Top tips to prepare your home for photos
One of the most important visits we will make to your home is to take photos. They are the first thing a buyer will see and they will instantly decide if they want to view your home from that first impression. Here are our top tips to preparing your home to sell quicker and for a higher price.
Preparing your home for our photos is an important step in ensuring that your property is presented in the best possible light to potential buyers. Here are some tips to help you prepare your home for estate agent photos:
- Declutter: Clear out any clutter or unnecessary items from your home. This will help make your rooms appear more spacious and give buyers a better idea of the layout of your home. Particular areas to pay attention to are:
- Kitchen: Clear worktops leaving just the essentials on display, make sure there is nothing on top of the wall cupboards, remove fridge magnets, hide away tea-towels and oven gloves, polish stainless steel appliances and sink/taps. Mobile phone chargers are often left in plain view and break up the lines of a workspace.
- Dining areas: If possible dress the table for dinner, show a lifestyle with white china, modern placemats and wine glasses. Imagine you are preparing for a dinner with fussy diners.
- Living rooms: Hide children's toys, fluff up sofa cushions, remove throws, stage furniture (see below for tips). If you have an open fire or wood burner winter light in colder winter months.
- Bathrooms & toilets: Remove all toiletries, toothbrushes etc from sink, bath and shower. Remove bleach and cleaning products and hide children's toilet seats or similar. Ideally new or fresh fluffy towels in a neutral plain colour.
- Bedrooms: Fresh bedding, fluffed up and smoothed in a neutral colour. Remove dressing gowns from the back of doors, ensure all cupboards and wardrobes are fully closed with no clothes visible in the room, bedside cabinets and dressing table clear of personal items. Any items stored under the bed or on top of wardrobes are hidden away. Consider new linen in neutral colours to give your room an upmarket feel and not detract from the structure of the room.
- Entrance hall: Hide coats and shoes, ensure doors fully open for the best photo angles.
- Storage: Keep belongings hidden away even if you need to start packing and putting boxes in the garage or loft. Buyers will think there is a lack of storage if they see that you have outgrown your home and think that could be them in a few years.
- Depersonalize: Remove any personal items, such as family photos or personal decor, as they can be distracting to potential buyers.
- Brighten up your space: Open all curtains and blinds to let in more natural light. If your home is particularly dark, consider turning on lamps or installing brighter light bulbs.
- Stage your home: Arrange furniture and decor in a way that shows off the best features of your home, It may be best to move some furniture to the garage to allow a room to appear bigger. A golden rule is to create a clear floor to give the impression of a larger room. Consider adding fresh flowers or other decorative touches to make your home look more inviting.
- Outside space: Remember that the exterior of your home is the first thing potential buyers will see. Buyers decide in the first eight seconds of seeing a home if they’re interested in buying it. Get out of your car, walk in their shoes and see what they see within the first eight seconds. In the Spring and Summer months it is particularly important to keep gardens and outside space looking amazing. Make sure your front garden is tidy, any flaking or tatty paintwork is sanded and re-painted, consider adding some potted plants, planting flowers or other decorations to make your home look more inviting from the outside. Pressure wash the patio and paths and have the lawns freshly cut with grass clippings cleared from the lawn.
By following these tips, you can help ensure that your home is presented in the best possible light and attract more potential buyers.
If you have any questions before we visit you please get in touch, we are happy to offer any advise as we know time spent dressing will help us get amazing photos and sell your home for a better price.