As part of listing your home for sale, photos will need to be taken of the interior and exterior of the house. Your agent should arrange the actual photo shoot, but it is important that you present your home in the best way possible for the camera to make sure the photos come out as well as possible. Before anything else, you need to consider how things look through a camera lens. On photos, clutter and messy arrangement of furniture stand out so that what may look like a cosy, comfortable home in person seems a jumbled mess in photos
Take a step back and critically look at each room. You may want to remove a piece of furniture or two from each room, and even take some art from the walls, to open up the space and make rooms look larger. Pack away clutter, but leave a few items such as lamps, potted plants and décor items, trying to integrate bright colours wherever possible. When decorating, keep in mind that each surface should have around three items on it, of varying height levels. Arrange furniture and décor so that you have a focal point in the photo, usually on the wall furthest from the door, with other furniture and items creating a triangle shape to draw the eye to the focal point.
When arranging your home, consider employing some concepts from the ancient Chinese system of Feng Shui to improve energy flow, such as:
- Allow energy (or “Chi”) to flow in to the house, by making sure the front door is free of clutter and swept clean, and stop it from flowing out by putting toilet seats down and closing bathroom doors
- Open the house to outside views by making sure windows are cleaned and curtains and blinds are open
- Use calming and relaxing colours such as greens and blues in bedrooms
The camera can be very unforgiving, so make sure you do your deep clean. (see advice for conducting a proper deep clean in the previous section) before having the photos taken.This is even more important than for open inspections: spots on walls and marks on carpets really stand out in photos!
Before the photographer comes to take photos, take a few of your own on your camera to check how they turn out. Use this camera’s-eye preview to make any last minute adjustments. Finally, it is important to keep your home in the same state for open inspections as what potential buyers have seen in photos online!
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