TIPS: Listing Photoshoot Day

La Cresta Life with Kelly Smith

Watch the video version here: https://www.lacresta.com/2021/03/05/tips-listing-photoshoot-day/

Hey y'all.

Welcome back to La Cresta life for all of you listing clients out there, this is one of the most critical things that we do. We hire a professional photographer to get drone video still shots and make your house look wonderful. Let's go inside.

We got a little lucky on this one. We happen to have a homeowner who is absolutely impeccable and her design is amazing. Her aesthetic is just gorgeous and she's obviously a very neat and tidy person, so I didn't have to do a lot. But not everybody lives like this. So our services include coming in and doing a walk around if you've got some questions about what should be left how it should be staged. Are there some things we can move around and make it look a little bit more appealing to the masses and that's certainly something that we do. in this case didn't have to do it. Love this house.

But I also love the challenge of being a kind of co-creating with our clients and reimagining their space that they lived in for a long time. So definitely something that we offer so don't be afraid of that part of this.

How to make us look really good? We hire the best. Hey, Nick, you're the best. He is a wonderful photographer. He always makes us look good. We adore him.

Notice behind me that there are pictures on the wall. Those are not family. They're not children. They're not pictures of your family that strangers shouldn't see. In my opinion strangers don't have the right to look at your family. They have to earn that right and I think when you put your house on the market if you really are serious and you're going to be moving anyway, just go ahead and pack up the pictures and if you have to know, stage it with some things that are not your family. You're trying to set up an environment where people can imagine their own family and pictures of your family only distract from there. So try to neutralize that by using photos and pictures that are not really really private to you. I know it's hard because you want your pictures on the wall, but you're going to be moving anyway. Take your time go through the house, get them all tidied up put them in a box cuz if you do it, right, you're going to sell your house. Hopefully we're going to sell your house and you're going to need those pictures at your next house anyway.

I'm often asked if the homeowner should be home on the day of the photographs and I was just now reminded why if you can avoid it, avoid it. Because I just walked by a window and our photographer was outside shooting in and if I can see him, the camera can see me. So the whole day turns into a sequence of hiding from the photographer. So if you can avoid that go for a walk of her drive, it generally takes in our case usually 2 to 3 hours because we're also gonna take still shots. We're getting a video inside and outside and then we're getting drone videos of the entire property. So it does take a little while. Go for a walk and don't play this game of hiding from the photographer.

The takeaway from today's experience is always have a great photographer, plan ahead, ask for help. We will help you make some choices on how to stage the house. Sometimes just using your own furniture and moving things around a little bit. And it's fun to get creative. We are not professional stagers, but if we need that will bring one in and give yourself plenty of time, that everything's tidy. We'll turn all the lights on and we'll turn all the lights off when we leave. Open the windows and all the things that we need to make the best shots, but it's a really important piece of it.

So plan ahead tidy up and it's the first step in getting your house on the market.

Anyway, thank you so much for joining me today and breaking up my two to three hour photo shoot. I look forward to seeing you next time on La Cresta Life.