The
truth is that more home buyers than ever before begin their home search online
and homes without pictures are often passed up immediately. Why? Well, imagine
that you are looking for a new home and you are online checking out what’s
available in the area that you are searching. Would you bother to click on a listing with 0 pictures? Your first
thought might be “Why are there no pictures – what’s wrong with this house?” and that’s exactly what might happen to you
if you are the seller or listing agent.
First Things
First
One
of the most common mistakes that I notice when I look at pictures of a house for
sale is poor picture quality. Top of the line equipment is not necessary to
take good pictures of a house but the average cell phone camera won’t cut it
either. It’s worth the investment to buy decent equipment. I would recommend no
less than a 5 megapixel camera to get some clear and acceptable pictures. As
you know these types of cameras are very inexpensive today and can be purchase
in any electronics retailer for a very low cost. Of course you can spend
whatever you like but if you’re buying the camera for a one time use than I
would keep it to the bare minimum. You’ll get good pictures and you might even
find other used for your new camera. A tripod will help to keep you from ending
up with blurry pictures due to a shaky hand but it’s not an absolute necessity.
Take Pictures of
What Really Counts
Keep
in mind that people want to see the home that is being advertised, NOT what is
in it. The house should be free of clutter and reasonably clean. Allow the
person that’s seeing the pictures to imagine their things in the home instead of seeing too much of someone
else’s. Try to include colorful items in the photos that attract attention such
as brightly colored artwork, flowers, etc. It’s amazing what a dash of color
can add to a neutral colored atmosphere.
The Brighter the
Better
Any
professional photographer will tell you that nothing is better than natural
sunlight. Try to schedule picture taking day on a sunny day if possible and be
sure to open curtains to allow as much natural light in as possible. A dark
cloudy day produces very dull and gloomy pictures that just aren’t very
appealing to look at.
Some Hints to
Remember
When
photographing a room it almost always looks better if the shot is taken from
the doorway looking into the room. Exterior pictures of single family homes
look better if shot from an angle instead of directly from the front. This
allows viewers to see the depth of the home instead of a “flat” 2 dimensional
view of the front. Try not to include obstructions on the outside if possible. Items
such as telephone poles, electrical wires and dumpsters do nothing to make a
home look appealing and actually detract from what should be the center of
attention, the house itself. Be sure to take a LOT of photos. That way you can
pick and choose which pictures look the best. That’s one of the advantages of
today’s digital cameras, pictures are disposable and of course there are no
printing costs involved so click away!
Make
Improvements if Needed
If
you have a home computer than you have free software to enhance any pictures
that might need a little improvement. I’m not familiar with Macs but I know
that windows based pc’s have basic editing software already installed that
allows you to easily make simple changes to pictures to improve their appearance.
It’s worth your time to do a little quick editing if needed to make the pictures
look as good as possible.
There
you have it! Now that you have some very impressive pictures to show home
seekers you are ready to sell that home in record time!
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