Get A Home Photo Ready
Many steps must happen when getting your home ready to get put on the market. Ensuring gorgeous pictures to compliment your home and entice buyers is one of the most important things on that checklist. These helpful tips to get a home photo ready and many more like it can be found exclusively at Roost Real Estate.
Here is a comprehensive list to help your home shine and be photo-ready for the market:
Hire a Professional
To truly entice buyers to consider buying your home, the photos of it must have as much pride in them as you have had in your home. As much as we would love to think that we are all professional photographers today with how amazing our phones have become at the picture taking experience, there is a different sort of art that encompasses real estate photography.
Lighting is a difficult medium to control by any but a professional. Professional photographers can size up any room and decide how natural lighting from the windows and existing lighting play best with the environment. Sometimes external lighting brought in by the pro becomes a necessity, depending on the room – and a good professional photographer will perform their due diligence in assessing the home’s needs before the photoshoot.
There are important highlights that must be showcased to get your home looking photo ready for the sale. Hiring a professional photographer with experience in real estate imagery will capture these highlights. Our piece that details why hiring a pro is crucial to effectively marketing your home can be found here.
Clean Clean Clean
While this should perhaps go without saying, ensuring your home is sparkling clean for prospective home buyers and your photoshoot is imperative.
All floors must be swept, mopped, vacuumed, steam-cleaned, and spotless. Dust can show up on camera all too easily, so a thorough dusting is important. The minutiae of making sure every bed is made with fresh and clean linens, every dish put away out of sight, every piece of furniture in its proper place, and every window gleaming is important.
Kitchens can sometimes be the most detailed and difficult to create a photo-ready environment. Counters must be spotless, along with all appliances. We know it’s easy to forget things like magnets on your fridge, so here is your friendly reminder to put them away. Sinks must be empty and thoroughly cleaned, all dishes put away. If your cabinets have glass fronts, make sure that your dishes are neutral colors and matching.
It is not out of the realm of possibility to consider hiring a professional cleaner to come in the few days before your shoot to get your home photo ready.
Get Impersonal
Taking all of your personal belongings out of the “picture” may be one of the most uncomfortable and difficult tasks in getting your home photo-ready. However, it is necessary to allow potential home buyers to create a creative vision in their mind’s eye about what the home could look like as their own.
Replacing your pictures that hold such a deeply personal place in your life is hard – try substituting them with art from local artists. Personal grooming items in bathrooms also need to be put out of view and add continuity to a blank canvas.
We know you love your furry friends, but please make sure their bowls and toys are put away out of sight. Don’t forget about the furry friends themselves – consider crating them in spaces that won’t be featured or send your fur family to non-fur family or friends.
Bring in some neutral-colored rugs, towels, and even bedding that coordinates well with each room’s features. Remember, you are trying to create a homey feeling while giving prospects a blank canvas for their vision.
In some cases, this task may become overwhelming and too daunting. Should this be the case, hiring a quality home stager may be the best option for you. Find out more information about this option here.
Don’t Forget The Outside
Curb appeal is a real thing. Creating an inviting environment starts outside, as most people enjoy well-appointed outdoor spaces in the homes they are considering purchasing. Upping your curb appeal will help get your home photo ready.
Creating that black and beautiful space becomes interesting outside the home. Ensure that your yard is mowed, hedges and trees trimmed and edging done. Any personal decorations should be put away for the time being. If you have furry friends, make sure all waste is disposed of.
Don’t forget to clean the house as well – take time to pressure wash your home, and clean the exterior windows well. Put away all outdoor maintenance items such as hoses and yard tools. Garbage and recycle cans need to be put out of sight as well.
Depending on the season, make sure you play the space up to it. If you are selling in the spring or summer, ensure your BBQ and patio area is clean and inviting. If you are selling in the winter months, make sure snow is not covering drive and walkways.
The Day Has Come
You’ve done all the prep work – you’ve chosen a great professional photographer, your interior is sparkling, your exterior is beautiful. While you have done great to get your home photo ready, your staging efforts aren’t yet complete. There are a few tasks that need to wait until the day before or the day of the photoshoot. The following items of your checklist will help your photographer create the perfect environment.
Coming back around to the importance of lighting, turn on all interior lighting. As a reminder, make sure all bulbs are fresh and replaced and in proper working order. Candles add a lovely source of natural lighting and provide new and clean smells, so make sure they are all lit. Natural lighting is the best form, which means open up those blinds and window coverings.
Electronics provide a distraction from the imagery needed for the potential of your home. Ensure all electronics, such as TVs, computers, and fans are off – even put away, if possible. Your home will have a cleaner feel with these items not providing unwanted blurs.
Outside needs a little more last-minute care as well. Turn on all exterior lights for that soft and warm glow. Remove all cars from the road and driveway, driving home the curb appeal. You can now sit back and allow your professional photographer take over and enjoy the bounty of the hard work getting your home photo ready.
All of these steps will help your professional photographer create inviting imagery, enticing potential homebuyers to make an offer on your home.
Solyndria Creative 