10 Text Commands Every Agent Should Know for Editing Photos with AI

Stageless's text-instruction editing feature lets you transform any real estate photo just by writing what you want changed. But for those just starting out, a blank text box can feel intimidating — which command should you write first? This list rounds up the 10 most-used commands among real estate agents, organized by practical situation, with concrete examples you can copy, paste, and adapt directly to your own photos. Each command includes an explanation of when it makes the most sense to use, plus a variation you can try for a slightly different result. Unlike a general overview of the feature, this list is meant to be used as a working reference: bookmark it, keep it open in a second tab during your next editing session, and treat each entry as a template rather than a fixed script. The goal isn't to memorize ten exact phrases, but to get a feel for how specific and structured a good instruction tends to be, so that writing your own becomes second nature after just a few tries.

1. "Remove the car parked in the driveway/garage"

This is probably the most-used command among real estate agents, and for good reason: a car parked in front of the facade draws attention away from what actually matters — the house. This command works particularly well in exterior photos taken early in the morning or late in the day, when a vehicle is more likely to be parked on the street or driveway. If there's more than one car in the image, it can be more precise to specify which one: "remove the grey car by the garage door." Useful variation: "remove all vehicles visible on the street," for a more thorough facade cleanup.

2. "Remove the visible power lines and cables"

Utility poles, power lines, and telecom cables show up constantly in exterior photos, especially in older urban or suburban areas. These are elements the human eye tends to ignore during an in-person visit, but which become much more noticeable — and distracting — in a static photograph. This command removes these elements while preserving the sky and structure behind them realistically. It works just as well indoors, for removing visible appliance or TV cables against a wall.

3. "Turn the sky into a sunny day"

Weather conditions on the day of the photo shoot rarely line up with the agent's schedule. This command turns an overcast or grey sky into a clear blue one, without changing any other element of the photo. It's particularly effective on exterior shots of facades and gardens, where the sky takes up a significant part of the frame. Variation: "turn this daytime photo into a golden hour shot," for an even more dramatic and cozy effect, popular for high-end property listings.

4. "Add natural light to the living room"

Interior rooms photographed on overcast days, or with little direct sunlight, can look smaller and less inviting than they actually are. This command adjusts the overall brightness of the image to simulate stronger natural light entering the space, without creating artificial shadows or unrealistic reflections. It's especially useful for north-facing living rooms and bedrooms, where direct sunlight is rare even on good-weather days.

5. "Remove the personal items and toys from the room"

In still-occupied properties, it's common to have clothes, toys, toiletries, or other personal items visible in photos — even after careful tidying before the shoot. This command removes these elements generically, without needing to list each object individually. For more precision in rooms with many different objects, it can be more effective to apply the command twice, reviewing the result between the two applications.

6. "Change the front door color to [color]"

The front door's color has a disproportionate impact on a facade's first impression, and it's also one of the cheapest and simplest real-world changes to make — which makes this command especially useful as a consultative sales tool. Showing the owner how the house would look with a dark green or navy door, before any real investment, can help decide whether it's worth making the change before listing the property. Replace "[color]" with the specific shade you want to test — the command works with common color names as well as more descriptive references, like "forest green" or "petrol blue."

7. "Remove the trash and recycling bins from the street"

Trash and recycling bins are one of the most frequently overlooked elements when preparing an exterior photo — often because they only become visible after the photo has already been taken and zoomed in on-screen. This command removes these elements while realistically preserving the pavement and sidewalk around them. It's especially relevant on trash collection days, when bins tend to be out on the street rather than tucked away in the yard.

8. "Replace the [furniture item] with a more neutral-toned one"

Furniture with very specific colors or patterns — a bright red sofa, for instance — can make it harder for buyers with different tastes to visualize the space. This command lets you replace a specific furniture item with an equivalent, more neutral-toned version, without altering the rest of the room. Replace "[furniture item]" with the specific piece (sofa, chair, coffee table) and adjust the desired color depending on the effect you're after — earthy and light grey tones tend to appeal to the widest range of buyers.

9. "Remove the people visible in the photo"

Photos taken during open houses, or at properties with neighbors or workers nearby, may include people who aren't part of the property's presentation and who, for privacy and professionalism reasons, should be removed before publishing. This command identifies and removes people automatically, filling the space with the appropriate background. For photos with multiple people in different positions, it can be more reliable to apply the command to each person individually, especially if they're partially overlapping other important elements of the image.

10. "Remove the damp stains and marks from the wall"

Damp stains, mold, or worn paint are common in older properties and can create a disproportionately negative impression relative to the actual problem, especially when the stain is small but visually prominent in the photo. This command removes these marks and evens out the wall color around them. It's important to note that this edit only fixes the problem in the photo — actual damp issues still require physical resolution and, depending on local regulations, may need to be disclosed to the buyer regardless of photo editing.

Before You Apply: Prepare Your Base Photo

No matter how well written, a text command can't make up for a weak base photograph. Before reaching for any of the 10 commands in this list, it's worth making sure of three things in the original photo. First, resolution: photos taken with a recent phone camera are usually sufficient, but it's best to avoid excessive digital zoom, which introduces blur and makes it harder for the AI to recognize objects. Second, framing: a slightly crooked photo or an awkward angle will still be crooked after editing — text commands fix specific elements in the image, not the overall composition. If the framing isn't doing the room justice, that problem should be solved before shooting, not after. Third, base lighting: while commands like "add natural light" help a lot, a photo taken in extremely poor light conditions — say, late at night with no artificial lighting at all — limits what the AI can convincingly reconstruct. The practical rule is simple: the commands in this list are meant to correct and refine a good photo, not turn a bad photo into a great one. Investing a few extra minutes in the shoot — picking the best time of day, quickly tidying the most visible space, checking the framing on-screen before moving to the next room — remains the factor with the biggest influence on the listing's final quality, even with all these editing tools available.

What Order to Apply These Commands In

When a photo has several problems at once — a car in the driveway, visible cables, and an overcast sky, for example — the order in which commands are applied affects the quality of the final result. The most reliable approach is to start with elements that take up more space in the image and are physically distinct from the background, like vehicles (command 1) or people (command 9), before moving on to finer, more distributed elements like wires and cables (command 2). Only once these concrete elements are resolved does it make sense to move on to broader atmospheric adjustments, like the sky (command 3) or natural light (command 4), because these affect the image as a whole and it's harder to judge their real effect while unwanted objects are still distracting the eye. Finally, leave the more specific cosmetic adjustments — door color (command 6), furniture (command 8), wall stains (command 10) — for last, once you already have a clean, well-lit base to judge whether those tweaks make aesthetic sense. This order isn't an absolute rule, but it significantly reduces how often you'll need to go back and redo an earlier step.

Practical Example: Applying Multiple Commands to a Single Facade

To make this more concrete, consider a real and common photo: the facade of a house, taken on an overcast day, with a car parked in the driveway, power lines visible against the sky, and a trash bin by the gate. Following the recommended order, the first step would be "remove the car parked in the driveway" (command 1), reviewing the result before continuing. Next, "remove the trash bin by the gate" (command 7), which resolves another foreground element. Only after these two steps does it make sense to apply "remove the visible power lines" (command 2), a finer adjustment that's easier to judge on an image already free of larger foreground elements. With the facade already clear of these three elements, the next logical step is the atmospheric adjustment: "turn the sky into a sunny day" (command 3), which immediately transforms the overall feel of the photo. If the front door has a dated color, this would be the moment to try "change the front door color to dark green" (command 6) as a final touch. The end result is a completely transformed facade from a single original photo, achieved through five simple, sequential instructions, each one easy to review and adjust before moving to the next. This kind of workflow — small successive steps rather than one complex instruction — tends to produce more consistent results than trying to describe every change at once.

How to Adapt These Commands to Your Property

These 10 commands are starting points, not rigid formulas — the strength of instruction-based editing lies precisely in the ability to adapt them to each photo's specific situation. A good practice is to always start with the most visually obvious problem and apply one command at a time, reviewing the result before moving to the next. This prevents small errors from compounding across several chained edits. It's also worth experimenting with combining commands from this list with adjustments more specific to the property in question — for example, after removing the car from the driveway (command 1) and changing the sky (command 3), you could still ask to "add a potted plant by the door" for a more welcoming final touch. Over time, most agents develop a small set of favorite commands, tailored to the type of properties they usually photograph and the visual style they're after for their listings.

Try these 10 commands on your own photos with Stageless AI and see the difference they make in seconds.