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Photographing homes

As we all know, home sales are slow these days. I recently went to a home with a realtor friend of mine to assist her with taking photos to list online for the property. I simply could not just let her point and shoot... there were packing boxes, left over food items and dirty dishes on the counter. In just a few moments of time, we straightened up the area, moved some houseplants around and took great photos.

As someone who has bought or rented more than 15 homes over the past twenty years (military moves) I can tell you that one of the first things I always do is go online to browse listings. We all know we want the houses we are selling to appeal to the largest group of potential buyers, right? Why limit the opportunity with online photos of great homes that just don't look great?

I often ask my realtor friends NOT to post photos until they've had a opportunity to get really great and appealing shots. I know it's difficult due to having to get the photos up for active listings. So here are some tips:

When you first meet the home seller, tell them that you will be coming in to take photos of the house and ask them to de-clutter the main rooms (kitchen, family, master bedroom, master bath) and remove clutter from around the outside of the home.

If it's not possible to take photos before they start packing and taking furniture out, ask them if they can start their packing and cleaning of the main rooms first.

Use some of the items (houseplants, etc) in each room to give it a more appealing look in the photo.

Stand high and level when shooting - too much ceiling or too much floor detracts from the photo.

If time and client participation is not on your side - contact a professional home stager! Simply Beautiful Spaces has the time and talent you need to make the best sale. www.simplybeautifulspaces.com

Posted by Kathryn Koch on 08/03/2007 07:53 AM

Comments (5)

home staging, mls, photos, clutter, curb appeal

This post has been included in Virginia Information

5 Comments on Photographing homes

AUG

2007

Kate agree with you on this one. I will not take a picture before the home is ready to be shot. Pictures are the most important part of marketing. It is also amazing to me that Realtors don't invest more in the camera they use. A great camera makes all the difference in the world. Especially for the smaller rooms in a house. A camera with a good wide angle lense will make a huge difference!

Kate: Thanks for emphasizing the importance of good photos in the listing. I always tell my prospective staging clients not to list the home until it has been staged. Using the "after staging" photos greatly improves their odds of getting the highest number of potential buyers to see their home. At Moving Mountains Design, we provide the homeowner or listing Agent with a CD of beautiful photos right after the home has been staged and looks its best.

I agree, if you are and you should utilize the number of photo shots on the MLS as possible, they should be good ones and not the dark ones you cannot see anything with.

Michelle - Great Point! Providing home sellers and realtors a CD of brilliantly staged homes allows them to use the photos as much as possible - not only for online listings, but slick-sheets, HOA photos, etc. I HIGHLY Encourage Realtors and Home Sellers to make a wise investment in staging and MLS photography... an investment of a few hundred or few thousand dollars can make a difference between selling just another structure for less than the asking price or enticing potential buyers and getting at or above the asking price! If anyone in the Northern Virginia/Washington DC area is interested in having these services provided, contact me at kate@simplybeautifulspaces.com

Thanks for the great post, Kate. I agree, there are WAY too many stinky photos on our MLS. I especially love the ones with either just a bed or just the toilet (usually with the seat up!).

Suggestion for all of you Realtors out there: Look thru the view finder of your camera before you shoot the photo. Where is your eye drawn? If it is clutter, get rid of it! When I first began taking photos, I would go to the clients home twice. I would take the first set, go home pull them up on my computer and enlarge them. If my eye was drawn to something that shouldn't be there, I deleted the photos. Did this take more time? Yes, but it was just the beginning of my career in R.E. Now my eye is trained to see the "oops" before I click the camera.

Good luck to everyone on taking listing photos. And thanks again Kate for the great blog.

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