If Pictures Are Worth 1,000 Words..What Do The Ones About Your House Say?

Part of our job in selling your house is to make it look as nice as it can. We do things like ask for some houses to be staged with rented furniture, or ask you to store away some furniture or personal items.  We may want some plants or flowers to be added to the front yard and for the roof to be cleaned of all debris. And all this would be for nothing if the photos that were taken didn't show your house well. Photos are the first thing that draws a buyer in. Everyone is online these days and everyone is looking through photos of your house. So, what do your photos say about your house?  Don't take the day of the photo shoot lightly. Here are some tips to make some great photos for your house:

-Clean your house as best you can.

-Make sure you have bright light bulbs in place to capture the light.

-Try to set the appointment time for your photo shoot at a time of day that brings the most light inside your house. If you have a terrific view or a dynamic property, you may need 2 times to shoot, one during the day for inside shots, and one during the golden hour when the sun is setting and can bring the romantic light to the outside photos.

- Be sure to ask the photographer to take photos of things you find special or different about your house. Things like a 3 or more car garage, a spectacular fireplace, guest quarters with a separate entrance or perhaps a wine cellar. If you have stairs, or an elevator, be sure to get them in part of one of the photos.

- Turn your blinds a bit upward if your window has a view of something undesirable like a neighbor's house.

- Children's rooms can be lovely in photos but de-cluttered the room if your child has a lot of toys.

- Light the fireplace

- Wash your windows and mirrors. Streaks and dirt can show up in photos.

- Make sure you have photos taken of the bathrooms and kitchen. Sometimes, some homes have updated on but not the other, so we see photos of an updated bath but no photos of a kitchen at all, or vice versa.  Unless that room is in complete disarray, this does no good. Buyers will wonder, and probably assume, something is majorly wrong with your kitchen if there are no photos. And it could be a selling point that you haven't updated the kitchen yet. There are buyers out there that are looking for a project of their own to do.

Be sure to ask your Realtor if you can look at previous photos of listings they have had so you can see what the photographer does with their photos. Don't miss this important step in selling your house. It's the first thing buyers will see and if the photos aren't done well, they may never make it into your front door to see the rest.
 Best of luck with selling your house and if you haven't began to work with a real estate agent, please give me a call. I would love to help!


    I had to add these photos just to show you what NOT to do in your house when having photos taken. And please ask your realtor to show you the photos before they are posted so yours don't look like this (and by the way, these are not as nearly bad as some that are out there)
                                                                     

These could have been such nice photos if they had only taken the trash bag off the counter handle in the kitchen, and cleared the counters. And the bathroom just needed to have the shower door shut, the towel removed, cabinet drawer shut, counters cleared and mirrors cleaned.