Do you want to sell your home? Make sure it looks as good as possible online

Now is the best time to photograph your house if you are planning on selling in September. Late May to early June is the sweet spot for photographing homes, says Ed Hill, who, with Tony Murray, is the closest the industry has to the fashion photographer Mario Testino. “The gardens are green, everything looks lovely and there’s light, but not too much of it,” Hill says. If you are doing them yourself and you are worried about how they came out, do not fear, you can always use photo editing software on your phone, look over here on which apps would be best, or use your computer, so you can make your home look appealing to prospective buyers.

Hill was responsible for taking the pictures for the sales brochure for One Cornwall Terrace, a mansion overlooking Regent’s Park that sold for 80 million to Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser, the mother of the Emir of Qatar. It is said that when snapping the exterior of One Cornwall Terrace, he waited up a tree for three nights until he got a perfect, clear night-sky shot. The bill for the photography is thought to have been 20,000, although Hill – who works mainly in central London, “with the odd castle here and there”, is too discreet to say how much he charges.

Most estate agencies pay their photographers a fraction of this and it can show in the quality of the photography. However, some agencies are investing more heavily because, apart from the price, photography is the first thing a buyer looks at.

The London-based agency Brickworks, set up by an artist and an estate agent, employs two specialist interiors photographers, who can take a day to shoot a home. The company provides a stylist and can stage the home with furniture within a fee scale from 1 per cent to 1.5 per cent. A two-bedroom flat in Daltson, northeast London, that was stuck on the market sold within three weeks after being styled, rephotographed and relisted by the agency. “All the niggly bits that the owner never gets round to doing – the perpetual snagging list, as it were – must be resolved because the buyers will notice,” say Ellie Rees, the creative director and co-founder of Brickworks. “Selling is the time to fix the light switch, paint the front door, and get the carpets cleaned. All this narrows down the opportunity for negotiation on the price.”

So, how do you take pictures that sell a home for the best price?

1 It’s all about light. “You never understand the light in a house until you’ve spent time there,” says Hill. “I might shoot a room thinking I’ve got the perfect time of day, but when I revisit it later I discover the light is better, so I reshoot it. People think that what you want is a room flooded with light, but too much won’t make a great picture.”

2 Think Repairs! Repairs are necessary when it comes to photographing your house. You would not want to show the broken window panes while capturing the beauty of your oriel. The potential buyer may assume that they will be liable for repairs after the closing of the deal. This, in no way, would be profitable for you as no one would show interest in your property or even contact you further regarding the sale. Instead, if you get the windows fixed with the help of firms similar to Paramount Home Solutions and then get it photographed, you will be able to convey the right message to your potential buyers. The same should be done for every part of your house, be it the roof, the sidings, or the basement. Once the necessary fixes are made, it is time for you to declutter and organize your house.

3 Style your home. Declutter to the max. Move the bins so they are out of shot and book San Antonio maid services to tidy the place up properly. If the paintwork is looking tired, repaint everything a brilliant white. Also, keep an eye out for pests. They might suddenly crop up in the frame if you are not mindful of them. The best way to sort out this problem is to get them exterminated by professionals like the ones that can be found at PestControlExperts.com (they can bring together pest control experts IN and customers in need of their services). Once you are done with all this, consider seeking the help of an interior designer who could make your dwelling look more appealing.
Richard Barber, the director of the residential agency arm of JLL, recommends employing an interior designer. “Spending 6,000 to 7,000 will easily add 15,000 at the 1 million price level,” he says.

Before this two-bedroom maisonette in Crouch End, north London, is on the market for 550,000 through Brickworks

After a little styling goes a long way to help the potential sale of the property

4 Don’t overstyle it. Hill says: “I work with interior designers who have strong views on whether cushions should be laid square, angled, or bunny-chopped. Sometimes I’ll angle the cushions and a designer will say, ‘I can’t believe you are doing that.’ Many of the houses I work with have amazing dining rooms styled to within an inch of their lives. Personally, I think it’s too much – it’s trying too hard. I believe there’s a balance; don’t over style the property, or overflower it to the point where it looks like a flower shop. You need balance to appeal to a cross-section of people.”

5 Be patient and wait for the right weather conditions. “Interiors work better when it’s overcast, externals are better when it’s sunny,” says Murray. If your home is east-facing, you will get sun in the morning, and if it’s west-facing the sun will be there in the afternoon. There are apps, such as Sun Seeker, that will help you to pinpoint when the sun will land on your home.

6 Make sure the photos are seasonal. If the seasons change before a sale is agreed upon, ask for it to be rephotographed.

7 Dusk shots – usually about 4 pm in winter and 9.30 pm in summer – are back in fashion. These work well on modern homes with lots of windows.

Dusk shots are back

8 Be honest. “There’s little point in disguising the huge block of flats next door,” says Becky Munday, the managing director of Munday’s estate agency. “If there is an issue at the screen stage, the potential buyer won’t book a viewing, and won’t be wasting anyone’s time.” Similarly, Photoshop can be a useful tool, but changing a sky to make it bluer won’t look as good as waiting for a sunny day to take the picture.

9 A good agent should commission good photography. Nick Leeming, the chairman of Jackson-Stops & Staff, recommends getting final approval on imagery before it is used. “And if they aren’t good enough, don’t be scared to ask for them to be retaken,” he says. The most important shots will be the living room and the exterior.

10 Drones. They are increasingly used to photograph large homes but be careful. In the wrong hands, the images can resemble the location shots we see of grisly crime scenes in the news. Alex Newall, the managing director and founder of the buying agency Barnes Private Office, suggests not using a drone right above your house, but showing the home in its setting.

11 Once a sale is agreed upon, photography still plays an important role. Buyers will show the brochure to family and friends and may obsess over the pictures. Good photography can reassure them that they’ve made the right decision.