35th & Wallingford

Presale Visualization Case Study

35th & Wallingford

A four-unit Seattle townhome development marketed months before completion through a full presale listing system built from renderings, walkthrough media, and a custom project site.

4-unit development rough framing stage presale marketing sold before completion
View Case Study Original Project Site

Overview

Presale was the strategy. The question was how to make unfinished homes feel real enough to sell.

Mark Huber wanted to test presale on a major four-unit townhome project, but the homes were still in rough framing. Under his normal process, he would finish, stage, and photograph before going to market. This time, the goal was to move earlier without sacrificing buyer confidence.

The objective was not simply to build a project website. It was to create a market-ready listing package that could launch through MLS and syndicate normally across the major home-search platforms while the project was still under construction.

What Studio Novion built

A full presale listing package: photoreal renderings, real/CGI composite imagery, cinematic video, virtual walkthrough media, aerial context, floor plans, virtual staging, social content, and a white-label property website that could function like a real listing before the project was done.

Project Type 4-Unit Townhome Development
Starting Point Rough Framing / Pre-Completion
Primary Goal Reach Market Earlier
Observed Outcome 2 Units Sold Before Completion

The Problem

The builder wanted the market window, not a four-month delay.

For decades, the standard approach had been to wait until the homes were complete, staged, and ready to photograph. But this project had a smaller window of opportunity, and waiting for completion would have meant carrying the project longer before buyers could fully understand what was being built.

The challenge was not just showing plans. It was creating enough realism and emotional clarity that buyers could trust the finished vision before the homes existed in finished form.

Developer context
"It would have been 4 months before we would have had a finished product to stage and sell."

Mark Huber, Huber's Custom Building

The Presale System

A full listing environment built before the homes were market-ready in real life.

This was not a single rendering package. It functioned like a complete listing launch: enough media, detail, and presentation structure to let buyers move through the project as if the representative unit were already complete.

Visualization Interior and exterior photoreal renderings
Composite Real and CGI imagery matched to actual conditions
Motion Cinematic listing video
Interactive Virtual walkthrough experience
Planning Floor plans and layout communication
Context Aerial views and neighborhood orientation
Styling Virtual staging and finish expression
Launch White-label property website and social assets
Input

Architectural drawings, finish schedules, appliance selections, material samples, fixture specifications, millwork details, site conditions, and builder feedback.

Use

Help buyers understand layout, finish level, light, and feel before the completed homes could be toured, while still functioning as a normal market-facing listing package.

Secondary Value

The visuals were strong enough to influence design decisions during the process, not just marketing after the fact.

Site + Media

The project needed more than renderings. It needed a buyer-facing experience.

The live property site acted as the delivery system for the presale package: a place for film, visuals, walkthrough media, and project information to work together rather than living as disconnected files.

White-label project site

Buyer-facing property website

The original project site remains online and shows how the media package functioned in the market.

Open original site
Listing film
Virtual walkthrough
Short-form asset
Media strategy

A buyer-facing launch system, not just a render package.

The media worked because it was presented as a complete market-ready experience. Buyers were not asked to imagine disconnected files or abstract plans. They could move through a coherent project story built to feel like a real listing, even before completion.

Render / Reality

The strongest proof was how little separation there was between the renderings and the completed home.

This is where the case study should feel almost eerie. When the finished unit was complete, the built result tracked the presale visuals closely enough that the renderings and final photography became difficult to distinguish at a glance. That level of accuracy came from working directly from the actual specification package, down to fixtures, surfaces, millwork, and view orientation.

Finished Photography
Marketing Render
Render Finished
Finished Photography
Marketing Render
Render Finished
Finished Photography
Marketing Render
Render Finished
Finished Photography
Marketing Render
Render Finished

Selected Views

Selected views from the presale system and the completed project.

A focused set of images shows how the project was presented before completion and how closely that presentation held up once the homes were finished.

Outcome

The project reached buyers earlier, sold earlier, and reduced the cost of waiting.

The presale package let the project go live well before a traditionally staged and photographed launch would have been possible. That changed the timing of the sale process, improved the developer's ability to catch the market window, and reduced months of avoidable holding pressure.

2 Units sold prior to completion
~4 Months of earlier market presence compared with waiting for a finished, staged product
Sold Out and closed shortly after project completion

Developer Proof

"I could not distinguish between the real thing and their photorealistic renderings, matterport and videos."

Mark Huber, Huber's Custom Building

"The virtual renderings literally saved us thousands of dollars and allowed us to market our homes at a much more favorable time."
"We were able to sell 2 of the units prior to completion."
"The entire project was sold out and closed within 2 weeks of completing the project."
"We would actually go back and make changes to our design after you showed us what it would look like when completed."
"I would purchase a home just from what you created. It is perfect, right down to the plumbing fixtures."
"I think I will use this tool on all of my projects."

Studio Novion

Presale presentation systems for projects that need to be understood before they are finished.

Studio Novion helps developers, builders, and design-forward listings reach the market earlier with media systems that make unfinished work feel real, legible, and ready to buy.

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