If you’re hiring a real estate photographer for a photo shoot of your Fresno-area home then you must make sure that the presentation of the home is perfect for the day of the shoot. Here are a few helpful tips to ensure that you and your home are ready for it's big day.
Why Does The Presentation Of A Home Matter?
We are all aware that these days pretty much everyone looking to buy a home is searching the internet as their first step in the process. The first thing these potential buyers see when searching those pages of listing are photos, so those first impressions absolutely have to be right. If the photos aren’t good enough then the buyers won't visit the property--it's as simple as that. They'll just skip onto the next house in their search results, leaving you wondering if perhaps you set your price too high--when in reality the problem may not be the price at all, but merely the images that are being used to justify that price. As one real estate agent in Virginia put it:
“A great photographer is critical to our marketing plan. They can make every property, no matter what the price range, stand out … and this makes our phones ring!”
What can you do to make sure you’re attracting a crowd of buyers to your real estate listing? Here are just a few very simple things you need to do to make those real estate photos work their hardest for you:
Make It Light And Bright:
Ensure that all of your lights are working inside! In addition to this, open those blinds and curtains to let the natural outdoor light in for the photo shoot. A great photographer will have no trouble balancing out the light and dark areas--and it’s far better to show a little outside than to close all the blinds, which might make it appear that you’re hiding something.
Remove The Clutter:
I have looked at thousands of homes in my time, and in my experience there is nothing more off-putting than seeing a fabulous home that looks smaller than it really is because there are toys all over the floor, visibly too much stuff in the kitchen and way too many things in the living room. I like to think of it this way: the home owners or selling agent would surely never arrive at their own wedding with untidy hair or anything less than the most carefully selected dress or suit. They should absolutely apply the same standards to the marketing of a home. Eliminate the things that don’t need to be there, leave the things that do, and make sure that the room is immaculate. As one example, a space that gets a lot of clutter is the bathroom. But it's important to have your bathroom looking amazing. Buyers want to imagine their perfect future and having a bathroom that resembles a spa at a luxurious resort is a dream for most people. Having a bathroom full of someone else's magazine subscriptions and grooming items, maybe not so much.
There’s a fine line between having too little furniture--with bare open spaces that look uninviting--and having too much furniture. In addition to this consideration, you may also need to arrange the furniture so that a living room, for example, looks comfortable and conversational--the kind of place a buyer would want to sit with friends. As Realtor Magazine puts it:
“Spotlight the flow of your space by creating a focal point on the furthest wall from the doorway and arranging the other pieces of furniture to make a triangle shape. The focal point may be a bed in a bedroom or a china cabinet in a dining room.”
Clean The Home:
Even though showing a home in a photo is different from having buyers walk through an open home it’s still vitally important that you present a clean and tidy space. For example, you would want to pick everything up off the floor that shouldn’t be there and clean all floors.Remove all signs of pets living in the home as some buyers might be turned off by the site of a dog bed or a cat tree. Show the amount of room in the kitchen by hiding away any small appliances on display (that extra toaster oven or coffee pot, for example). Make sure all items in the bathroom are in storage, leaving out only a small number of decorative pieces. Carefully clean all windows and mirrors and make sure there are no streaks, which will show up in the photos (especially in that bathroom).
Prepare The Outside:
Don’t neglect the exterior of your home! Be sure that all trees and brushes are neatly cut, the grass is short, and the edges are trimmed. If you have some patchy areas try and have those repaired by starting to work on them at least a month or two before the house goes on the market and if you aren’t successful bring in a professional to treat it. A great front lawn makes a strong first impression, so it's worth your while and the expense to take the time to make it look amazing. You will also want to get rid of anything stored around the yard such as garden tools, toys, empty plant pots and anything else that shouldn’t be there.
Do Not Show Seasonal Items:
Even if the holiday season is approaching fast, believe me when I say that doesn't mean you want to show it in your photos. When I’m photographing a home I always request that any holiday décor be removed from a space before I shoot it. The reason why is that if the property doesn’t sell, say, before Christmas, then we don’t want to have a tree and decorations in the images that obviously date the photo. As an article online put it:
“Instead, consider ways to decorate for the season as a whole and take photos of rooms without themed decor.”
Now you're ready for prime time:
One of the biggest benefits of prepping for your photo shoot is that your home will be in tip top shape for showings! By putting in a little bit of time and effort, your home will be ready for a flood of potential buyers to walk through the doors.
Following these simple styling tips and using a little common sense (as well as a lot of collaboration between owner, agent and photographer) you can be sure that your Fresno-area home will stand out even in the sea of listings that are available today.