I had occasion tonight to send to a client summer photos of her home- she's the new owner, but out of the area, so not yet "moved in". The photo was taken at a preview, and the sun hit the gleaming floors juuust so- beautiful.  The property was vacant, freshly painted, and wonderful.

When I was going through possible other summer photos to send (she missed the season, and there are NO better photos than summer photos on the North fork), in the event I'd missed one or two in the first batch (sent just after we'd left the preview), I came upon photos from property 2, also scheduled for that day.

We knew that our client was going to purchase one of the two, barring any pricing issues.

At the time of the photos on property 2, things felt cluttered (having just come from the empty gleaming hardwood floor home). It wasn't unpleasant, just...full. Wallpaper from the '80's, magazines on the bathroom counter, STUFF. Some doilies. I didn't notice ANY of that until I inadvertently visited pictures of the roll taken that day- just knew, after seeing the two, that our client would love the first property.

I don't know that all sellers are prepared beyond the "make it perfect" intial photo session. If the photos that I took of property B that day were indicative of the presentation I'd put in an MLS, well...I'd have done some serious picking up. We had a SCHEDULED APPOINTMENT to view the home.

Sometimes when we (ALL of us) live in homes for a period of time, our own perception is comfortable.

Selling a home, frankly, isn't.

Even if sellers aren't staging fans (I have to admit- stagers are gods/goddesses to me), awareness that every single showing leaves an impression of import would be good. It's great for US, as their Realtor, to oversee public photos presented in the best possible light, but it needs to look like that when it's shown...

*I'm not putting the pictures up because while the photos of others make me lmao sometimes, when the people presenting the home end up charming (if unaware of presentation issues) it's just hard to make it personal. But maybe we should sometimes, right out of the gate.