Getting Photo Ready to Sell Your House

In almost a decade of taking real estate photos, I, along with my real estate agents, have seen many things regarding what people think is appropriate for listing their home and getting the home camera ready.

Sellers should try to view their home through the eyes of a potential buyer.

This means setting aside emotional attachments to personal items and decor. Buyers aren’t interested in seeing how much furniture or how many belongings can fit into a room—they’re looking for a clean, inviting space where they can easily imagine their own life and style taking shape. Clear surfaces and uncluttered rooms help buyers focus on the features of the home, not the stuff in it.

We understand that this can be a difficult thing for some sellers to understand and so here are some images to demonstrate what looks good in camera and what does not.

Taking a similar quality photo as my typical listing photos with the room listed as “ready” by the seller

Having limited time, we cleaned up what we could and took the listing photo.

Here is another example of a bedroom that shows that a little time and care in getting a space ready for photos, makes a huge difference in the feel and sense of welcome in a space.

Removing clutter, making beds, and removing or updating older furniture will make the room more inviting for a potential buyer.

Taking what time we had, we decluttered and made the bed. I also took the liberty of taking out the floral couch and adding a more contemporary chair in post processing

Your listing agent hard at work cleaning up the clutter off the counter.

“Less is More” is definitely the way to go when listing your home for sale.

Sellers who do not clean up have a few other things to consider: This photo session took over an hour longer to photograph and many photographers will charge for the extra time or even leave to get to another job. Due to the listing not being camera ready, we could not take as many photos as is typical due to two things: 1) time and 2) unusable photos.

I would encourage all sellers to listen to your listing agents - they do know what they are talking about.

Here are the the tips I can give as a professional real estate photographer:

• Clean off all countertops and desktops

• Remove all small rugs from bathrooms and kitchens - to see the floors

• Remove all garbage cans, toilet cleaning supplies and bins both inside and outside

• Keep only a few items on bookcases and arrange in a pleasing manner

• Take down all family photos and personal artwork for your own privacy and protection

• Neatly Roll up or remove all garden hoses and electrical cords

I hope this helps both potential sellers and real estate agents better understand what makes for great listing photos.

Photographers can only capture what's in front of them, so to get the most bang for your buck, it's crucial to make sure the property is fully prepared before the shoot. Great photos are proven to attract more attention to your listing, which often leads to more offers—frequently at or above asking price—and a quicker sale.

Everybody Wins