Are you putting your home up on the market soon? You might have all the details ready, but it also needs excellent photos. But what common listing photo mistakes should you avoid?
Your listing photos make the home selling process a lot better. Many people rely on them to ensure your property has what they need and want in a home. If you know the common mistakes, you can avoid them and improve your listing photos.
We’ve put together seven common listing photo mistakes you should remember. Let’s begin!
Table of Contents
1. Too Much Grain, Blur, or Shadow
A common problem with listing photos is that some property owners don’t put much effort into it. As a result, they often lack quality. It ends up becoming grainy, blurry or showcases way too much shadow.
Before you take photos of your home, think about what you want to see and how. Potential buyers base these photos to see what your home looks like even when they don’t see it in person.
Although you don’t need to have the highest quality photos or equipment, the key is to make sure you hit all the right points. These include the following:
- Minimal to no shadows
- Produces no grain even after zoom
- Balanced lighting
- Out of focus photos
You can also achieve some of these by editing your photos before adding them to the listing. This company can also explain how it works and further details about it.
2. Leaving Clutter
One of the worst ways to take photos when advertising homes for sale is to leave clutter around. It could be anything from an extra piece of paper on the ground, unmade beds, or personal belongings placed everywhere.
If you think about it, the clutter doesn’t change the physical image quality. But it does change what your buyers think of your property’s quality. The neater your listing photos, the more motivated a potential buyer will be about checking out the house.
On top of that, clutter can distract buyers from looking into the details of the property. It might even make it challenging for them to see the main points of the home or visualize the space.
3. Unnecessary Close-Ups
It goes without saying but the photos should capture as much of the property as possible. Even so, some homeowners have trouble figuring out what to include in the photos. This leads to one of the most common listing photo mistakes: too many close-ups.
Avoid close-up shots as much as possible unless necessary, like flaws or other issues. House buyers are more likely going to want more photos of the whole property instead of small bits here and there.
A quick photography tip is to take the photos in a similar format. If you stick to that, it helps potential buyers get a better feel for the home.
4. Lack of Natural Light
Lighting is the most crucial aspect of a good photo. Many experts recommend natural light among other types available.
If your home has access to it, like through windows, consider using it in your photos. Natural light in photos allows you to take better photos and lets potential buyers know the home has good lighting.
As much as possible, avoid taking photos of your home with the blinds fully closed. Many also suggest shooting during the morning for the best lighting.
5. Fish Eye Over Wide Angle
Some homeowners take time deciding on the angles of their photos. In some cases, a regular photo is not enough to capture everything, so you might consider other options. But among those, try to avoid fish eye angles.
Admittedly, a fish-eye view lets you capture parts of the room or home your regular camera can’t reach. But it doesn’t look too appealing when you find it in a listing. It could also distort the size and shape of your space, so it doesn’t look too realistic.
Instead, go for a wide angle view. You get to capture the entire space while portraying what it looks like in person using a wide angle lens. So you can worry less about how the pictures turn out later.
6. Outdated Photos
Not everyone has time to take new photos of their property before putting up their listing. When that happens, some sellers might resort to using older or outdated indoor and outdoor photos of their homes.
But one thing about house listings is that you should always include up-to-date photos. You might have heard of stories where people visit a property listing in person only to find out it looks different due to outdated photos. If that’s the case, you could lose potential buyers.
Ensure your photos let your buyers know what the property looks like right now or upon putting up the listing. Note that this doesn’t mean you need to update it each day. If you make any major or obvious changes, it’s best to also update the listing photo.
7. No Balance
When you take photos of a home for a listing, the goal is to encourage people to check out the home. So, you should consider the composition of your listing photos before you put them up.
Think of it like a professional photo. Your photos should fulfill the following:
- Good lighting
- Accurate color
- Proper distance
- Correct composition
Listing photos should present a balance of these elements to give your audience a feel for the home.
Some potential buyers might be coming from farther cities and locations. If so, they rely on listing photos to help them picture what the home is like. Either way, you’d want to make your photos attractive if you’re advertising homes for sale to gather more interest!
Improve Your Listing By Avoiding Common Listing Photo Mistakes
You don’t have to be a photography expert to produce a good photo for your property listing. Sometimes, it’s enough to know the common listing photo mistakes.
So, why wait? Take your photo now!
If you want to learn more about it, check out the rest of our blog.
