I have been going through listings online that are more than 60 days old and felt compelled to blog about something that is blowing my mind! Out of the 13 listings that I have gone over, 5 of them have absolutely NO photos posted - not even the outside of the house!
Below is an example of one of the listings (I removed the some of the information in order to protect the privacy of the Realtor and the Real Estate office). I apologize that it has definitely lost something in the 'translation' from downloaded file to being posted here - but I am not very good at all this technical stuff and I basically just wanted to let you see what I saw.
The first thing that comes to mind, for me at least, is WHY are there NO photos? Does the house really look that bad? Why would a Realtor take a listing and not market the house to the fullest extent - and wouldn't that include ONLINE photos that capture the interest of potential buyers?
As a Real Estate Stager, some of the things that I see on MLS drive me insane; I want to get right over to those houses that aren't showing well and do everything in my power to 'right every wrong'! I see photos of rooms that are vacant and you can only guess what the room is that you are looking at. Then I see photos of rooms that do not show the full potential or purpose of the space.
A Real Estate Stager can help in all the instances above. We will come to the house and either instruct the seller on what needs to be addressed in order for the property to show at its best, or do the work ourselves. We have access to furniture and accessories for those empty rooms that will not only help to show the purpose, but will make potential buyers want to move right into them! We take wonderful 'before and after' pictures that can go right onto MLS, which takes some of the burden off the Realtors.
A Staged home will show better, both in person and online. Maybe it's time to call a Stager to help sell your listing!
Val Allocco, a certified (HSE), professional Home Stager, is the founder & owner of Staged 2 Sell NY which was established in early 2006 and serves all of Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk Counties) as well as the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. She is also the Metro New York Chapter President of ASHSR (American Society of Home Stagers and Redesigners).
Val has taught Adult Education courses on "Staging Your Home To Sell" and has also been a featured speaker at numerous Home Selling Seminars on, and around, Long Island. She is available for seminars and other real estate related presentations and can be reached at 516-982-2671.
Please visit www.staged2sellny.com for more information and examples of our work.
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Hi Val- If I were a seller, I would be ballistic with the way homes are shown on the Internet/listing. Yesterday, I had a client call me fretting that his REA had not posted a photo of the front of his beautiful home. The staged photos look awesome...but none from the outside. I told him to send the REA an email 'telling her what you expect and want'. Poor photos, no photos or simply messy room photos are unprofessional. Call a stager already! : ) Regards-Kathleen G