Pictures should tell a story.

Rick Cardisco of Pocono Mountains Realty recently wrote a very interesting blog about taking pictures for a property that you are marketing. How right he is! Marketing to me is telling a story in such compelling terms that a fellow Realtor or a potential buyer will want to see that property.  Pictures and accurate descriptions are ever more important now when even local buyers search on the net before even calling a Realtor. 

How many descriptions have you not read about a remodelled kitchen new bathrooms or some other particularly attractive feature and yet not a single picture to show it off! Our MLS allows for 16 pictures. While perhaps not every house merits 16, after all sometimes a sequence of empty rooms is a drawback rather than an enticement, a few at least should be posted.

While I am at it, please make sure you lower the toilet seat before taking the picture, or clear an overloaded kitchen counter, which otherwise will simply say "not enough storage space!" Sure it takes some time, but would you not rather spend that time at the beginning, than a lot of time not getting calls on a property?

Also don't exlude short sales or even forclosures. Many short sales show well and not all foreclosures are destroyed. And while I am at it, floor plans that can be scanned and uploaded do count as a picture. Let potential buyers start arranging their furniture before you even show the house.