5 Mistakes to Avoid When Taking Real Estate Photos

Home photos are extremely important to the selling process, but these five mistakes can kill your home sale.

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My team and I look at real estate photos every single day, so we see all kinds of mistakes. However, there are five mistakes that can kill the sale of your home. They are: 1. Taking pictures of the corners of rooms. I don’t know why so many online listings include pictures of corners. You need to take wide-angled photos of each room so that potential buyers can get a real feeling for the interior of your home. Display the entire room, not just the corner. 2. Zooming in on the front of the house. Pictures of the front of the house are incredibly important. However, make sure they aren’t zoomed in so much that buyers miss out on the surrounding flowerbeds or porch. Take a few steps back to capture all of the distinguishing effects of the property. 3. Not taking pictures of the inside of the house. Would you buy a house without seeing what it looked like on the inside? No! Make sure you take interior photos of the house. If you don’t, people will wonder what’s wrong with the home, and you won’t get any showings.

Don’t take pictures that make your house look haunted.

4. Taking dark and grainy pictures. Grainy, dark photos can make your house look haunted, and haunted houses generally don’t do well on the market. Adjust the settings on the camera so you don’t create any ghosts in your photo. Also, if your real estate agent wants to use their cellphone to take photos, tell them that is not a good idea. 5. Not letting the sun in. We’ve seen photos of houses so dark that you can’t tell what you’re looking at. Natural light has proven to help houses sell faster and for more money. Dark pictures are very unattractive. Avoid these mistakes to make your online listing appeal to more buyers. The better your photos are, the more showings you will get; the more showings you get, the better offers you will have. If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I would be happy to help you!

The Pros and Cons of a Pocket Listing

As a method of selling your home, a pocket listing offers both advantages and disadvantages that I want to discuss today.

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What is a pocket listing? What does that mean for you as a seller? A pocket listing is a listing that the seller has agreed to sell but has not made the choice to officially list it for sale yet. You won’t find these types of listings on the regular MLS or on the Internet. The seller, though, has visited with a real estate agent and told them that they’d be interested in selling the house if the agent can find them a buyer. There are both advantages and disadvantages to selling your house this way. One advantage is that you can maintain your privacy throughout the sale. Another advantage is that because the home doesn’t spend a lot of time on the market, you only have to deal with a small pool of buyers and avoid a surplus of showings. These factors generally make this selling method the most stress-free. Do we use pocket listings? Absolutely. We help many clients sell their house before it even goes on the market. We do that through something called an “off-market property list.” As soon as someone tells us they’re interested in selling their house, they’ll go onto our off-market property list and we try to match that house with home buyers we’re working with who we think might be interested.

Pocket listings can be a very valuable tool to get your home sold.

One very clear disadvantage to pocket listings is the limited amount of exposure they offer. Because it’s not a regular listing, a pocket listing won’t get the benefits of a full marketing package. A related disadvantage is the house will also probably have less foot traffic. If fewer people (and agents) know that your home is for sale, there will naturally be less activity surrounding it. Depending on your circumstance, pocket listings can be a valuable tool in helping you get your house sold. If you have any questions about this or any other topic, feel free to reach out to us. We’re here to help!

What Are the Pros and Cons of a Fixer-Upper?

Many people love the idea of a fixer-upper, but there are four things you should know before you buy one.

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Have you ever thought about buying a fixer-upper? Many more people are getting into this portion of real estate thanks to shows like HGTV's Fixer-Upper, which takes place in Waco. Can anyone do this successfully and profitably? Absolutely, there are a lot of people who do. However, it's possible to buy a fixer-upper that turns into a disaster. If you're considering buying a fixer-upper, there are some crucial things to remember.

First, not every house is going to be a diamond in the rough. Some simply need too much work just to make them livable. Consider location and condition, because you want a house that will maintain its value or increase in value over time. If the house has been very poorly maintained, the cost of reviving it could be extremely high. Just because a house needs a lot of work doesn't mean you should pursue it.

Next, remember that you have to get a home inspection. I can't tell you how important it is to bring in a professional inspector to look at the bones of the house to really get a good idea of what you're getting into. Any serial flippers will tell you stories about a project turning out to be way more than they expected. You can't always prevent it, but the inspection will go a long way.

Not every house is a diamond in the rough.

Then, if you're thinking about moving or removing walls, you might want to bring in an architect or engineer to the house to evaluate some of these things. You don't want to be surprised by these things down the road after the renovation has begun.

Finally, consider who is doing the renovating. There's nothing against doing it yourself if you've got the experience, but if you don't have experience renovating houses or doing handyman work, then you'll need to consider the cost of delegating those items to a professional. Make sure everyone doing the work is experienced and won't get overwhelmed.

If you have any more questions about taking on a fixer-upper or a major renovation, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have or put you in touch with a great contractor for any projects you're thinking of.