Just a beautiful picture of the house! Where’s my checkbook?
Many of my students who have purchased the Mortgage Assignment Profits System ask me about the most important part of selling a house. Well, I like to start at the first thing people see when they pull up to the property. Curb appeal, in my opinion, is the most important factor in selling a house. As the old saying goes, ‘you never get a second chance to make a first impression’. While the curb appeal won’t close the deal, lousy curb appeal will close the door on any opportunity to sell the property. With the increased popularity of the Internet, more home buyers have the opportunity to check out a house online simply by looking at photos. This trend of being able to sell a house with photos is great news for the internet savvy real estate professional, but will clobber anyone trying to sell a home who doesn’t partake in this selling strategy. An astounding 90% of all home owners look online before going out to visit the property; don’t you think that learning how to sell a house with photos is an important part of marketing? Here are some tips on how to sell a house with photos:
Sell a House with Photos | The more the merrier
If you’re looking to sell a house with photos, then make sure you have plenty of photos available. Zillow put out a report recently with the following statistics:
- Listings with 5-10 photos receive 2x as many page views compared to listings with just one photo.
- Listings with 15-20 photos receive 3x as many page views compared to listings with just one photo.
The more photos you put out, the more ‘honest’ you are being about how you describe your house. For example, if you say you have a spacious kitchen with all the upgrades but don’t have photos of the kitchen, people won’t believe you and won’t waste their time coming to your house. If you claim to have a large backyard with privacy fence but don’t show it, you will lose credibility. As a rule of thumb, I like to post a minimum of 15 pictures.
Sell a House with Photos | Let there be light
How do you want people to see your house? Dark and gloomy or lit and homey? Whatever you decide, make sure that your photos match how you want your property to be perceived. When taking pictures, turn on lights, open blinds, and make sure the house looks nice. As a final tip on how to sell a house with photos, actually look at your photos before putting online. I know this seems like common sense, but when I’ve pointed out these errors to my students, they were surprised at how bad of an image they were putting out online.
Sell a House with Photos | Cleanliness is next to…
One pet peeve that most sellers who visit a house and don’t want to buy have told me is that they hate seeing a dirty house. If the owner is leaving that much dirt visible, what problems are invisible? If the owner is trying to sell property worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and doesn’t care enough to clean the house, what else do they not care about? If the homeowner tries to sell a house with photos of dirty dishes, dirty bathrooms, and dirty floors, the homeowner will not have success. You always want to display your house in the best possible condition.
Sell a House with Photos | It’s nothing personal but…
Selling a house is a game. You want the prospective homeowner to walk into the property and imagine it is their home. The illusion is broken when there are pictures of other people’s family hanging on every wall. Instead of feeling like a potential buyer, they now feel like an intruder and the magic spell is broken. Therefore, once you decide to market your house, take down the personal photos and keep the decoration generic.
