Capture Your Home in Pictures

Below is the first in a series on the importance of taking pictures that willl help to sell your home.  The series is a reprint of a monthly newsletter that I email out from RE/MAX.  The information is so important that I thought I would share it here as well.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words and in this day of instant information you will want to make sure that you arm yourself with relevant and attractive images of the asset you wish to sell...your home!  

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Part 1 - Taking pictures yourself or having your Realtor do it for you

Smart sellers know that presenting a home for sale means putting it in the best shape ever. Of course, all that work deserves to be shown to the best advantage – both in “real life” and in each and every view of your home. Often, this first impression comes from photographs.

Putting your home on the market without a photo is essentially not putting your home on the market at all. People want to peek before taking the time to view. Newspaper advertising, online listings, take-sheets – each contain photographs designed to draw potential buyers to come walk through the home and to experience your property with a view towards ownership. Often photographs are what people keep with them as they are making decisions and considering what to bid.

As many as 10-12 photographs may be placed in listings online, but every property should have at least 3-5 shots that tell a story. The goal: to enable the viewer to imagine themselves living in the home. Squander your photographs by offering the wrong ones, and you are missing out on one of your greatest tools to pique the interest and imagination of buyers.

Must-have photos include front of home, kitchen, living room, master bedroom, master bathroom, dining areas, significant features, such as out-buildings, exceptional garages, mother-in-law quarters, and other perks. Include photos that contain elements that set your home apart. If you garden, keep horses, have a game-room, pool, patio, deck or some other feature that photographs well, use it. In listings powerful copy can play a feature up, but a single, considerate photograph really is worth a thousand words. And about those photos… who should take them? Some agents photograph homes themselves, some hire professional real-estate photographers, some request photographs from home owners. Which way is best? If the agent takes the photographs or hires the photographer, the “ownership” of the photographs might be in question. Change agents, and you will need to start with fresh photographs.

Next blog - Hiring a professional photographer.