Preparing Your Home For Real Estate Photography

When you're looking to sell your home, there are some things you must do to prepare your home for viewing. Homes listed for sale online or in print must be photographed first. Potential home buyers also like to see photos after viewing. Furthermore, today's home buyers tend to rely heavily on the internet when making buying decisions.

For this reason, taking great photos and videos of your home is the key to getting great offers and making a quick sale, especially in competitive markets like ours here in Raleigh. So, how do you ensure you take the best photographs or videos? To help you get started, here's a real estate photography to follow when preparing your home for sale.

So, how do you ensure you take the best photographs or videos? To help you get started, here's a real estate photography guide to follow when preparing your home for sale.

To get the best photos and videos of your home, consider doing the following;

1. Start By Preparing Your Front Yard 

Your front yard must look perfect before taking any photos or videos. Start by mowing your lawn, pruning trees, trimming shrubs, revamping your garden, fixing your fence, and removing fallen leaves. You can plant flowers and paint garden poles as well.

Your front yard should also be free of clutter. Remove empty planters, water hoses, toys, and balls, among other items that may be distractive when taking photos, i.e., garbage cans and sprinklers. You should also remove your car/s from your driveway and close the garage doors. Front door frames and eaves should also be free of cobwebs. Paint your exterior if you have to. You should also consider cleaning your windows before the shoot.

In a nutshell, your front yard should look perfect. You can go as far as adding some garden lights for perfect nighttime photos.

2. Prepare Your Backyard 

Your backyard also needs to look perfect. Before you stage your backyard, arrange any furniture that is present. You can consider changing the furniture pillows or cushions if they are faded. You should also clean and cover backyard stoves and sweep debris from the deck.

Also, don't forget to remove personal belongings like toys, balls, etc. Home buyers want to envision your property as their own, so make sure the exterior space is spotless and free of personal belongings.

Your pool should also be clean. Remove your pool cleaning supplies, trash cans, and water hoses. Lastly, turn on any water features you may have, such as fountains.

3. Start With Your Kitchen

The kitchen is arguably the most challenging interior space to stage, so getting started there is advisable. The idea is to get a perfect-looking kitchen free of clutter and personal effects/belongings. To achieve this, you must clean your kitchen thoroughly.

Clean all dishes/utensils in the sink and store them out of sight. Ideally, all dishes/utensils should be out of sight. However, you can leave a fancy knife rack on display. Focus on storing everything in the right place. Food supplies like cereals and baking supplies should be out of sight.

The floor and countertops must also be spotless. Remove dish cleaning supplies from the sink and all photos, notes, calendars, and cards from your refrigerator doors.

You can leave basic appliances on your countertop, i.e., your coffee maker. Small appliances such as cake mixers, rice cookers, and toasters should be out of sight. You should also remove your garbage can.

4. Proceed to Your Living Room

This step applies to your living room and other common rooms/areas like entertainment rooms. Common rooms like the living room should be clean, inviting, and clutter-free before photographing them. They should also be free of personal items for the reasons mentioned above.

Get rid of magazines, books, remote controls, photo frames, toys, and blankets, among other personal items that can distract potential buyers from imagining themselves in your home. Don't forget to dust your furniture electronics, wipe and straighten blinds, clean curtains, and roll up long cabling and cords.

Leave a few minimal pieces of artwork and clean fireplaces if you have any. You should also consider painting your living room walls and ceiling if needed.

5. Prepare the Dining Room

The dining table needs to be clean and clear. You can feature a bouquet of flowers and set the table before taking pictures. All chairs must be straightened and in place. Also, don't forget to remove child seats or booster chairs. Use this room's strengths to your home's advantage.

If you have multiple dining areas, see if you can turn one into an office or a 'play space' depending on your target audience. Work with what you have and play to your strengths. This room will look great in photos if put together correctly.

6. Bedrooms

Start with your master bedroom since potential home buyers tend to focus most there. Master bedrooms also require more work. Start by removing all personal items and clutter from the nightstands and dressers.

Trash cans, laundry, and other distractive items like wall photos and phone/computer chargers should also be out of sight. The bed must also be made perfectly using your best pair of bedding. Don't forget to clean floors, tables, furniture, blinds, ceiling fans, etc.

You should remove personal items from other bedrooms as well. When staging your baby's bedroom, for instance, keep the baby cot but get rid of diaper genies, baby photos on the walls, toys, etc. Bedrooms should be clean, neat, and free of personal effects.

7. Prepare Your Bathrooms

When staging your bathrooms, your focus should be on creating spa-like bathrooms. To do this, you must clear bathroom counters of all personal toiletries, hygiene items like toothbrush holders and hair styling tools. Showers, sinks, bathtubs, and mirrors must be spotlessly clean and free of personal products like shampoos.

Bathroom towels and shower curtains should also be clean and straight. Use white towels and rugs to bring out a spotless effect. Don't forget to straighten rugs and remove garbage cans and bathroom cleaning supplies from sight. Lastly, replace toilet paper rolls and put your toilet seats down. Your bathroom closet doors should also be closed.

8. Work On the Lighting 

Once all your rooms are perfect, focus on your lights. Change any damaged lights. When taking photos/videos, make sure you turn on the lights. Lighting is crucial when taking great photos, so ensure all dark areas are well-lit.

9. Use a DSLR Camera 

DSLR cameras, which stand for digital single-lens reflex, are the best for real estate photography since they offer high-quality photos with great detail. Investing in a nice camera will lead to better photos when preparing to sell your home. Many models and types of DSLR cameras sell for many different price points. 

10. Edit Your Photos 

Perhaps one of the most important steps in real estate photography is editing. While editing photos may take time and patience, the finished product will be worth it and help sell your home. Many photo editing software options are available to create stunning and appealing real estate photos, including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, and PicMonkey. 

FAQs 

How do I take good pictures of my house to sell? 

To get good real estate pictures, consider the background, dust, clean the light fixtures, use wide angles, and brighten your photos. 

How do I get my house ready for real estate photos? 

The best way to prepare your home for professional real estate photos is by cleaning everything, removing personal items, decluttering, and maximizing the light. 

Do houses sell for more if they use professional photos? 

Professional photos will help sell your home faster, in fact, homes that use professional photos sell 32% faster than homes that do not. 

Final thoughts on preparing your home for real estate photos

The above real estate photography steps should help you get your home 100% ready for staging. In most cases, storage spaces and closets aren't photographed or filmed unless specifically requested. Remove most clothes and shoes if you need to photograph or film storage spaces and closets.

You can also move furniture around to create more room. You can make some additions if necessary, i.e., buy new furniture if your current furniture is too old. Again, these are personal preferences. If you want the best home photos/video, don't be afraid to spend some money on a stager. You should also consider hiring a professional real estate photographer. The home in the video above was listed for sale in Durham, NC, and sold the first day for over asking.

Taking great photos and videos takes special skills, expertise, and experience. It also matters when you take the photos or videos. This is where expert real estate photographers come in handy.