Right move listing am I being ridiculous?

[holigogo]

Settle a discussion between me and my husband.
I said that if a right move listing doesn’t have a picture of the front of the house as the main picture I usually scroll past. e.g if the first pic is of the garden, inside of the house, or drone shot.
He said I’m being ridiculous. He’s probably right but got me thinking as we’re going to sell our house soon what stops you clicking on a listing and what is the ideal first picture?

I do see what you mean 😀....but we wanted to show how much the house had been transformed from when we bought it (externally that compromised - new hardwood d/g traditional style windows, completely rebuilt extension to side, refurbished porch, existing rotten joinery/pipework replaced and repainted etc etc) and no front exterior shot could capture all that.

In my pic above - whilst admittedly taken before we'd completed works - the property doesn't appear that different to how it looked when we first viewed it as a dilapidated repossession, mainly because you can't see the extension, porch, gates.....

Sorry wrong thread!

Thanks everyone. It’s good to know that a lot of people wouldn’t just scroll past as our EA wants to use an arty shot of the garden that’s mostly blurry. Let’s see if we get any viewings!

When I sold my first ground floor flat, the first image was the huge private back garden. It was ex Council. The front, albeit tidy, clean etc was unattractive, it just looked unappealing, no bones about it. The garden drew attention. Sold within days.

So do I. If there's a beautiful garden pictured I would look, but not a photo of a ktchen or extension.

Same. With the exception of if there is an unusual and impressive feature about the house (great view, swimming pool, comes with land), I’d still look if the first picture was of that feature.

Wow! I had never thought of this. I assume the front picture is simply the biggest selling point of the house…. So beautiful garden if that’s what’s exceptional, huge open double height living room if that’s the cool bit etc…. I agree if there is no outside shot at all, but it’s not like you spend most time looking at the outside when you are living in it. I care much more about what I see if I’m living there…. My personal favourite being if there is a balcony or garden with beautiful view. That always makes me click because that’s where I would most often sit for hours and hours. That’s what would make me buy. That and a really lovely big bedroom. And open plan kitchen/living area. Exterior would be about 8th priority on my list. So I’m more likely to bypass the ones with exterior on the front page, as I’m annoyed at the extra effort to click and find out if it has any of my priorities.

If the first photo was something very appealing about the house like a huge garden/kitchen or bathroom then I would still look. If the first photo in place of the front of the house was something meh then I would scroll on by and assume the house was awful.

The other thing that puts me off looking is if they get the edge of the neighbours house in the photo and the neighbours house looks uncared for. I assume the neighbours might be a nightmare. Which is very judgemental of me really.

I also scroll past houses with a shared front with no wall/fence dividing it or large trees close to the house, but I think that’s just personal preference. I’ve had nightmare neighbours and It’s left me a bit cautious about these sorts of things that others might not care about.

But there are times a different picture tells you more about the house than the front.

My friend sold a house that from the front looked like an ordinary house you'd find on a estate. Except it's not. It has it's own bit if road down to it and backs onto the sea. A drone shot from the back gave you a much better understanding of what you are looking at than the front.

Seriously? You’d immediately rule it out, rather than spending 30 seconds clicking on the listing to check it wasn’t your dream house just a poor choice of photos by the EA ?

My last sale had a kitchen dining shot as the main picture because it was the most impressive bit.

We got 45 viewings which we did at 15 minute intervals over 2 days - so it certainly didn’t harm us.

This has been an interesting read! I’m planning to put my house on the market soon and this is something I’ve been thinking about - my house is a bog-standard 1980s townhouse, but right on the beachfront. I’m not under any illusions about its kerb appeal - that’s frankly unremarkable - the wow factor is in the views. 180-degree panorama across the sea, with France in the distance, and the beach just outside. I’m torn….front of house (boring) or view from the living room out to sea…?

View out to sea photo definitely, it sounds amazing! Something breathtaking like that overrides front of house.

It always makes me think that the house must look fugly from the street, so they are trying to draw you in to the listing by showing you the sumptuous interior instead, so that when you finally see the outside it isn't quite so off-putting.

It doesn’t bother me at all as long as there is a picture of the front of the house amongst the other photos.

Depends how seriously I was looking but I’d be suspicious that the outside was unappealing .

I agree. We are about to list ours too. Our house is a really pretty, chocolate box cottage. It will look great from the front, but imo I think it would look even better with the surrounding (absolutely beautiful) countryside included in the shot, ie, a drone shot, because that’s the added extra that the property has.

Sounds like my dream house…… ! 🥰

The front of my bungalow, from the kerb, looks tiny and is not a true representation of size as the side shot and back shot show. In real life anyone viewing would see the whole plot with the actual ‘front’ with the front door being placed at the side with a side area much larger than most front gardens.

As long as the front of the house is pictured somewhere it wouldn't be a problem for me. Maybe they have something else they'd rather "showcase". Personally, I immediately look at floor plans + map before I even look at the pictures.

Several years ago, PiL were selling their house, but had had no viewings for the first few months. FiL showed me the literature from the EA, which had a photo of the back of their house on the front page.
I suggested he gets the EA back to photograph the front for their front page. Once this happened they had several viewings fairly quickly. So I think most people probably feel the same as you OP.

I think it depends on the house, but I see where you are coming from. If however a house has an amazing garden then I’d like to see that. But then when I am looking for a house it’s the garden I am most interested in.

Our estate agent put the back garden first and I had to ask them to change it. I didn't get the feeling there was any reason for it - just an admin error. The house sold above our asking price quite quickly. As a result, I wouldn't dismiss any house that met my criteria otherwise.

'He said I’m being ridiculous. He’s probably right'....REALLY?!!! It worries me why you would even think this let alone say it or write it!!
Do you usually defer to him when you have a good reasonable point to make and you have felt the need to come onto Mumsnet for validation of what is obviously a 'no brainer' as just reading the first few replies tells me that overwhelmingly most agree with you, as do I BTW!🙄
The second thing that worries me is your husband telling you that you're 'being ridiculous' just because you don't/won't concur with his opinion, is this the norm for him, if so he needs a good talking to and a bit of a wake up call! 😡

We found our current house on Rightmove without a floor plan, and the front of the house picture was one of the last photos. (It’s a tricky house to photograph from the outside because we have high bushes all round the front). It is the perfect house for us, and I think it had been overlooked by a lot of people because we bought it for a really good price.
I feel so lucky to have it.