When securing your new home is contingent on selling your house, ensuring it sells quickly is paramount. But, it’s no easy feat. Even with homes flying off the market, you also want to get the right price. When it comes to selling your home, photography is one of the most effective – and often overlooked – tools.
Just how effective? The National Association of REALTORS found nine out of 10 home buyers begin their search online. And, they found 98% of prospective homebuyers rate photos as the most useful feature when deciding on a home.
Why are photos so important? Because even though they don’t sign contracts or make deals, they feed the homebuyers’ imagination. They let others picture themselves in your kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. Like a profile picture on Match.com, your home’s pictures are its first impression.
Home Photography Golden Rule – Show Off Your Home, Not What’s Inside.
Remove or put away all personal items. This includes shoes, coats and briefcases. While you don’t want your home to look bare – leave the sofas and TVs – you want the prospective buyer to imagine space for their own items.
Tips for Photographing the Inside of Your Home
- De-clutter the Kitchen – Your home’s kitchen is its number one selling point. Make it appear as spacious as possible. Put away all dishes and miscellaneous appliances. Stow dishrags and sponges. This allows the counters and cabinetry to standout.
- Natural Light – Built-in flashes cast harsh lights. They create strange colors and unnatural shadows. Avoid using them if at all possible. Open your curtains. Turn on your lights. And, then take your pictures at the brightest part of the day.
- Make Your Bed (and all the kid’s beds too)
- Close the Toilet Lid – Yes, folks forget.
- Watch Your Focal Point – It can be enticing to use décor as a focal point, but your prospective buyer isn’t looking for décor. Focus on the architecture such as fireplaces and crown molding.
- Watch the Corners – While getting the entire room in one shot can be difficult, avoid shooting from the entryway. Often this leaves a room’s corner as the center of the picture. Try instead to shoot from within the room towards the entryway.
- Use Rugs to Your Advantage – If you’re dealing with a large room, break up the floor space visually with large rugs. However, if you’re capturing a small room, removing the rugs can give the homebuyer a better idea of its potential.
Tips for Photographing the Outside of Your Home
- Curb Appeal Consciousness – Are your flowers blooming? If not, remove them from the picture. How’s your lawn look? Give it a trim. Put away toys and garbage cans. Park your car down the block. In the same way you de-clutter the inside of your home, de-clutter the outside.
- Shoot with the Light at Your Back – While the best time of day to shoot your home’s exterior will depend on which direction it faces, your best bet is to always keep the sun at your back. Sometimes this will mean you shoot one half of the house in the morning and other in the evening.
- Shut the Front Door – That’s right. Shut it. And shut the garage door and the shed door.
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