Our top tips when preparing your property for photos or videos to be taken

With buyers currently being encouraged to conduct viewings of properties, initially online and virtually (rather than in person), it is becoming even more important for sellers to make that all-important ‘good first impression’ of their home and why spending time in preparing it to be photographed or filmed is so important.

As your local estate agent, we’ve pulled together some top tips to help sellers in doing this:

1. Get the basics right first

It goes without saying that you need to ensure your property is neat, tidy, and well-lit. A good cleaning and decluttering can ‘do wonders’ and could make your property appear larger. There are many tips and tricks out there to help make cleaning easier, and during the viewing process it’s a good idea to stay on top of your cleaning with a schedule that suits your lifestyle.

2. Let it flow

Just as you prepare for photographs, don’t forget if a video of your property is being taken, to allow for virtual viewings to be conducted, to leave doors open so that the buyer can more easily see how rooms or spaces ‘flow’ into each other.

When creating videos, you can use the free video editing tool available today. They come with basic features, such as adding filters to your videos and removing background noise, that can be used in making simple videos of your property. Other tools offer more advanced features like generating AI images, downloading videos from various social media platforms, and converting videos to various formats. You might also consider paid tools to enjoy more features when editing your videos.

3. Change your focus

The age-old idea of making your property smell or feel more homely, perhaps with fresh coffee on the boil or the temperature boosted up, is now irrelevant for online or virtual views – you need to keep that for the ‘in person’ viewing that will hopefully come. Instead spend time on thinking how a buyer might walk, virtually, through your property and what they might see. Remove any distracting photos, documents, ornaments, and, if you have them, pet accessories or feeding bowls as you need attention to be drawn to your property and not your possessions or lifestyle.

4. Think like a buyer

Consider what features of your property will be most important to them. Most will begin imagining themselves living there. If it’s being marketed as a family home, for example, and that’s what has brought them to view it online or virtually, it’s important to present it like that. In this case focus on making sure any play room, outside play areas, children’s bedrooms, and any family areas are presented well. Make sure beds look neat, toys are tidied away (to avoid giving the impression that storage is a problem) and even ‘set the family table’ to add to the appeal.

5. Consider the changed priorities of some buyers because of the impact of Covid-19

Now bigger kitchens, a space to work from home, or bigger outside areas are becoming far more important. You could consider ‘staging’ a spare room as an office or rejig the garden area to create a new patio area – complete with a BBQ perhaps.

6. Get ready for the ‘in-person’ viewing to come

The aim of having great marketing photographs and a good virtual video is to encourage more people to take an interest in your property and to eventually come to see it as a serious buyer. It’s important therefore that you maintain the good impression you’ve created and ensure that the visit ‘in person’ meets all the buyers’ expectations to enhance your chances of a sale.

If you’d like to find out more about how NEXA can help you in marketing your property contact us today to find out more about our professional marketing packages or contact one of our branches for further information.