Photo Ready Checklist for Home MLS Listings
You only have one shot at making a good first impression on today’s Internet browsing buyers.
Your property photoshoot is arguably the most important showing your home will have. Photos, video and 3D scans of your home will be used to create the marketing materials for your sales campaign. Making sure your home looks great for the photoshoot helps us produce effective materials that attract potential buyers to your listing and act as a 24/7 Open House!
What does a show/photo ready home look like?
It should be much like a well appointed hotel suite. You want anyone that enters the space to feel comfortable enough to stay the night. It should be clean, decluttered, depersonalized, and staged!
Let’s get ready!
Here’s a checklist to make sure your house is looking its best for the photoshoot. Get this right and your home will have a better chance of selling for more and faster.
Photo Ready Checklist
Declutter
Get rid of all of it! We want your buyers to imagine how they will use the space, not looking at all your stuff. Do a good job decluttering and your home selling process and the rest of this checklist will be so much easier!
Lighting
Double check all light bulbs are working
Ensure bulbs in light fixtures are all the same color
Turn on all lighting, interior and exterior.
Fans need to be turned off for photos and on for video. If switches are hidden, we’ll need to know about it.
{Matching the color of your lighting throughout the property will improve the quality of your photos/video}
Kitchen & dining areas
Clean off counters; remove any clutter. Buyers want to see the countertops not all of the stuff on them
Make sure dirty/clean dishes are out of the sink & put away
Empty the garbage can, or hide from view if possible
Remove items posted on fridge
Remove dish towels from oven, cabinets and sink
Hide garbage can
Bathrooms
No viewable products on countertops/shower. Hide everything.
Close toilet lid
Hide garbage can
Clean mirrors & glass surfaces
Hang your best towels neatly from a towel bar
Living & common areas
Remove clutter and tidy up shelves
Straighten couch pillows
Turn off televisions and hide remotes
Hide portraits and personal items
Outdoors
Spruce up entryways, gardens and lawns; trim shrubbery if necessary
Yard and patio should be neat; outdoor furniture should be in good shape
Mow the lawn; make sure the driveway & entryway are free of clutter
In the winter, keep the sidewalks cleared of snow
Remove all vehicles from property and don't park directly in front of the house
Hide garbage & recycling containers (e.g. garage, shed)
Pro Tips
Offsite storage would be ideal, but we can’t all afford that and some items we need for our daily lives. Here’s some tips on where to hide that stuff and help you more easily keep your home nearly show ready at all times.
We don’t typically shoot inside cabinets, closets, garages, or small tool sheds. Making these great places to hide all that clutter!
Under the sink cabinet - Nobody wants to see your used soap, toothbrush, shampoo, sponge, dish rag, etc. Storing it under the sink keeps it handy and out of sight.
Move those counter top appliances and containers to the pantry, it will only take a few seconds to get them when needed.
Top drawer - all that stuff you put on horizontal surfaces can be stuffed into the top drawer of a table/chest/etc. Find somewhere that’s still convenient, but out of sight.