How to Prepare Your Home for Real Estate Photos

Does the thought of selling your home stress you out?

If so, you’re not alone. That’s because getting your family ready to move is one of the most stressful experiences in life. But the good news is that it doesn’t have to be. The key is to understand the process of selling a home so that you can use the best resources possible.

This includes learning how to prepare your home for real estate photos to make a great first impression on potential buyers. Fortunately, this article can help. Here we take a look at how to get your house ready for listing photos to sell your house sooner rather than later.

Keep reading to get the inside scoop on prepping for real estate photography.

Clean Your Home From Top to Bottom

First, you must ensure that every area of your home is spotless. This means putting everything in its proper place, making repairs you’ve been putting off, straightening all photos and other artwork on the walls, vacuuming, and giving all future a good shine.

The best strategy is to hire a professional cleaning service to come in the day before the photo shoot to ensure that every inch of the house looks perfect.

This might seem unnecessary, but hiring professional cleaners is an investment in the selling process and will make a huge difference in the finished product.

Get Organized

Take a long hard look at the interior of your home. This is the moment when you need to think like a buyer rather than as a seller. What do you see?

It’s important to view every room of the house with fresh eyes. And if you’re really honest with yourself, you’ll probably see a disorganized mess. Thus you need to make a plan for getting organized and then get busy.

Organizing your home is another crucial aspect of making the best possible first impression. Start by getting rid of as much clutter as possible. This means emptying your closets and garage, deciding which items you can live without, and tossing out anything that’s either broken or unsalvageable or that you know you’ll never use again.

Getting rid of clutter will feel great, make the moving process less cumbersome, and make your home look much cleaner just by getting rid of junk you no longer want or need.

And if you can afford to hire a professional who specializes in organization, you’ll be amazed at the impact that can have on the overall aesthetic of your home.

Have Your Homes Staged

Home stagers are real estate professionals who specialize in making a house look like a showcase. They accomplish this by temporarily moving your furniture into storage and then staging the home with carefully chosen pieces that will help inspire potential buyers to make an offer.

This is another part of the home selling process that you might believe to be unnecessary and expensive, and yet hiring experienced stagers might be the best investment you’ll ever make.

And you might feel uncomfortable having your furnishings placed in storage for a few days, but this is a very normal process and you can rest assured that everything will be properly cared for and returned as soon as the showings are complete.

Prepping the Interior of Your Home

When it comes to prepping the entire of your home for real estate photos, the small details matter just as much as the big stuff.

For example, be sure to turn off all ceiling fans and place portable fans somewhere out of sight. It’s also important to hide laundry baskets, pet dishes, remote controls, electrical cables, and video games.

Don’t forget to turn off computers and televisions, close window blinds, and put away anything that personalizes your home, like photos and anything with family names on them.

Prepping the Exterior of Your Home

You’ll also need to spend time cleaning up and organizing the exterior of your home. This includes making sure the landscaping is immaculate and making any small repairs that will elevate the quality of the photos.

Take the time to mow the lawn, tidy up the flower beds, sweep the driveway and sidewalks, and touch up the exterior trim with paint if possible. Clean the gutters, make sure all vehicles are out of sight, spread fresh mulch, and store garden hoses, BBQ grills, trash bins, and bikes in the garage.

It’s also a good idea to remove any seasonal decor until after the photo shoot is complete.

Hire a Professional Real Estate Photographer

Almost everyone has an iPhone or some other brand of smartphone, but you’d be wise to avoid using this type of photo technology for real estate photos. The best strategy is to hire a professional real estate photographer who understands how to make your home look amazing.

Again, this might seem like an unnecessary expense but it truly will make a huge difference and help your home sell faster.