By Don Anthony Gomez
Regardless of whether you are a real estate professional selling a home for a client or if you are selling your own home as a "For Sale By Owner", one thing you have to be very aware of is that GOOD PICTURES SELL HOMES. If your pictures aren't good when buyers see your home on the Internet or the MLS, they will simply pass it up and move on to the next home. To assist you in getting the home sold, I've assembled a list of some top things that you should do to try to get the best photos possible.
1) Know how your pictures will show up on various websites. I recommend you take the main pictures for the home horizontally vs vertically or in panoramic mode. The Charlotte Region MLS (and some other websites) stretches a vertically taken picture out and distorts the image making it look much wider than it really is. It also squishes the image if it is a wide, panoramic image. You especially don't want your main photo to look stretched out, so it is very important to understand how your picture is being viewed on the websites. I see this error mostly with townhomes, as the Realtor(R) typically wants to get the single unit being sold and avoid the attached neighbors. In my opinion, it's better to get the neighbors in the picture and show an accurate depiction of the home.
2) Bright rooms sell homes. Have all the lights on in the room to make it as bright as possible when taking the picture. Dark rooms are a huge turn-off to buyers. If a light bulb is out, replace it and create a bright room. I find that using the "night" setting on a digital camera often works best to get the room bright, almost to the point of over exposure.
3) Remove sunlight "shadows". If the sun is shining directly in the window causing bright sunlight on the floor, bed, table, or other area, angle the blinds up to remove the sunlight "shadow" from the picture if at all possible. You can still have a bright room, but it's better to have a consistent brightness rather than having places with sunlight patches.
4) Sell the home, not the furniture. Take pictures of the room features, not the furniture (i.e. bedroom with window, not just picture of the bed). All too often I'll see a picture of the master bed when they could be taking a picture of the room with beautiful tray ceiling and a wall of windows. Remember, it is the house they are buying, not the furniture.
5) Take lots of pictures. Try different camera flash settings and lens opening times to get the best picture of one angle. Sometimes the pictures come out better with a flash on "night" setting, or no flash at all. I typically take about 4 pictures from each position. Flash/no flash on "auto" setting and "night" setting. The great thing about digital pictures is that you can just delete the ones you don't want.
6) Take room pictures at angles rather than straight on. Especially with a wide angle lens, this can be a very effective technique to showcase the room. The angled picture gives the room better depth, and you can usually get a couple of walls in the picture this way.
7) Make it a model home. Try to make it like a model home with things as neat, tidy, and impersonal as possible. Remove all personal photos, as well as child and pet toys (i.e. building blocks, dog bowl, cat litter box, etc.). You want the pictures to show the space, not who lives there.
8) Close closet doors for pictures. Unless you are specifically taking a picture of a large walk-in closet, it's best to have the closet doors closed for pictures.
9) Remove unnecessary things from the room whenever possible. Trash cans, cluttered countertops, refrigerator magnets, kitchen and bathroom towels, toiletries, etc., do not need to be in the pictures. Be sure to look at what will be seen in the picture before taking it. If something doesn't need to be there, move it out of the way for the picture.
10) Use the bathroom mirror to your advantage. Bathroom shots are probably the most difficult to take. Even with very large bathrooms, it's tough to get everything in the picture. To do this most effectively, take the picture of the vanity at an angle, and the mirror can often be used to show the shower and tub.
Using these tips will help you create some of the best photos possible to bring your buyer to your home. Don't let your buyer skip over your home when they are searching online simply because the pictures don't do your home justice.
Give them the good pictures they need to see so they are drawn to your home so you can get it SOLD!
Regardless of whether you are a real estate professional selling a home for a client or if you are selling your own home as a "For Sale By Owner", one thing you have to be very aware of is that GOOD PICTURES SELL HOMES. If your pictures aren't good when buyers see your home on the Internet or the MLS, they will simply pass it up and move on to the next home. To assist you in getting the home sold, I've assembled a list of some top things that you should do to try to get the best photos possible.
1) Know how your pictures will show up on various websites. I recommend you take the main pictures for the home horizontally vs vertically or in panoramic mode. The Charlotte Region MLS (and some other websites) stretches a vertically taken picture out and distorts the image making it look much wider than it really is. It also squishes the image if it is a wide, panoramic image. You especially don't want your main photo to look stretched out, so it is very important to understand how your picture is being viewed on the websites. I see this error mostly with townhomes, as the Realtor(R) typically wants to get the single unit being sold and avoid the attached neighbors. In my opinion, it's better to get the neighbors in the picture and show an accurate depiction of the home.
2) Bright rooms sell homes. Have all the lights on in the room to make it as bright as possible when taking the picture. Dark rooms are a huge turn-off to buyers. If a light bulb is out, replace it and create a bright room. I find that using the "night" setting on a digital camera often works best to get the room bright, almost to the point of over exposure.
3) Remove sunlight "shadows". If the sun is shining directly in the window causing bright sunlight on the floor, bed, table, or other area, angle the blinds up to remove the sunlight "shadow" from the picture if at all possible. You can still have a bright room, but it's better to have a consistent brightness rather than having places with sunlight patches.
4) Sell the home, not the furniture. Take pictures of the room features, not the furniture (i.e. bedroom with window, not just picture of the bed). All too often I'll see a picture of the master bed when they could be taking a picture of the room with beautiful tray ceiling and a wall of windows. Remember, it is the house they are buying, not the furniture.
5) Take lots of pictures. Try different camera flash settings and lens opening times to get the best picture of one angle. Sometimes the pictures come out better with a flash on "night" setting, or no flash at all. I typically take about 4 pictures from each position. Flash/no flash on "auto" setting and "night" setting. The great thing about digital pictures is that you can just delete the ones you don't want.
6) Take room pictures at angles rather than straight on. Especially with a wide angle lens, this can be a very effective technique to showcase the room. The angled picture gives the room better depth, and you can usually get a couple of walls in the picture this way.
7) Make it a model home. Try to make it like a model home with things as neat, tidy, and impersonal as possible. Remove all personal photos, as well as child and pet toys (i.e. building blocks, dog bowl, cat litter box, etc.). You want the pictures to show the space, not who lives there.
8) Close closet doors for pictures. Unless you are specifically taking a picture of a large walk-in closet, it's best to have the closet doors closed for pictures.
9) Remove unnecessary things from the room whenever possible. Trash cans, cluttered countertops, refrigerator magnets, kitchen and bathroom towels, toiletries, etc., do not need to be in the pictures. Be sure to look at what will be seen in the picture before taking it. If something doesn't need to be there, move it out of the way for the picture.
10) Use the bathroom mirror to your advantage. Bathroom shots are probably the most difficult to take. Even with very large bathrooms, it's tough to get everything in the picture. To do this most effectively, take the picture of the vanity at an angle, and the mirror can often be used to show the shower and tub.
Using these tips will help you create some of the best photos possible to bring your buyer to your home. Don't let your buyer skip over your home when they are searching online simply because the pictures don't do your home justice.
Give them the good pictures they need to see so they are drawn to your home so you can get it SOLD!
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