MRED (Midwest Real Estate Data — Chicago metro & northern Illinois)

Yes — but not the way most guides say. MRED §6.2.3 requires exactly one thing: “Disclosure of virtually staged photo(s)/rendering(s) is required in the specified field.” That field is named in MRED’s own Residential Glossary of Fields — “Are Any Property Photos Virtually Staged?”, a [Y]/[N] entry on the connectMLS Media tab — and when you set it to Y, MRED adds the note to Broker and Client Detail reports and to the photo browser for you. There is no watermark requirement, no prescribed wording, no remarks sentence and no obligation to post the unstaged original anywhere in the MRED rulebook. The trap runs the other way: §6.1.1 bars listing photos that “prominently display any names, contact information (digital or otherwise), URLs and/or links, QR codes (or similar) … logos and/or branding”, so stamping a compliance badge or a verify URL onto the image creates a violation MRED never asked you to risk. Staging itself is limited to personal property — furniture, mirrors, artwork, plants — except on To-Be Built and Under Construction listings, where §6.2.3.1 permits rendering all facets of the real property. Adding a view that isn’t physically there, or removing power lines, water towers or highways, is “strictly prohibited” either way.

What MRED (Midwest Real Estate Data — Chicago metro & northern Illinois) requires

Alterations this rule covers:

• THE DISCLOSURE IS A STRUCTURED MLS FIELD, NOT A LABEL. §6.2.3 verbatim: “Disclosure of virtually staged photo(s)/rendering(s) is required in the specified field.” MRED’s Residential Glossary of Fields (Revised 8/17/2024) names that field verbatim: “Are Any Property Photos Virtually Staged?” — Media tab, “Enter [Y] or [N]” — and states the consequence: “If Y is indicated, a note will be added to all Broker and Client Detail reports and the photo browser.” In Chicagoland the agent flips one flag and the MLS itself generates the consumer-facing disclosure. Nothing goes on the photo.
• DEFINITION — §6.2.1 verbatim: “‘Virtual Staging’ is defined as using photo editing software to create a photo or conceptual rendering of what a room and/or property could look like, if it was staged or lived in.” MRED prefaces this: “MRED recognizes the varying needs of different marketplaces and individual property sales concerns. Accordingly, MRED defines and permits the use of ‘virtually staged photos’ within the following parameters.”
• PROHIBITED INCLUSIONS — §6.2.2.1 verbatim: “Modifying photo(s)/rendering(s) to include visual elements not within a property owner’s control is strictly prohibited.” MRED’s own example is local and unusually concrete: “Editing in a view of CloudGate (aka the Chicago Bean) that is not physically possible from the specified location in the real world.”
• PROHIBITED EXCLUSIONS — §6.2.2.2 verbatim: “Modifying photo(s)/rendering(s) to exclude visual elements not within a property owner’s control is strictly prohibited.” Example given: “Removing power lines, water towers and/or nearby highways”.
• WHAT IS PERMITTED — §6.2.3 verbatim: “Modifying photo(s)/rendering(s) to include personal property items not conveyed with the real property is permitted.” Listed examples: “Applying digital photos of furniture, mirrors, artwork, plants, etc. into a photo of an empty room” and “Removing existing furniture from a photo and replacing it with digital images of furniture, mirrors, artwork, plants, etc.” Personal property in; real property out.
• TO-BE-BUILT / UNDER CONSTRUCTION IS BROADER — §6.2.3.1 verbatim: “Virtually staged photo(s)/rendering(s) on either: (a) To-Be Built; or (b) Under Construction; is permitted for all facets of real property to conveyed to a buyer in a sale. Disclosure of virtually staged photo(s)/rendering(s) is required in the specified field.” (Typo ‘to conveyed’ is in the original.) For new construction MRED lifts the personal-property-only limit — but the field disclosure still applies.
• TEXT, URLs AND QR CODES ON PHOTOS ARE BANNED — §6.1.1 verbatim: “All photos should pertain strictly to the subject property and may not prominently display any names, contact information (digital or otherwise), URLs and/or links, QR codes (or similar) REALTOR® or realty office logos and/or branding, for sale signs, persons, collages, or audio/video/text commentary.” MRED is the first board in this dataset to name URLs and QR codes explicitly — which is exactly what California’s §10140.8 asks to be placed on or adjacent to the image. §6.1.1 also extends the same limits to captions: “The same verbiage and language restrictions/prohibitions that apply to the Property Description/Remarks also apply to all photo captions and photo remarks.”
• NO AI-SPECIFIC PROVISION. Full-text search of the current rulebook (Revised 5/14/2026) returns no occurrence of ‘artificial intelligence’ or ‘AI-generated’, and no ‘digitally altered’ definition. §6.2 is the whole of the altered-image regime, and its ‘photo editing software’ language is broad enough to catch AI staging without naming it.

What this does — and what you still do

• SEAREI produces the disclosure artifacts: a disclosure-labeled export, your unaltered original hosted at a public URL, a public verification page, and a certificate with integrity hashes.
• SEAREI does not guarantee that any MLS, board, or regulator will accept your listing, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them. Board rules change — each board page shows the date we last verified it.
• You complete the MLS-side steps your board requires (field or public-remarks entry, uploading the original, image ordering) and confirm the current rule with your MLS or broker before publishing.
• Nothing here is legal advice.

See the full Terms of Service.

To meet the MRED (Midwest Real Estate Data — Chicago metro & northern Illinois) rule, an agent completes these MLS-side steps (from the cited source):

• Set the connectMLS field 'Are Any Property Photos Virtually Staged?' to [Y] on the Media tab (Section 6.2.3).
• Do not place names, URLs, links, QR codes, logos, or branding on the photo (Section 6.1.1).
• Limit staging to personal property except on To-Be Built/Under Construction listings (Sections 6.2.2-6.2.3.1).

MRED Rules and Regulations, Section 6.2 — Photography and Virtual Staging (Revised 5/14/2026). §6.2.1 defines virtual staging; §6.2.2.1–§6.2.2.2 set the prohibitions; §6.2.3 and §6.2.3.1 permit staging and impose the disclosure duty: “Disclosure of virtually staged photo(s)/rendering(s) is required in the specified field.” The ‘specified field’ is named in MRED’s Residential Glossary of Fields (Revised 8/17/2024): “Are Any Property Photos Virtually Staged?”, a [Y]/[N] field on the connectMLS Media tab. Photo content generally is governed by §6.1.1 (Photographs).

Effective 2026-05-14.

Published by Midwest Real Estate Data LLC (MRED) — serving Chicagoland / Northern Illinois (footprint spills into southern Wisconsin & northwest Indiana).

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No fine line item specific to undisclosed virtual staging was located. Photo-content violations under §6.1.1 carry a published escalating schedule, verbatim: “Once an office is notified that their photo/virtual tour is in violation of the above rule, there shall be a fine imposed for subsequent occurrences per office as follows: $250.00 fine for first occurrence after notification, $300.00 for the second occurrence per office, $500.00 for the third occurrence per office, and $1,000.00 for every occurrence thereafter.” Fines are per office, not per agent, and begin only after notification. Separately, using photos without the copyright owner’s written permission is “an automatic $250.00 fine per occurrence”, and removing photos from the Service draws a $250 fine. Enforcement of §6.2 itself runs through Section 7 (Compliance with Rules) and Sections 9–9.16. Do not publish a specific dollar figure for an undisclosed-staging violation in Illinois — the schedule quoted above is for photo-content breaches.

• MRED Rules and Regulations — current official rulebook PDF (Revised 5/14/2026): §6.2 Photography and Virtual Staging; §6.1.1 Photographs (URL/QR/branding ban + escalating fine schedule). Full-text searched: no watermark and no AI provision.
• MRED Residential Glossary of Fields (Revised 8/17/2024) — names the §6.2 disclosure field verbatim: ‘Are Any Property Photos Virtually Staged?’, connectMLS Media tab, ‘Enter [Y] or [N]’
• MRED — connectMLS login / platform (the system in which the disclosure field is set)

Last verified 2026-08-27.

• MLS compliance overview (pillar)

The rule differs board by board. A few related markets to compare — the full list is on the compliance overview:

Minnesota (NorthstarMLS) · Bright MLS (Mid-Atlantic) · Central Virginia (CVR MLS)