THINK CRUSTY THOUGHTS...when taking pictures of homes for sale

While I happen to be a home stager, you may have noticed a number of my postings here on my blog have been about improving photos used in advertising homes that are for sale. This is because I KNOW from experience that what a home buyer SEES influences the desire to purchase a home... or NOT. But what a home buyer SEES often begins BEFORE they drive up to the property or walk through its front door.

Realtors and home sellers MUST understand that with each passing day the Internet becomes more of a resource for buyers to PRESCREEN your properties. Buyers looking at the photos realtors have posted in the online ads the produce. With digital photography being so easy and inexpensive... there is now excuse for Realtors NOT to have photos that PERFECTLY capture the images of their listings.

WOW... the "perfect" label is a mighty demanding standard to expect! But isn't marketing and selling a home what realtors have been hired to do? Isn't capturing and then displaying homes on the market the job of the realtor... and in the best interest of both the seller AND the Realtor?

It is no surprise that many Realtors now use professional photographers/videographers to shot properties to help market and sell them. It is this reason more and more professional Homes Stagers are photographing the homes they stage and offering these quality images, which best show off the home, to the Realtors to use in their marketing campaigns.

So when it comes to taking pictures of properties here is a simple CRUSTY PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION technique that will help a property look its best.

But before I share this technique… I need to make a point. Many of us, through years of taking pictures of PEOPLE, have wrongfully (especially when it comes to interior shots) take pictures of homes that are for sale.

Quite often realtors approach taking pictures of properties like taking pictures of PEOPLE… they just point the viewfinder in the middle (where the people usually are) and CLICK. But if one just takes a moment to LOOK, not only in the direct center, but also LOOK to see and take into consideration what is happening around the 4 outside edges (think bread CRUST) pictures used to sell homes will be composed and FRAMED much better.

It's really that easy.

Oh, by the way, the home encrusted in the picture above is of a totally vacant home we recently staged.

Stage it Forward...
Me