Why staged photos are important

Bathroom is important

After months of deliberation, you've decided to move out of your current home and live somewhere else. Your next steps are finding a house,  a job in the new area and possibly a school for your children.

Then begins the long, process of selling your home. Don't go into the home sale expecting everything to be a breeze. Delays may be in the form of low buyer interest or economic factors outside your control.

In some instances, low interest may be the result of factors you do have control over, such the listing photographs. If the listing photos are not good enough, potential buyers will skip your listing and move on to the next one.

Before you create your online listing, you want to ensure your home is carefully staged, and the photos go a long way toward providing a great impression on those looking to enter the market.

If you have no idea how to stage the listing photos, fear not. Keep some of the tips in mind and before you know it, you'll have prospective buyers lining up to see the inside of your house.

Accessories matter

When deciding what to photograph, you have to hit the essentials: living room, bedrooms, kitchen and finally, the bathroom. According to Trulia, clean bathrooms are one of the most attractive selling points of any home currently on the market.

When it comes to staging, you'll want to make it look as new as possible. Don't be afraid to invest a bit of money and time to add more storage options, resurface the sink in marble vanity or get rid of laminate cabinets.

Once you're ready to take the photos, you have to set the scene. Make sure the entire room is a clean as possible. To maintain this clean feeling, consider buying a new shower curtain that is also bright. Next, strategically place a bar of soap and some hand towels in the shot. Before you snap the photo, close the toilet lid.

Final reminders

It's not enough to take photos of your house as is. You will want to plan each shot, and all of them should incorporate a good amount of accessories.

For example, if you have a fireplace in the living room, consider hanging a piece of art above it and prominently feature it in any picture.

If you will be staging photos that feature items such as candles, it's better to group them in odd numbers, rather than even. Furthermore, make sure everything differs in size to add further variety.

Accessories are important, but you also have to know when to you are accessorizing too much. Essentially, this needs to be done as minimally as possible because online viewers will notice overstuffed book shelves and other items that don't fit. Instead of blending in, these accessories will stand out, and not in a good way.

You can get a better grasp of what to remove from your staged photos by doing a thorough cleaning beforehand. Doing so will help you identify items that you can sell, throw away or put into storage.

Lastly, while accessories are nice, props are not. Viewers will see right through them. This means you can skip out on fake fruits and there is no need for wine and cheese on the dining room table.

You have to have a watchful eye to spot potential problem areas when staging photos. For example, you will want to hide all of the cords connected to your television while excluding the TV in the photo.

For the front of the house, make sure your car is not in sight. Finally, the weather matters. Try to avoid bright days, and instead try to shoot the photos on an overcast day.

Staging the photos of your house before listing it is an important aspect of every home sale. Shoot the pictures just right, and your property will be highly sought after. Keep some tips in mind to ensure you are staging everything correctly.

If you find that your online listing isn't being looked at as much as you'd hoped, you might have to go back and shoot the the staged photos.