disclosure wording: "virtually staged" — may appear burned into the image OR in the photo description field; either satisfies the rule
Hard prohibitions (independent of 105(d)): no people in photos, no third-party watermarks, no contact info, no logos or URLs burned into the image
NWMLS's own public guidance bars misrepresentation — no removed power lines, no added lawns, no erased defects, even with a disclosure
Enforcement: non-compliant images are removed; NWMLS maintains an automatic fine schedule for repeat photo-rule violations
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The Washington brokerage overlay — RCW 18.85, WAC 308-124, and Form 17
Rule 105(d) is the MLS-level rule, but a Washington-licensed broker sits under two additional regimes that can be triggered by a non-compliant virtually staged photo even when NWMLS itself never files a complaint. RCW 18.85 — the Real Estate Brokerage Practices statute — gives the Washington Department of Licensing authority to discipline a licensee for misrepresentation in advertising, and DOL rules at WAC 308-124 implement that authority with specific advertising standards. The practical bridge between the two is the Seller Disclosure Statement (Form 17), which Washington sellers must deliver on residential transactions: if the virtually staged photos imply a property condition inconsistent with what Form 17 discloses — staged "new" cabinets on a kitchen Form 17 lists as original, a virtually added deck that is not disclosed as seller-delivered — that mismatch creates exposure both to a Rule 105(d) NWMLS complaint and to an RCW 18.85 / WAC 308-124 disciplinary path. The sound workflow is additive staging only (furniture, rugs, area carpets, soft goods, art) inside spaces that already exist, with disclosure written both into the NWMLS photo description field and into the public remarks so Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com syndication carries the language downstream. NAR Standard of Practice 12-13 — Realtors shall not present or use any image that could mistakenly be deemed to reflect the property's actual condition — runs parallel to all of the above at the Code of Ethics level.
RCW 18.85 — Washington Real Estate Brokerage Practices; DOL has discipline authority for misrepresentation in advertising
WAC 308-124 — DOL advertising and practice rules that implement RCW 18.85
Form 17 (Seller Disclosure Statement) — virtually staged imagery should never contradict what the seller has disclosed
Best-practice workflow: disclose in the photo description field AND in the public remarks so the language syndicates
NAR Code of Ethics SoP 12-13 — parallel obligation against misleading imagery
Plotpane is designed to give Washington brokers the exact choice Rule 105(d) gives them. Every Plotpane export ships as a clean 4K WebP/JPEG with zero burned-in Plotpane watermark on any plan, which means the listing broker picks the compliance route: (a) apply a visible "Virtually Staged" label to the frame in Photoshop or a layout tool before upload, or (b) leave the image clean and type "Virtually Staged" into the NWMLS Matrix photo description field for each edited frame. Both routes satisfy 105(d). Every staged export additionally carries an invisible XMP disclosure tag that identifies it as virtually staged; the XMP tag survives Lightroom, Windermere's shared asset library, John L. Scott's marketing tooling, Realogics Sotheby's International Realty's global branding portal, Compass Seattle's Marketing Center, BHHS Northwest Realty's collateral pipeline, and Redfin's photo ingest. That means the staging record follows the file through syndication to Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, and Trulia without relying on the caption alone. Plotpane's generation pipeline is also additive-only by design — it places furniture, rugs, and art into rooms that already exist and does not fabricate decks, pools, landscaping, skyline views, wall repaints that the seller won't deliver, or structural changes, which keeps output inside Rule 105(d)'s "different appearance" scope rather than crossing into the misrepresentation line NWMLS draws at nwmls.com/real-estate-photography-101/. By default the pipeline does not insert people into generated rooms, aligning with NWMLS's separate no-people rule.
Clean 4K export on every plan — no Plotpane watermark to conflict with the no-third-party-watermark rule
Choice of compliance route: in-image label OR photo description field — Plotpane output supports either
Invisible XMP disclosure tag survives Windermere / John L. Scott / Realogics SIR / Compass / BHHS NW / Redfin asset libraries
Additive scope only: furniture, rugs, art — no repaint, no added decks, no skyline fabrication, no removed defects
No-people generation by default, aligning with NWMLS's separate people-in-photos prohibition
NWMLS territory concentrates several market patterns where virtual staging disclosure needs extra care. Eastside luxury (Medina, Clyde Hill, Hunts Point, Yarrow Point, Mercer Island) and in-city luxury (Laurelhurst, Madison Park, Windermere neighborhood, Denny-Blaine, Broadmoor) draw heavy scrutiny from buyer agents at Realogics Sotheby's International Realty and Compass Seattle — best practice is to mirror the Rule 105(d) disclosure in the agency relationship packet and in any pre-inspection marketing, not just the MLS caption. HOA and condo listings along Alki, Belltown, South Lake Union, Kirkland waterfront, and Bellevue downtown frequently restrict photography of common amenities (pools, rooftop decks, fitness rooms, lobbies); virtually staging those spaces implies marketing rights the seller may not hold, and even a perfect 105(d) caption does not cure an HOA CC&R violation. Dual agency under RCW 18.86 requires written disclosure of the dual role to both parties — when one licensee represents both sides, restate the virtual-staging disclosure in that dual-agency acknowledgment alongside the NWMLS caption. Waterfront and view listings on Lake Washington, Lake Union, Elliott Bay, Portage Bay, and Hood Canal carry a specific trap: exterior virtual edits that enhance a view, remove a neighboring dock, or alter shoreline landscaping cross the misrepresentation line from nwmls.com/real-estate-photography-101/ regardless of caption. For the small slice of NWMLS coverage that reaches into Oregon, the Oregon Real Estate Agency advertising rules (OAR 863-015) run parallel to WAC 308-124 — check both if a listing sits on a border county. Queen Anne and Capitol Hill craftsman and historic listings: stay additive, because repainting a historic exterior or virtually "restoring" original trim can conflict with Seattle landmarks ordinance marketing expectations even when Rule 105(d) is technically satisfied.
Eastside luxury (Medina, Clyde Hill, Hunts Point, Mercer Island) — mirror the disclosure in the agency packet, not only the MLS caption
HOA/condo amenity imagery (Alki, Belltown, SLU, Kirkland, downtown Bellevue) — HOA rules sit on top of Rule 105(d)
Dual agency under RCW 18.86 — restate the virtual-staging disclosure in the dual-agency acknowledgment
Waterfront (Lake Washington, Lake Union, Elliott Bay, Hood Canal) — do not alter views, docks, or shoreline, even with a caption
NWMLS listings in Oregon border counties — OAR 863-015 runs parallel to WAC 308-124
Historic/craftsman Queen Anne and Capitol Hill — stay additive; avoid virtual exterior restoration
For this region
Local questions, answered
Does NWMLS Rule 105(d) require me to burn a "Virtually Staged" watermark onto the image, or is the photo description enough?+
The photo description is enough on its own. NWMLS Rule 105(d) lets the listing broker disclose the staging either by labeling the image itself or by writing "virtually staged" into the photo description (caption) field in the NWMLS Matrix photo tool — you choose which route fits your brokerage's syndication aesthetic. Plotpane ships clean 4K exports on every plan with no burned-in watermark, so you can take either path. An invisible XMP disclosure tag is also embedded on every staged file so Windermere, John L. Scott, Realogics Sotheby's, Compass, BHHS NW, and Redfin asset libraries retain the staging record regardless of caption choice. Always verify the current NWMLS handbook at nwmls.com/statewide-forms-rules/ — rules evolve.
Can I virtually add a deck, repaint the exterior, or enhance the Lake Washington view on an NWMLS listing?+
No. NWMLS's public photo guidance at nwmls.com/real-estate-photography-101/ explicitly bars manipulating images in a way that misrepresents what is for sale — adding a lawn, removing power lines, or erasing defects are the examples NWMLS itself names, and the same logic applies to a fabricated deck, an unrealized repaint, or an enhanced view. Rule 105(d)'s caption does not cure a misrepresentation — the caption covers honest virtual staging (added furniture, rugs, art in an existing space), not fabrication of property features the seller will not deliver at closing. Beyond NWMLS, such edits can trigger RCW 18.85 and WAC 308-124 disciplinary exposure with the Washington Department of Licensing. Always verify the current NWMLS handbook — rules evolve.
NWMLS bans photos that include people — does that apply to virtually staged rooms too?+
Yes. The no-people rule is separate from Rule 105(d) and applies to every photo uploaded to NWMLS, including virtually staged frames. Do not add people to a virtually staged scene, and remove any existing originals that include occupants, visitors, or photographer reflections before uploading. Plotpane's staging pipeline does not insert people into generated rooms by default, so the workflow aligns with the no-people rule without extra review. Always verify the current NWMLS handbook — rules evolve.
What happens if NWMLS catches a virtually staged photo without the Rule 105(d) disclosure?+
NWMLS compliance staff can remove the non-compliant image from the listing and the listing broker can receive a warning under the automatic fine schedule; repeat violations escalate. Independently, RCW 18.85 / WAC 308-124 expose the licensee to Department of Licensing discipline for misleading advertising, and NAR Code of Ethics SoP 12-13 creates a parallel board-level risk. The safe pattern is: caption each staged frame "Virtually Staged" in the NWMLS photo description field, mirror a one-line disclosure in the public remarks so portal syndication carries it, and rely on Plotpane's invisible XMP metadata as a third record that lives inside the file. Always verify the current NWMLS handbook at nwmls.com/statewide-forms-rules/ — rules evolve.
Does Rule 105(d) apply to Windermere, Redfin, Compass, John L. Scott, Realogics Sotheby's, and BHHS Northwest Realty the same way?+
Yes. Rule 105(d) applies to every NWMLS subscriber regardless of brokerage — Windermere (headquartered in Seattle), Redfin (headquartered in Seattle), John L. Scott, Compass Seattle, Realogics Sotheby's International Realty, and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Realty all upload into the same NWMLS Matrix photo tool and are governed by the same photo description field and the same fine schedule. Brokerage-internal marketing guidelines may be stricter (some firms require both an in-image label and a caption), but none may be looser than 105(d). Always check your brokerage's internal handbook in addition to nwmls.com/statewide-forms-rules/ — rules evolve.
Pricing
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Pricing FAQ
Billing, quotas, and refunds.
Yes — one click in the Stripe billing portal from your dashboard. Billing stops immediately and any remaining credits stay usable through the end of the billing period.
Starter and Pro renders refresh at the start of each billing cycle and do not roll over. Agency renders roll over up to 3× your monthly cap, so a slow month isn't wasted.
We never auto-charge for overages. Once you hit your cap, new renders pause until your next cycle. If you need more room immediately, upgrade your plan from the billing page and your new quota applies instantly with proration.
No free trial. Instead, every plan carries a 14-day no-questions refund — if your first render isn't MLS-ready, we refund it. We chose a hard paywall over a throttled free tier so every plan gets full 4K output and every tool from day one.
Yes — annual billing is roughly 20% off the monthly rate (Starter $39 vs $49, Pro $79 vs $99, Agency $199 vs $249, all per month). The toggle above swaps the two.
Enterprise
MLSs, franchises, portals, and photography networks.
Custom volume packages, SSO, SOC 2 readiness, private-cloud deployment, and dedicated CSMs. We partner with networks processing 50,000+ listings per month.
No. Midjourney and DALL-E invent scenes from text prompts — beautiful for art, disqualifying for a listing. Plotpane is a structure-preserving pipeline: your room geometry, windows, and floor plan stay exact. We stage, re-light, swap skies, declutter, and 4K-enhance your actual photo. No hallucinated architecture, no invented rooms.
BoxBrownie and Styldod are human-edit services: you upload, a retoucher works overnight, you get a result in 24–48 hours at $2–$32 per image per treatment. Plotpane runs the full listing pipeline — staging, dusk, sky, clutter, enhancement — in one upload, in ~90 seconds, for a flat monthly subscription. Same 4K quality, no queue, no per-image fees.
Yes, when disclosed. NAR guidelines, California AB 723, and REBNY Rule 3.3 all allow virtually staged photos provided the listing discloses them. Every Plotpane export embeds invisible XMP disclosure metadata so the staging record travels with the file. You still handle the listing-remarks disclosure in your MLS portal — that's the part only you can do.
Not on staging or enhancement — our Fidelity Contract enforces structure-preserving masks that lock architecture, windows, and floor plan before any generation runs. Furniture is added to empty rooms; clutter is removed from furnished rooms; lighting and sky are re-graded. Renovation features (new flooring, wall colors) require you to explicitly mark the surface. We never reinvent what's already there.
Yes — one click in the Stripe billing portal from your dashboard. Billing stops immediately, remaining credits stay usable through the end of the billing period, and there's no cancellation fee.
Yes — any AI-generated or AI-modified image is considered an edit requiring disclosure under NAR's standards. That's why every Plotpane export writes invisible XMP disclosure metadata by default. The flag is machine-readable by MLS tooling and survives Lightroom round-trips. You still add the disclosure line to your listing remarks; we make sure the image itself is self-describing.
We don't train on your uploads — ever, with no opt-out toggle needed. Storage is per-account R2 (Cloudflare's object store), isolated from other tenants. When you cancel, your account's files are deleted on schedule. Transit is TLS 1.3, at-rest is AES-256. Full details in /legal/privacy.
Yes. Upload HEIC straight from your phone or desktop — we validate by magic bytes (not just file extension) and convert server-side. PNG, JPG, WebP, and HEIC are all first-class inputs. Output is 4K JPG by default, or request PNG if you need lossless.
Upgrade is instant and prorated: Stripe credits the unused portion of your current plan against the new one, and your new render quota applies immediately. Downgrades take effect at the next billing cycle so you keep your current quota until then. No credits are lost in either direction.
Yes. All plans include a commercial-use license for the agent, brokerage, or photography business on the account. Agency plan adds 5 team seats and a white-label delivery ZIP so you can hand enhanced photos to clients under your own studio brand. Full licensing terms in /legal/terms.
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