Has Your Estate Agent Done Justice to Your Property’s Marketing?
For most people, their home is their most valuable asset, and yet we see that many properties in the UK are marketed poorly by estate agents. What should you look for in the way an agent presents your home to your potential buyers? How can you help ensure you get the best possible price for your home?
The first thing to remember is that the marketing presentation that your agent puts together for the sale of your property is the very first contact that your eventual buyer will likely have with it. Unless they respond to a board or they heard about the property through word-of-mouth, most people will first of all see photographs of your home either printed in a brochure, in a newspaper advertisment or on the Internet. First impressions count, and it has to be said that looking through some of the nation’s property portals, some of the photos do a bad job at creating a good first impression.
What Makes a Good Photo?
+ It needs to be correctly exposed - not too light or too dark
+ It should be sharp - not fuzzy
+ The colours should be crisp and natural
+ Unless the property is being sold as a refurb opportunity, it needs to show the property looking its best
+ Walls should look vertical - sometimes wide-angle lenses distort the walls so that they slope and look like they belong in a pyramid
+ Angles are all important. Your rooms need to be shown off and certain angles do this better than others - just as your face probably has a better side
To be honest, a great many homes sell every year despite the appalling photos the agent used to promote them. However, if I were the vendor selling such a home I couldn’t help but wonder whether someone had been put off from viewing, and therefore offering, by the bad marketing. If ANYONE had been put off from viewing because of this, then there is a chance that they might have been the people who would have paid the best price for the property. In other words, if your objective is just to sell the property at any price, then great photography is probably not necessary. However, if it’s important to you that you achieve the best price, then you really can’t afford to miss out on any one of your potential buyers, just because the photos didn’t catch their eye.
How Can You Help to Achieve the Best Price for Your Property?
Speaking as someone who spends most of his life trying to make the best pictures specifically for people who want to achieve the best price for their property, here are a few ways you can help:
+ Tidy up. I know it soinds obvious but judging from some of the houses I visit, it isn’t. Use a storage company if you have run out of space in your home
+ Clear the fridge of anything that is stuck to it - pictures and the like
+ Use whites or creams for bedspreads as these photograph better than paisley patterns and the like
+ Place a few colourful cushions on your bed to make it look more luxurious
+ Use flowers and bowls of fruit to add splashes of colour
+ Large expanses of plain carpet look boring. Break up the monotony with colourful rugs or a coffee table
+ Clear gardens of washing lines and large playthings like inflatable pools
+ Make certain that all your light bulbs are working - nothing worse than a dead low-voltage bulb in a ceiling with lots that are working
+ Open your curtains so that the outside shots don’t show the curtains drawn
+ Mow the lawn
+ Clear the drive of cars - including the one your student son left there four years ago
In other words, you can have a big impact on the price you achieve for your property, by making sure that it looks as good as it possibly can. Not unsurprisingly, people are attracted by homes that look good. It really isn’t rocket science.
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