Photographing Your Home: How To Create Ads And Photos That Sell Your Home

Whether you’re planning to sell your home, rent it out, or even use it as a vacation rental, chances are you’ll market it at some point with an ad. Your listing will consist of a description and photos, and spending a little more time perfecting these elements will pay off.

In general, the idea to keep in mind is that your ad should communicate all the vital information and nothing more. If it’s too long, people won’t read it. If it’s incomplete, people might miss it.

A good advertisement has these components:

Description

• Where is your place located? What is nearby and how can people get around? Is a car required, or can people walk or use public transportation?
• How many bedrooms and how big is each bed?
• How many bathrooms?
• How is the kitchen equipped? (Stove, dishwasher, microwave, coffee maker, etc.)
• What technology is there? (TV, DVD, wireless Internet, etc.)
• What other key information will people need to know about your home? Describe your house out loud to yourself as if you were telling someone about it. What are the first 5 things that come to mind?

Photos

Similar to staging the house, you want to create a space in which vacationers can imagine themselves.

Take well-lit photos with a good camera (borrow one if you don’t have one). Photos make all the difference in the world, so spend as much time as it takes to get great photos. You can reuse them for years, so it pays to get it right. It may seem like an obvious point, but take photos during the day. It’s shocking how many people try to advertise their home with dark and scary night photos. People want to see bright, airy, and calm spaces.

Spend some time cleaning and organizing your home before taking pictures. Put away clutter and personal effects. Straighten the duvet on the bed. Fluff up the pillows. People will examine photos to find out what your home looks like, so pay attention to detail and success will follow.