How to prepare your real estate listing for a photoshoot. An overview.
When you post your real estate listing to your local MLS, you want the photos to represent the very best version of your property that there is. In this article, we’ll be going over all the things you should do before your photographer arrives to ensure that your property looks its best! Along with each suggestion in our list we’ll have a short paragraph or two for why you should complete that item. For tasks that may deserve a more in depth explanation, such as landscaping and house cleaning, we will be producing separate articles on those topics.
There are some variables that, depending on what applies to your listing, will make some of this list not applicable, such as whether or not the property is occupied, so apply these guidelines where appropriate.
Let’s start with the outside of the house.
Exterior:
Hire a qualified landscaper. The very first picture that potential clients will see is a straight on shot of the front exterior of the home. When a potential buyer visits the property for a showing, the first thing they’ll see when they drive up is the front yard. Don’t risk a poor first impression by not hiring a qualified landscaper. A qualified landscaper will mow, weed eat, edge concrete surfaces, trim hedges, and blow yard debris off concrete surfaces and back into the yard. Make sure you get a landscaper who bags grass clippings, especially if the grass hasn’t been cut in awhile. For lawns with a lot of tree coverage, consider hiring someone to rake leaves. Ask if your landscaper can get on the roof and remove leaves and debris and if not, hire someone who will.
Clean the exterior of the home. While the front lawn will be the first thing potential buyers notice about the property, the front side of the house will be the very next thing. Dirty windows and doors, wasps nests hanging from the ceiling of the porch, algae growing on siding panels, and a dingy looking driveway are all things that are fairly easy to take care of. A professional pressure washing company will likely be able to take care of most, if not all, of these tasks. But if your house is particularly dirty, consider hiring someone who specializes in window washing or asking if your house cleaner can also clean the outside of the windows. If there are wasps nests hanging from the porch ceilings, go buy an inexpensive can of wasp killer from a local home and garden store, spray them down, then either remove them yourself or ask your pressure washer to remove them for you.
Make sure the pool is presentable. A clean pool can really sell a house in the photos. A dirty pool can really sour a potential buyer on the idea. Pools are difficult and sometimes expensive to maintain and to keep clean, especially if it doesn’t come with a cover. Showcasing a pool with leaves, algae, and dirt in it only makes buyers think to themselves “maybe this isn’t a hassle I really want.” But a beautiful, clean pool makes the buyer think “I could really see myself enjoying this everyday!” We recommend cleaning the pool as close to your scheduled photoshoot as possible to ensure that your photographer doesn’t have to scoop out leaves or other debris that may have blown into it.
Ensure there are no vehicles in the driveway or anywhere else where they may be seen in photos. You photographer should already know to park down the street a ways so his vehicle isn’t in any of the shots. If you or any occupants are going to be present during the photoshoot, make sure everyone has parked their vehicles to a location where they won’t be seen in the photos.
Remove clutter. Put the kids’ bikes in the garage. Roll up the garden hoses. Remove fallen branches, even if you have to hire someone to take them away. Straighten up the patio furniture. Throw away drink cans and cigarette butts. Dispose of dog poop and hide the cat food dish.
This next item might ruffle some feathers, but it’s an important step to ensure that you don’t alienate potential buyers. Remove any political or religious flags and signage. This includes things like the pride flag, the thin blue line flag, and “This House Believes in…” banners. If it’s election season, put the Billy Ray for Mayor sign in the garage. Fold up your Christian flag and your I Stand With Ukraine banner and store them in the garage. Put your Florida State Seminoles banner and your “Parking for Auburn Fans Only” metal signs in the shed. The only flags I’m not going to tell you to tuck away until after the photoshoot are the American Flag and your State Flag, and even that may be advisable depending on what part of the country you live in. You’re trying to sell your house as fast as possible and for as much money as possible. Don’t let someone’s prejudice against your politics, religion, or sports team be the reason they don’t buy from you. If your buyer is insistent on leaving these on display, check your local MLS guidelines for direction, as many outright ban some of these displays, and advise your clients of these guidelines to ensure you are compliant and there is no delay in getting your listing posted.
Finally, stand in the six places a photo is likely to be taken and see if you notice anything out of place. The six places are straight on and the two corners in the front, and straight on and the two corners in the back. See if you notice anything out of place. Take out your phone, snap a photo, and take a good long look at it. This is a great time to notice things like solar powered lamps that have tipped over or a fence plank that has a hole in it that you might want to get repaired.
With the outside complete, let’s move inside.
Interior:
Hire a qualified cleaning service. Most reputable cleaning services have a package tailored to real estate listings. These services include a deep cleaning of the house. This not only gets the house ready for photos, but also ready for a buyer to move in. A qualified cleaning service will dust ceiling fans and light fixtures, remove cobwebs, clean the tops of door frames, clean mirrors and windows (remember to ask if they can clean the outside of the windows if your house cleaner doesn’t), scrub the spaces between the tiles in the shower, polish the water faucets, vacuum and mop, and even remove pen marks and dirt from the walls. Ask them to make sure the window dressings, such as blinds and curtains, get a high level of scrutiny, as windows are often the showcase of a room and you want them looking their absolute best in the photos. Don’t forget the shower curtains!
Have carpets and rugs shampooed. Shampooing a worn rug or a high trafficked carpet can really bring life back into it, especially if the house has pets. If the home is occupied, find a cleaner who is willing to move furniture to get the job done. It will become very obvious once the current residents move out and take their couch with them that you only cleaned the parts of the carpet that are exposed. There’s a lot of things on this list you might consider doing yourself or going with the cheapest option, but I caution you to NOT DO THAT WITH THE CARPETS! If you use someone who is inexperienced or using consumer level equipment, it can take a very long time for the carpet to dry, which can delay showings. And, if the cleaner does a poor job, they can draw out sour smells such as pet smells. You don’t want those drawn out to linger in the air, you want them eliminated. We also strongly recommend you do this last. It doesn’t make any sense for you to have the carpet cleaned and then hire someone to dust the ceiling fans and have all that dust just fall on your freshly cleaned carpet.
Hide trash cans, toiletries, and other unsightly things that are usually out in public view. This probably isn’t applicable if the house is vacant, but it’s still good information to have since sometimes things like brooms or trash cans are left behind when an occupant moves out. Put the kitchen trash can in the pantry or garage. Take the kids’ toothbrushes, hand soap, and anything else you leave on the bathroom counter and store it in the cabinet under the sink. Put Dad’s wallet and keys in the kitchen junk drawer. If there’s any house plants that look like they’ve been neglected, hide them somewhere.
Do a final walkthrough. A lot of the things in this part are things your photographer will do if they’re not already done, but you can make his life a little easier by taking care of them for him. It also minimizes the chances that it doesn’t get done. Turn on all the lights in the house. This is a great time to make sure all the light bulbs are working. Open the curtains and blinds. If there’s something unsightly on the other side of a particular window, feel free to leave the blinds closed. Put all the toilet seats down. Make sure none of the digital clocks are blinking. Then, just like outside, go stand in the corners of the rooms where your photographer is likely to take a picture from and take a look. See if you see anything else that needs to be dealt with before your photographer arrives.
Click here to download an easy to use checklist. (COMING SOON!)
Doing these things will ensure that your listing looks its best and is ready to be photographed. Remember, great photos lead to your property selling up to 32% faster and for up to 9% more money than if your photos don’t look their best, and that means more than just using a professional photographer. A professional photographer can only take pictures of what’s in front of him, and if what’s in front of him is a freshly cut lawn and crystal clear windows, selling that house will be a breeze.
