Showcase Your Home with Photos

101 Ways to Market Your Home

The free Vflyer Starter account allows you to upload up to 15 photos of your home for your flyers. For $9.95 a month, you can upload up to 25 photos and a video. The additional ten photos give you the opportunity to highlight the special features of your home, and the video is an incredible bonus that allows you to connect personally with prospective buyers.

Photos are an absolute necessity if your flyer or online home ad is going to pull attention. Home profiles with pictures get up to ten times as many responses as those without photos. At the very least, your sales flyer should include a main photo of your home, but any real estate agent who uses the internet will tell you that more photos is always better.

Which Photos Should You Include?

In general, you should include several shots of your home’s exterior from different angles, as well as photos of any special outdoor features. There should be at least one photo of each room in your house, although you can get by with only using photos of one bedroom if all the bedrooms are essentially the same. The kitchen and bathrooms are absolute must photos. If you don’t include any other interior photos, be sure to include at least one kitchen shot. Finally, include photos of any special features or details that represent your house.

Tips for Getting Good Home Photos

The main photo of your home is an important one. Many of the real estate listing sites will include the main photo, headline and first paragraph of your description on their listings and in any search results. That main photo should show your house at its absolute best. These tips will help you get the best possible shot of your home’s exterior.

Take your photo on a sunny day. Sunshine makes everything look better.
Groom your home. You wouldn’t have a formal photo shoot without combing your hair, would you? Give your home the same benefit. Mow the lawn, trim the hedges, and get all the toys and accessories out of the yard. That includes moving cars out of the driveway. In fact, park them across the street till after the photo shoot.
Take shots of your home from different angles and positions. You might even make a point of taking photos at different times of day over the course of a day or two. I can’t emphasize how much difference the angle of the sun can make in how your house looks in a photo.
Try to avoid shots of your house with shadows across it.
In your main shot, make sure the front door and approach to the house are neat, clean and visible.
Get long shots from across the street if possible – but crop out sidewalks and streets.
Show the whole house, not just the front. Take photos of the sides and back of the house as well so that prospective buyers get a sense of its size and overall appeal.

Other Exterior Photographs

If the home you’re selling is a condo or townhome in a community, remember that the community is part of the appeal. Do take photos of any amenities – the pool, the clubhouse, the fitness room. If you’re selling a single home with a yard, be sure to include those photos as well.

Shoot long to emphasize space.
Remove evidence of pets and put away the children’s toys.
Avoid shooting into the sun.
Emphasize landscaping and patio features.
If there’s a pool or hot tub, be sure it’s well-groomed and sparkling in the sun.

Interior Photographs

Take photos of every room, even if you think the room won’t photograph well. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Shoot during the day, and be sure to open all the drapes and blinds for maximum light.
Turn on lights to add extra appeal.
Be sure that windows are spotless. In fact, be sure that your entire home is spotless. You’d be surprised the things you only notice in photos.
Take several shots of each room from different angles.
When you shoot the bathrooms, close the toilet lid and move the trash out of the room. If you want to capture the vanity and mirrors, stand to one side rather than shooting head-on so that you and the flash don’t reflect in the mirror.
Use floral arrangements in kitchens & dining rooms.
Bare rooms aren’t necessarily appealing. A little furniture will bring rooms to life. Do move excess furniture out of the photo to make rooms look more spacious, though. Read up on home staging and preparing your home for a showing. Remember that the photos are really one gigantic showing for your home.
Set the table in the dining room and kitchen before taking photos. A set table looks inviting and appealing.

Choose your best shots for your online flyers. Try to include at least one shot of each room, and more than one of the kitchen. The more you show your prospective buyers, the more response you’ll get to your flyer and the more quickly your home will sell.

Date: Thursday, November, 22nd 2007 @ 12:02:29 AM
Views: 183