House sale photographs

clairetelche1

Hi

I've read a few posts about presenting your house for viewings but we've got the Estate Agent coming to take the internal photographs on Sat and I was wondering if anyone has any tips?? Obviously we're frantically painting / cleaning and tidying at the mo - we've fixed the roof and tidied the yard, is there anything else we should be doing?? A friend suggested setting the table - do other sellers do this??

Thanks

C x

poppysarah

Tidy. Declutter. Declutter. Declutter. Tidy.

Oh did I mention declutter?

Look at the pics before they get put live.
Do they look well lit and clear? Is there any junk showing still?

Set the table for 4 or 6 is possible. Make it nice with flowers, candles, glasses etc. Put chairs in right place. Make sure it's all even and in middle of room so looks usable.

Put everything away in the kitchen apart from maybe a fruit bowl and kettle.

DVardysShadow

Avoid clutter for photos. Bear in mind the scale of a rightmove photo, it does not show small detail, but it shows clutter. On a high definition photo, if it were a full page in a mag, setting the table would probably be good. But for right move it would be bad.

Also, make sure the lighting is good - no over exposure or under exposure - although this is more for the photographer to sort out.

clairetelche1

Brilliant - thanks. OH is currently hiding his treasured bits and pieces as I'm having a major declutter and he's terrified that I'll throw out something he can't live without (you know - like a rusty screwdriver or a scratched CD!) I'm not a fan of things on show anyway - cereal boxes on the kitchen bench make me cringe for some reason!

Keep the tips coming

googler

Clear the clutter. Especially in the kitchen and bathroom.

Kitchen

Clear worktops, nothing on them apart from a kettle and maybe one or two other items. If you've got anything on top of your wall units, take it off. Consider decluttering the cupboards as well to make room for those things that you're going to move off the worktops. Make sure hob, oven, cooker etc are spotless. If a washing machine is going to be in the photos, make sure it's not stuffed full of clothes, as these will show up in the photo.

Bathroom

Everybody uses toothbrushes, toothpaste, shower gel and shampoo, but do you REALLY want to show these to the world? Get a box to tuck all of your daily toiletries into, and tuck it away in a cupboard. Items NOT to appear in bathroom photos - loo brush; bottle of domestos/harpic beside the loo; spare loo rolls; shower gels, loofahs, etc in a bath or shower; toothbrushes, razers, other daily items on or above the washbasin.

Clean, clean, clean. Everywhere.

This page has an american slant, but some good tips

This one from the UK

Another from the UK

Lots more, just google 'preparing home for sale' or similar....

googler

Ask to see the photos before the EA or photographer goes away, either on a laptop or on the camera

kprice580

When I was getting ready for EA to do pictures I went round with my own camera and took photo's from all diferent angles to get the best view. If you see something on your photo you dont like, you can change it straight away

Good luck
Katy x

googler

If you've got the courage for it, ask a friend or relative to come round for a mock viewing, and ask them to point out any faults. Depends on how good a relationship you have with them, but it might bring out something that you missed.

bigbigmamamoo

kprice580 wrote: »

When I was getting ready for EA to do pictures I went round with my own camera and took photo's from all diferent angles to get the best view. If you see something on your photo you dont like, you can change it straight away

Good luck
Katy x

This is a great idea. I was going to suggest looking at other properties in your estate agents to see what you liked and didn't like, but this is a better idea

best advice my EA gave me was to make sure all doors could open all the way, so move any furniture that is next to the door and stops it opening fully

he took brilliant photos, but on the day he took them it wasn't sunny, he was able to relight the interior ones so they looked bright, but the exterior he had me take one and email it to him

clairetelche1

Brilliant suggestions folks - thanks! Will add some of these to my very long 'to do' list

clairetelche1

Thanks for the tips - one more question - do I set up the garden furniture?? We only have a yard but it's quite big! x