Get Your Home Sold Fast With This Photography Checklist

Selling a home isn’t all that complicated. As long as you run through a basic checklist of things to do, most homes will basically sell themselves. That checklist does, however, include staging the home correctly with photography in mind. This might sound simple but it entails a lot more than just walking around the property and taking a few snapshots with your phone. Great photos are proven to sell a home about 32% faster than bad ones, so let’s go over a few ways that you can capitalize on this competitive advantage.

Prepare the Front Yard

Considering the front yard is the first thing people will see when pulling up to your house, it's important to make a good first impression. Mow the lawn, prune the trees, trim the shrubs, liven up the garden if there is one, mend the fences, and remove all the dead leaves. You can also improve appearances by planting new flowers and painting garden poles as well as the mailbox. Remove all clutter and vehicles as well before you take photos.

Prepare the Backyard

The backyard cleanup should be about the same as the front yard cleanup. If you have patio furniture, tidy it up and switch out old pillows for new ones. Remove all personal belongings and clean your pool if you have one. Remember to make your house appear as if nobody lives in it, so the buyer can imagine his or herself and their own belongings in your home. Turn on water features like fountains as well before taking photos.

Clean the inside

This will be the most time-consuming part of your photography staging efforts and will include de-cluttering, sweeping, vacuuming, and removing all personal items. Family photos, calendars, notes, small appliances, garbage cans, and more should all be removed from sight so that prospective buyers have the freedom to envision their own belongings there.

Dust your home, straighten out the duvet, clean concrete and brick, and leave out only a small handful of neutral artwork or decorations if you must. Make the beds in every room, close all closet doors, straighten up your dinner table and chairs, and tuck away all laundry.

Perfect the Lighting

Lighting is key to taking the perfect real estate photography. Make sure all your lightbulbs are bright and fresh and make sure any dark areas of your home are well-lit. If you’re taking pictures during the day, open the curtains and let in as much natural light as possible. However, it’s commonly known that the best time of day to take high-quality photos is around sunrise and sunset. If you can find the time to schedule your photoshoot around the so-called ‘magic hour’, the results will be dramatically improved.

Real Estate Photography Can Be Mastered in a Few Simple Steps

The goal of real estate photography is to make your home look as attractive as possible to buyers. This means eliminating as many traces of yourself as possible and making everything look as new and fresh as can be. You might also want to rearrange some furniture to make certain rooms look more spacious. 

By following this short checklist before you take listing photos of your home, you can attract the most buyers possible and potentially sell your home much faster than average. 

Corey Tyner is the owner of Arizona land buyers, Phoenix fast sell, and Austin Fast Home Buyers. He is one of the top real estate investors in Arizona with over a decade of experience. His work has been featured on Bigger Pockets, Real Estate Agent Magazine, and several other real estate investor publications.

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