A Guide To Giving Your Estate Agent Good Photos

A picture paints a thousand words and the initial selling point to potential buyers will be those first few photos of your property in order to lure them in and secure a viewing. This means that those photos are extremely important and not something to be rushed on a poor quality camera.

How important are good photos when selling a house?

Extremely important. Photographs are the first point of contact that buyers have to properties. Furthermore they are the estate agent’s marketing tool. If your property has poor quality photographs it quite simply won’t get as many viewings as a property with high quality photos, and therefore its crucial to how well it fairs in the market place. Your photographs need to be of good quality and carefully thought about so that they show your property in the best light.

How will my property be displayed?

How your property is displayed to buyers will depend on where they are looking, for example if they are visiting an estate agent in person they may be given an information sheet with a range of photographs on. However it is worth bearing in mind that viewers online may only ever look at the first photograph. When a property is uploaded onto property databases the information will be sent to potential buyers who have asked for alerts on properties in that category, that means that the online market is extremely convoluted and it’s important that yours stands out. A poor first photo could mean buyers never even look further than that first photograph.

What makes a bad photo?

Do your market research before you take your own property photos and it’ll become clear what makes a bad photograph. Grey skies and skewed angles make photographs appear dreary from the outside. Similarly on the inside the viewer’s gaze will be distracted by personal items of clutter, a television playing or any other activity before looking at the actual logistics of the room.

What makes a good photo?

Firstly, as when preparing your property for sale, it is worth making sure that your house is de-personalised, this includes de-cluttering areas, making sure it is clean and tidy and neutralizing decorating where possible. Remove furniture that makes areas appear too crowded – buyers will want to get a sense of space (i.e. see how the bed or sofa fits into a room) without being overwhelmed with every piece of furniture that they may or may not want to include in the room themselves. When actually taking the photograph make sure you use a good digital camera, a wide angle lens works better and if possible use a tripod and lighting to ensure your pictures are level and look bright. When taking shots outside be aware of where the light is coming from, for example for east-facing areas take photographs in the morning. Try to take photos on bright, sunny days with blue skies.

Photographs are extremely important when marketing and selling a home, not putting in effort when selling your home means that it is disadvantaged before the viewing has even begun, and it may lead to fewer people being interested in a viewing. To get around this take your time, take several shots and test out what looks good and bad. A final tip to remember is the time of year; you don’t want your property looking outdated by background features (bare trees, signs of spring, etc) so make sure the photos you use are in line with the season.