One of the most, if not the most, important things today for marketing a home for sale are high-quaiity, professional photos. While good photos of a home listed for sale have always been important, wtih the majority of the buyers using the internet for their home search today, it has become imperative the photos be good. When potential homebuyers are going through listings online, they are looking for the ones to eliminate to narrow down the ones they actually have to view in person. Odds are they won't read the flowery description your agent wrote about your home but they will look at the photos. The won't necessarily look at all the photos of your home, just enough to either decide they are not interested, at which time they move on to the next listing, or that they are interested and it's worth taking the time to look at the rest of the photos.
With this in mind, a professional photographer is worth the price to make sure the photos are the best they can be to make that good first impression on homebuyers seraching online. However, there is much more to it. Before you even get to the point of having the photos done, your home needs to be properly prepared which will most likely include some decluttering, perhaps some minor redecorating and, oftentimes, even some staging. This is where a great listing agent, such as the professioanls at MORE, REALTORS®, come in. A good lisitng agent will give advice in this area as well as most likely bring in a professioanl decorator to assist.
Once your house is properly prepared for photos the next step is, just prior to the arrival of the photographer, to make sure the finishing touches are done and everything is properly prepared to allow your home to show in the best possible way. Below is a good checklist for this final preparation, courtesy of Aaron Kranz Photography.