The old adage “you only get one chance to make a first impression” rings true in many areas of life, including when you’re selling your home. Since so many home buyers and real estate agents rely on online listings to preview properties, buyers have a comprehensive look at what’s available on the market. For this reason, it’s important to know how to properly stage your home and create excellent photos.

Staging Your Home for Buyers

Staging refers to the placement of furniture and decor (as well as subtle touches such as removing personal items) to make your home appealing to prospective buyers. Ideally, you want to create a welcoming and home-like environment with a neutral ambiance. Potential buyers should be able to envision themselves living in your home when it is seen in photos online and in person. Dallas-Fort Worth is a very diverse region, and your goal when selling your home is to appeal to as many people as possible.

A staged home should be clean from floor to ceiling and free of clutter. Further, the furniture and decor should not overwhelm the house’s focal points and unique features. Instead, wall art and other decorative touches should enhance the existing charm of your home. HGTV offers a quick video with tips for staging a home for sale.

Model My Home, a DFW-based design and staging firm, offers staging services for both vacant and occupied homes throughout the Metroplex. According to Model My Home, “There is an art to preparing a home for placement on the market.” By appealing to the tastes of diverse buyers, it can help increase your odds of selling your home quickly.

Taking Photos for Buyers

Before you begin pushing the shutter button on your camera, make sure every room in your home is spotless and neat. This means that all beds should be made, trash cans should be empty and hidden, and all counter tops in your kitchen and bathrooms should be cleared off, save for a few decorative touches such as a vase of flowers. Although real estate agents typically take pictures, you can certainly request to do them yourself and send them in a digital format to your agent. You can also request that your agent take pictures based on your specifications. June Fletcher, an author for MSN Real Estate, offers some photography tips, which include using a tripod to eliminate blurred images and taking interior photos at twilight for the best lighting.

Other tips to consider:

• Turn on all lights in your home, especially recessed lighting and decorative lights such as sconces and chandeliers to illuminate all features in a room.
• If you’re shooting exterior shots, consider taking pictures at dusk with the interior and exterior lights on rather than with light from the sun behind the house.
• Be sure not to show too much of the ceiling. Instead, focus on two walls and a partial view of the floor for each room.

You can also consider hiring a photographer or enlisting the help of a friend or family member who is experienced with taking pictures. Be sure to preview all photos before they are uploaded on the Internet in case something unappealing was overlooked.

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