Staging house for estate agent photos ideas!

[Wudgy]

Any tips? Don’t have much time to prepare, but any obvious do/don’t please share with me!

Properly open the blinds or curtains
Turn the lights on
No photo is better than an unflattering picture
Tidy
Nobody needs to see a photo of a loo. Especially one with the lid up.
Put away drying clothes and clutter.

They’re the last minute basics. If you have more time...
Go into each room and stand in it really thinking about what it’s supposed to offer, a study, a bedroom. Then work out how to make it look like it’s purpose and solve potential worries. So does a living room look comfortable. Is there work too space in a kitchen.
Hope that helps. I mental for stuff like this. Made an estate agent stand in a cupboard for a photo to make the room look bigger once!
I’d buy a love bunch of flowers too. If you get a big one you can put elements in different rooms for other photos. So all in the living room. Then pull out a few buds for the bedroom for the bedside table. Then a spray of greenery in the kitchen. Appreciate this might be a bit OTT for most people!

Remove family photos!

Stunt pineapple.

Stunt pineapple

Damn!

Take pics on your phone first. Look at them to see what is distracting - we get used to our own clutter, a photo makes it more visible

Glass or wire bowl of limes in kitchen. Put junk in car. Switch lights on. Straighten duvets/bedding. Buy white pleated valance for beds if they are divan beds.

Tidy and then tidy sgain and then clean REALLY well. Get rid of all the clutter even if you love it

We recently sold our house and we removed photos, toys, random ornaments etc. All the kitchen bits normally on worktops were hidden apart from some decorative tins for tea, coffee etc. Bathroom stuff all hidden, so no toiletries out anywhere.

Sold to our third viewer. Basically you want to make it look like a holiday let, so nicely presented with nothing personal.

Ha I came in to say stunt pineapple too !!!

Just make the beds really well made. I always get distracted by wrinkly old coloured duvet covers. A thick white cotton breadspread that covers the pillows improves the look of any bed imo.

Don't "stage" it. Staging annoys just as many people as it attracts.

I agree with a pp. Practice on your own phone first - it will give you a good idea of what needs to be moved or tidied, and also the best position in a room to take photos from (feel free to share your preferances with the EA).

If you have a breakfast bar, set some nice plates on it so people will be able to imagine themselves using it. If it's a narrow breakfast bar, make sure they're fairly small plates!

Our estate agent lit our fire for photos as he said it shows it off.

It was the middle of August but we did!

It did actually sell for asking price on the first viewing although probably not all down to the lit fire.

Have you got one of those friends or a family member who’s house is always immaculate!! Ask them to come and look at it and get there opinion!! And hopefully they will help.

Also look up old episodes of the house doctor on YouTube, she alway new how to sell a house!!

Tidy, declutter, make all beds properly, maybe some fresh flowers.

Stunt wine bottle

May be a bit controversial but don't neutralise it too much. Sometimes it can end up making the house feel too blah and bland, therefore making the asking price seem overpriced for what it is.

Keep it tidy, clean and get rid of any clutter. Clean light switches, skirting boards and light fittings.

Then look at what you can do to add a bit of magic in each room. Fresh flowers, throws, a lit fire if you have one and some warm white plain fairy lights can cosy up your rooms easily.

Tidy up your garden and pretty it up with pots of herbs and flowers. Paint your front door and hang a cute seasonal wreath on the door.

Finally with viewings, make sure rooms have been aired, windows are clean and the rooms are a nice temperature. I was selling in winter and an hour before viewings did a stove top room scent (Pinterest has some good ideas), everyone commented that the house felt cosy and smelled lovely.

Asking price offer on 3rd viewing, sold in a week.

We sold to the third viewer as well. If you're thinking of moving then bid the extra stuff up now and put it in the garage/shed/where ever!
I laid out rooms in the way they needs to be seen, not the way I had them. If you have curtains that make the room look dark, take them down! People just think you're a bit odd in the photos but the room looks so much brighter.
If you're not happy with the pictures they take them get them back in to redo.
The guy who came to do our photos was a pro and I just let him get on with arranging stuff.
Don't have any pets in view or pet stuff. It's only and hour so just shove stuff in cupboards!

However, beware to sort the stuff shoved in cupboards before actual viewings as my viewers all opened the bloody cupboards!

Paint your garden fences!
I keep seeing lovely homes all beautifully fresh; then their fences are all faded and mildewed. Sometimes just jet washing them is enough, but an afternoon and £30 to repaint is well worth it.

And don't take too much out.

I stopped round on a neighbour's Rightmove listing last week.

They've been there almost twenty years but it looks like an unoccupied house with a couple of stunt paintings and a kettle!

Yes to not overdoing the removal of personal stuff.
You want to make it look like a place someone- Them - could live in, not the place You live in.
Taking photos yourself to spot clutter you are blind to.
I hate seeing badly pulled back curtains and blinds, and messy beds. Yes you are not selling those bits of your house, but they distract people from the important nice things.

Thanks all so much, almost there now! Have taken all advice on, it’s generally a very clean and tidy house anyway but my childrens toys etc have been moved and plant pots redone . White bedding on every bed, all photos/ notes etc taken off the noticeboards in kitchen and some of the photos removed throughout the house. Have removed all bathroom items other than soap dish and a candle! Thank you!!

If you have any ‘statement’ or ‘accent’ things get rid of them.

Question - vertical blinds in some rooms- completely pull them open or just as they usually would be??