Estate agent photos prep

[Deliaskis]

Hi all,

We're putting our house on the market, something we've never done before.

Everything is pretty much fine, we don't need to re-decorate before pics get done or anything, and it is all pretty clean and tidy, but I was wondering what will be expected by the photographer when they come to do pictures?

The house is tidy, but there is not a lot of 'hidden away' storage, so e.g. our CD/DVD rack is a very visible one rather than all that kind of thing being in a cupboard/drawers. We have lots of pictures on the walls (not people, but scenery, etc.) and the odd ornament around etc. In the bedroom there are a few things out on my dressing table (again we have very little internal storage) like my hairdryer, perfume etc. and things like shampoo in the bathroom etc.

Will the photographer expect all this to be boxed up and out of sight before they come, or are they used to moving things and working around things etc. Having looked at lots of house details I know that personal things are out of sight on photos, but I don't know whether it is something we should be doing now (and living out of boxes in the meantime) or whether the photographer will just move things when they come to a room.

D

[CMOTdibbler]

They won't move anything, so you need to have things boxed up and stored away

[lalalonglegs]

Most (good) photographers will suggest that you put away certain things etc when they come to take pictures. In my experience, they always move furniture around a bit if they think it will help with the general look.

[Deliaskis]

OK, so we'll box up CDs/DVDs etc. and 'stuff' from bathroom and bedroom, and then let them move furniture around if they see fit.

What about pictures on the walls? Yay or nay?

D

[lalalonglegs]

I guess it's for you (or a very honest friend ) to judge if the pictures help or hinder the desirability of your house. I must say, I think it's a bit weird when people can't see beyond a few shelves of CDs and some artwork - but, hey ho, the property pundits on TV have told us that they definitely can't...

[Deliaskis]

lala laughing at 'very honest friend'. I am pretty confident they are not offputting pictures - mainly professional photography of seaviews etc. but there are quite a lot of them, and they're pretty much all sea/boat themed. Maybe we'll keep a few key ones and take the others away.

An example is here turtle.zenfolio.com/p997426203/h2273237c#h2273237c so, honest people of mumsnet, anything offputting about that?

D

[DoFliesHaveKnees]

When we sold our house, we did a mass declutter and asked the photographer if there was anything else we shouldn't have in the photos. She told us to 'hide' things like our dd's toy box etc. She said to put anything we didn't want included in the photos in the hall and worked round it all.

[lalalonglegs]

I don't think there's anything wrong with the photo but if there's lots of them, take some down (providing there's not going to be a big hole left by the picture hook behind it). A friend of mine collects antique maps of the county he comes from and hangs them all together - they look great but he has got a great eye for this and has had them mounted and framed in a very similar way so there's not too much visual confusion.

[belindarose]

Our estate agent spent ages moving stuff out of the areas he wanted to photograph. Left things he thought made the house 'aspirational' (like olive oil!!). Photos were great and very uncluttered. Then we had to tidy up properly when viewings started!

[twosoups]

We've just sold.

I decided how I would present the house for a viewer and presented it like that for the photographers.

I completely removed any trace of cleaning the house or people who live in it. That included bins!

Didn't worry about CD or DVDs. Moved some perfume but left the posher stuff out. Bought a few new fluffy towels, some posh toiletries, new tea towels - kept them in a "viewings" box. Always had fresh flowers in the hallway. We also have lots of pictres on the walls and I dind't move any of them.

TBH it's a pain in the neck and you need to perfect your technique of dressing the house quickly!

[greenlotus]

It's helpful to take some pictures yourself, it's much easier to "see" the rooms from other people's point of view in a 2d photo than when you're in the room. You might see that something glares out or looks untidy that you never notice day to day.

[yomellamoHelly]

I'd concentrate more on clean windows and polished mirrors and working lightbulbs everywhere to get as much light in as possible. (Photographer put all of ours on for photos.) He also moved all toys out of eye-line for photos (we'd had a clear away and then had a series of boxes) and he moved our cushions too (uncomfy sofa which we pad out).

[Deliaskis]

Thanks for further feedback, all good stuff which we are going to take on board for pics later this week!

D