How to Showcase Your Home with Flattering Photos
Thinking of selling your home? Then you want potential buyers to see it in the best possible light. One of the most effective ways to sell your home quickly is through posting photographs on real estate listing sites like Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com. Staging the property gives you an advantage over the many sellers who don’t stage at all. But the property needs to be showcased well.
The point of staging is to show off the property’s best features. But you want to be subtle. So before you start snapping pics and uploading them, look through this guide to help you avoid staging pitfalls that can turn potential buyers away.
Clean, Declutter, Depersonalize
The key to successfully showcasing your property is to make it as appealing as possible to as many people as possible. The best way to do that is by presenting a clean open space that shows the space’s potential.
If the room has any oversized furniture or old appliances, remove them. Oversized furniture can make the space appear smaller and cluttered. Old appliances can take attention away from the room itself, which should be the focus.
If the property has an old, dirty carpet, considering replacing it with hardwood or laminate. No one wants carpet that has been made dirty by other people. Unlike carpet, hardwoods and laminates are much easier to clean. If need be, you can always add a rug for a homey touch.
Applying a fresh coat of paint to the walls and ceilings can also improve your staging. If you currently have wallpaper, remove it and apply neutral paint. With a fresh coat of paint and new floors, buyers will feel like they’re getting a brand new home.
Any non-essential items, especially personalized items like family photos or monogrammed towels, should be removed. You want your viewers to imagine themselves in the space, and seeing your family portraits might make them feel like they're moving into another family’s home.
How to Take Great Staging Photos
The quality of your photos is so important. If they don’t accurately portray the features of your property, then all the cleaning and freshening up are for naught. Here are tips to keep in mind when snapping pictures.
Warning: now is not the time to be artistic and experimental with camera angles, lenses, or filters. While you may find them interesting, potential buyers probably won’t. Remember, potential buyers, want to see the house as it is. They aren’t interested in your attempts at avant-garde photography.
Take your photos with natural light. Artificial light appears harsh in photographs. Also, use a tripod at a lower height. Taking photos from approximately 4 feet will make the room appear larger and provide a good floor-to-ceiling ratio. Be consistent with the orientation of your photos. Keep all of the pictures in landscape mode, rather than switching between orientations.
The kitchen, bathrooms, dining room, and living room are important but don’t forget to include the exterior of the property. This is where you can show off your curb appeal and any outdoor living spaces like porches, patios, and decks. Pictures of the exterior will also help buyers find your property when they visit.
Finally, when you post your pictures, take a moment to arrange them in a logical way. A random order can confuse viewers and put them off. As a rule, you want to put your best pictures first to draw viewers in.
Selling a home can be a lot of work. If you’re looking for a service that can eliminate the hassle of staging and selling, there are companies that will handle the entire process for you. For example, the Cleveland-based VNTG Home offers a service called, The Single Solution, which takes care of estate sales, home liquidations, moving, consignment, donation, home restoration, and staging. Investing in a service like this can help your home sell faster for a higher price. It’s a worthy investment.
