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Make Your MLS Listing Standout
For the last couple of weeks I've been writing an article for my website about great homes for sale in the Salt Lake area. As I've been searching the MLS for great homes to spotlight in my article, I've noticed something very unfortunate. There are way too many listings that have one or more of the following problems:
1. The listing has no photos (what a disaster!)
2. The photos are too dark
3. Not enough photos of the home
4. The clutter in the room is included in the photo
5. Virtual tours upload too slow or don't work properly (very annoying)
I want to address each one of these issues and focus on how much damage these problems can cause you when listing your home. I'm going to be extremely blunt and tell you that just because your home is in a great neighborhood and has a lot of square feet doesn't mean that you can have your Realtor put it on the MLS with no pictures and expect potential buyers to start calling.
You don't need me to tell you that this market is tough--you already know that! What you may not be aware of is how a Realtor like me scans the MLS looking for the best homes for my clients. How your listing appears on the MLS can help or hurt you extremely, so let's address the five problems I mentioned above. If you follow my advice, your listing will have a far better chance of being seen and taken seriously.
So, let me focus on my first major concern--when a listing has no photos. You may even think that you have legitimate reasons for putting no photos. For example, you may think that your home is not very attractive. The problem is that when a Realtor like me is searching the MLS and I come across your listing with no pictures, I automatically think that your Realtor was just too lazy to put any up! If, by the way, your Realtor is lazy and won't take the time to put up some pictures, FIND A NEW REALTOR!
If your home is unattractive, then I would suggest one of two things before you take pictures of your home. The first is to make it more attractive--you can decide the level of attractiveness you want to take it to. I can't tell you what a difference a new coat of paint can make or new hardware on the doors, etc. Paint and door knobs really don't cost very much. If the carpet is old and outdated, change it if you have the means.
The second suggestion I have is to take pictures of the home as is and realize that you may have to reduce your price in order to get it sold. As I've searched the MLS I've realized that there are so many great homes out there--beautiful homes that have been completely remodeled from top to bottom! So even if your home has 1,000 more square feet, I'm still going take my client to see the updated home that has new paint and floors unless your home is a steal of a deal.
Staging is also an excellent idea if you have the means. Professional stagers are kind of like temporary interior designers--they come in and tell you what color and size of furniture best compliments your home. Then they stage your home with those pieces (your furniture sits in storage mean while). It can be expensive, so this option might not work for you. I will say, however, that staging can do wonders for getting your home sold.
Whether you decide to make your home more attractive or just photograph it as is, make sure that your Realtor gets those photos up on the MLS! Otherwise, most Realtors will skip right past your listing and won't give it a second thought--not with the amount of listings on the market right now!
Now let's move on to my second concern of photos being too dark. This is almost as bad as having no pictures in my opinion. You can avoid dark photos by making sure that you take your photos during the day and the largest windows are behind you when photographing. If a room has no natural light or minimal light, don't photograph that particular room unless your camera has an amazing flash. Remember that you don't have to include photos of every single room.
Sometimes it's not the home that's the problem--it's the camera. If you don't have a good camera, borrow one from a friend or buy a disposable one with a flash. Remember that most people do not like the idea of living in a dark home. Make sure that your photos don't give the over all appearance of your home being dark.
My third concern involves not including enough photos in your listing. I don't like clicking on a listing only to have 1 or 2 pictures come up! 1 or 2 pictures of the exterior of the home is not going to do it. When I see listings like that, I immediately wonder what the owner is trying to hide about the home. I also automatically think that the home must be ugly or unlivable on the inside. I don't want to take my clients to see a home like that.
Although clients like to look at as many photos of the home as possible, the most important photos are of the ones in the kitchen, the master bedroom and bath, living areas, and entry. Always include a photo of the outside of your home--even if it's not attractive. It's better for people to know what the outside looks like before they come than to come and be disappointed with the exterior appearance--their initial disappointment on arrival may cloud the rest of your house showing.
Include as many attractive photos as you can, but also remember that if I'm viewing photos on the MLS and I see that your home has a beautiful hard wood floor in the dining room and new cabinets in the kitchen, then I expect the rest of your home to look just as enticing. If I come across a photo of your basement that has old carpet and walls that need to be repainted, I'm going to wonder why that part of your home doesn't match the beautiful upstairs. Use the best photos of your home and use enough pictures to give the buyer the basic idea of what your home looks like.
The next problem I'm going to address is also one of the easiest ones to fix! Make sure that you don't have clutter in your photos--sounds simple enough, right? Well, the problem is that everyone has their own idea of what clutter is. I'll make it simple for you and tell you that you really don't want anything sitting out on your kitchen counters or bathrooms counters.
Paper is the absolute worst form of clutter! Get those papers out of the pictures! Tons of clothes in the closet doesn't look good in pictures either. If you have lots of trinkets (i.e. glass figurines, pictures in frames, etc.) you may want to put them out of sight. This allows the potential buyer to focus on the room and not your stuff. If you're photographing the kitchen, take stuff that is hanging on the fridge down.
Also, DON'T PHOTOGRAPH YOUR CLEANING SUPPLIES! I can't tell you how many paper towels I've seen in pictures! Think about how a magazine would make your home look if they were to photograph your home; they'd want to make everything look as clean and attractive as possible. You may want to look at a magazine like Better homes and Gardens to get some ideas of what uncluttered homes look like.
The last concern that I'm going to focus on is virtual tours. If you decide to do a virtual tour, make sure that it loads quickly and is very easy to navigate. If I have to wait for a virtual tour to load, I get impatient and will often skip over that listing entirely. You don't want this to happen to your listing--especially after paying the money to do the virtual tour!
I think that Spotlight virtual tours are the best virtual tours on the MLS. They always load quickly and they look very professional. The photographer for Spotlight also makes sure that the pictures are very clear and lit properly. Other than Spotlight, I'm not terribly excited about promoting any other virtual tour.
Virtual tours are only helpful to your listing if they work right, so remember that before you hand over the money to get one. Good photos can be just as effective--even more effective if your virtual tour doesn't work properly.
The last concern I want to focus on is color scheme in your photos. Here are some things I've noticed about homes that photograph well:
1. There is good contrast with the floors, walls, and furniture. For example, lighter bamboo colored floors look great with darker wood or black furniture. Darker wood floors look great with lighter furniture.
2. Light walls with black picture frames that have black and white pictures inside really make the room interesting and artistic.
3. Simple color schemes look best in photos. Black and/or white with one or two bold colors looks great (i.e. black couch with light wood flooring and red rug with black picture frame on wall highlighting an object with red).
4. White or beige in photos looks best when contrasted with dark colors. Too much white or beige in a photo makes it look washed out and uninteresting.
If you can follow the tips in this article, your listing will have a fighting chance in this very difficult and competitive market. You have to do everything you can to make sure that your listing stands out and looks good. First impressions really are the most important when it comes to home buying! Good luck!