How to dress house for selling photos

[notmrscookie]

Best advice pls ?
What are peoples hates in photos?

We recently sold our house (well, currently STC). Tips we picked up were -

Depersonalise. A few nods to your lifestyle are fine but lots of family photos etc are a no
Declutter. Clear kitchen counters, coffee tables, dining tables, work space etc
Beds made nicely
Remove toys or store them, same for pet stuff, washing etc
Make the front of the house look more inviting if needed. Ours was a slapped arse. Lick of paint, trim hedges, potted colourful plants, move bins, new doormat etc
If you have any selling points, eg a lovely fireplace, try to make that a focal point if possible
Fresh flowers, nice cushions or throws are good for staging

It sounds twatty but basically try and make it "aspirational". Any rooms which currently don't have a clear singular use (our spare room was part office, dressing room, dumping ground) dress them to look purposeful to give viewers an idea of what they could do with the room.

If there's anything you love about your house but isn't obvious from the photos, tell the agent. Our garden isn't overlooked at all other than our next door neighbour. not bad for what many would consider a FTB house. You can't always tell this from photos so it was put in the description.

We sold last year so went through this about 12 months ago. Clear the clutter as much as possible. Do it, then take some photos and look at the pictures to spot everything you have missed. Even if you need to stuff things in a cupboard or the car for the photos. Look out for everyday items you just don't see anymore like ironing boards, cleaning stuff, cables, tea towels, pet stuff etc (I remember one Rightmove listing that had a rather amusing toilet roll pyramid in the bathroom) and hide them.

Beds are tricky, creases can look a sod, a nice neutral big bedspread can cover most of the bed and look neat and tidy.

You want to sell the idea of a lifestyle. If you have a nice garden, dress it up, flowers/hanging baskets/pots and outdoor seating that looks inviting and not abandoned. We are not green fingered at all so hired a gardener for a couple of hours to blitz the garden and tidy it up for us, cost £20 and was totally worth it.

Hopefully you will have a good photographer who will work with you to get the best out of your house. Good luck!

Thanks guys

Paid deep clean done today
Gardener been
Fixing door and broken plinth tomorrow
Electric issue being sorted Wednesday
Boxes for packing bits away
Requested free or cheap picture to go on wall instead of pictures of us.

Just have a browse on Rightmove, it's obvious which houses come across best. Take out all clutter except attractive accessories. (Buy from supermarket or Tkmaxx).
You don't necessarily need such a high standard for viewings but photos have to deliver a good first impression. If you take your own pictures you can see how they cone across.

We just sold and had some beautiful photos taken. I used our 3 laundry baskets and put one in each bedroom, filled it with all the clutter and moved it out the room for the photos. When prepping the day before, anything I needed to remove went into the basket or middle of the floor so I wouldn't forget. White duvet cover, ironed and pulled taught. Nothing visible under beds or on top of cupboards. New plant in the bathroom. Bathroom is dark and plant would normally die in there so I moved it out after the photos then popped it back in for the viewings. Plants by either side of front door. Parasol up in the garden. Neutral decor with a few bright accessories.

I agree about decluttering and having baskets to store stuff in for viewings and photos.

If possible, when you declutter for the photos keep it decluttered. Don't put everything back. That way it's easier to keep clean and reduces how much you need to tidy and hide for viewings.

We paid someone to deep clean so again it's easier to keep on top of. Also had the windows cleaned inside and out.

If you have a room full of junk (our box room is), get it sorted and tidied before photos. Maybe even convert it to a bedroom or office if possible. We have already had our photos taken but haven't been able to sort the box room our yet. We are off this week so that is our focus along with the loft. We are then going to get the estate agent to come back and take more photos.