Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
nongcotton

Need Opinion - House Pictures

nongcotton
14 years ago

I will put my house on the market soon. Can you guys please help me comment these pictures? Are they good? Thanks in advance. :)

Front:

Living room:

Kitchen:

Dining Room:

Master Bedroom:

Guest Bedroom:

Office:

Basement:

Back:

Basketball Court:

Comments (18)

  • Adella Bedella
    14 years ago

    I'd get more professional quality pictures if that's what you're asking. Many real estate agents take photos with wide angle lens. You can get a better view of the room.

    As far as the house, I think it's really cute and has good curb appeal. Winter is a hard time to dress up a house with flowers, but you could add a few pansies in the front flower bed if you wanted a little color. Of course, you may not be able to find pansies this time of year and that's ok too.

    I like your living room. The color looks nice on my monitor. The only thing I might change is to add either a green plant or a nice centerpiece to your coffee table.

    Your kitchen looks a bit bare for a house that is being lived in. I'd put a bowl of fruit on the counter and put the kleenix box away. Also, the magnetic pad on the refrigerator needs to go on the side you can't see. I'd also put a couple of decorative pieces on top of the cabinets, but everyone else would probably say to leave it alone.

    I'd put a tablecloth on the table and take the picture from another angle. The light and wall art look odd because they are at the same height. Also, you don't want the bar/bar stools in the picture.

    You need to take off all of the clutter from the chest in the master bedroom. I'd put a more neutral or solid color bedspread or duvet on the bed. You need something that color coordinates with the room even though you're selling the house and not the bed.

    I'd put away the Hello Kitty stuff in the guest room and office. I'd probably put the stuffed animals and pink trashcan away too unless you had the guest room staged as a child's room.

    I'd be tempted to put away all of the stuff in the basement area and leave it open.

    The wicker patio seat needs to go back up on the deck.

    Overall, I really like your house. It has a lot of appeal. I hope it sells fast.

  • larke
    14 years ago

    It all looks great, but put a pot of posies on that brown cabinet in the bedroom, the TV (rec. rm) in a corner, with the two chairs placed otherwise in relation to it - i.e. not just aimed at it (until you want to watch) because it shrinks the 'staging' to a rather sad and silly looking little picture. In fact if you can rent a couple of armchairs, rather than those, and/or a loveseat, people will be able to see what they can do with the space.

  • User
    14 years ago

    If you are doing your own photos, get Picassa or use your camera's software to straighten the photos. Almost all of them are leaning to the left or right.

  • kats_meow
    14 years ago

    If possible I might take the outside pic from a different angle so as to not emphasize the brown tree so much.

    On the kitchen photo I would take at a different angle so as to not make it look so much like a photo of the counter. I agree that the kitchen actually does look too bare. I would put some more decorative items in there.

    Dining room - lamp looks tilted, maybe because of how it interacts with the wall hanging.

    Room with the blue bed spread. I would put the pillows on top of the spread and get the clutter off the chest.

    Guest bedroom. I would put something on the chest, more decorative.

  • calliope
    14 years ago

    People understand it's winter. A brown tree in an immaculate landscape is forgiven. I don't think a picture of a basketball court is necessary. But, do mention it on the property description.

    You have an attractive, and very well-kept home, with pleasing decoration. It needs softened just a little with a large plant here and there or some accessories (especially the kitchen) so it doesn't look so stark.

    These are all petty issues however, compared to those pictures of fragments of rooms. You really, really need a camera with a wide angle lens. Whether they are, or not..........bits and pieces of rooms imply they are so small you can't get far enough away to take a good shot. I did some shots of a house I just sold, and some of them were taken from the outside shooting in a window. LOL. On a ladder looking down. In a hallway shooting from the just outside the door, and from the interior of a closet shooting out. Whatever angle gives you the most complete idea of what that room looks like in its entirety. A lens just does not see what your brain does, and these aren't doing a very nice house justice. Borrow one if you don't have one, or buy one if you have to .........it's worth the cost to sell a house.

  • Billl
    14 years ago

    It looks like you have done a great job cleaning up/out your house for sale. I'm sure it will show well.

    Only critiques...

    You might want to add one or 2 decorative items back to the living room and kitchen. Nothing huge - just a bowl of fruit or some flowers.

    For the pictures, I would get a wide angle lens as others have suggested. Also, if you have a digital camera, I would try turning the room lights off and just using the flash. One bright light in a photo tends to wash everything else out. Look at the dining room pic and the second bedroom pic side-by-side and you'll see the difference.

  • live_wire_oak
    14 years ago

    The dead on front pic of your home's front isn't doing it any favors. It focuses on the brown tree instead of your home. Take the pic from way back and at an angle. You want to be able to show some of the side of the house while still being able to see the front door. It's the same thing with the pic of the rear. It looks like the subject of your photo is the green bush, not the house. For the basketball court, you need to be in your neighbor's yard so you can see the relationship of the court to the house. Folks will want to see how big a yard you have and how much space that court swallows.

    You have similar problems with the interior shots. They read as pics of furniture and not the rooms themselves. You need to be able to pull back further and show more of the room's space. Use a tripod and a wide angle lens. If you don't have those, get a professional who does.

  • nongcotton
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thank you everyone. I will work on it. :)

  • C Marlin
    14 years ago

    Just viewing the pics, your house looks clean but boring.
    Front - different angle a suggested to downplay the tree.
    LR - move pics lower and use different angle
    Kitchen - add one large accessory on counter, take stuff off frig
    DR - is that the only dr, looks formal but clearly too small, table is against the wall. If only dr, get smaller table
    MB - needs new covering, move dresser or remove, put nightstands on both sides of bed. Make all colors flow. Remove or match pictures, make them closer together.
    Guest - remove little clock and little dresser. Rearrange bed to center.
    Take new pics for other rooms. Remember only use pics that show a room for a potential buyer, if you can't see the room, don't use it.
    Use one big accessory, get all the small stuff out, it clutters room without adding interest.

  • Carol_from_ny
    14 years ago

    The angle of the house pic is wrong as others have stated.

    The pics on the wall in the living room are too small for the space and are fighting with the pillows. Get pillows that have the same colors as the pic and get a larger pic for that spot. Remove the small item off the coffee table table you need something large there.

    Kitchen is too sterile and it needs some color to make it pop.
    The green thing on the fridge needs to go.

    Dining room remove the small item on the table it does nothing for the room and distracts from looking at the room itself.

    First bedroom get rid of all the stuff on the dresser.
    Again the pics over the bed are the wrong size, too small. Buy a fitted spread. Yours looks like a body could be hiding under it.

    Next bedroom get rid of the sheers. They are doing nothing for the view or the room. The dresser is too small for the place it's at it needs to go into the corner at a angle in front of the lamp. Get rid of the kid stuff including the mismatched pillows. I'd also consider removing the clock it's distracting.

    Office I'd get rid of the sheer and try rearranging the furniture so it doesn't look like there are huge gaps. Maybe take the tv off the table and or move it to the end and pull the table to in front of the window.

    The basement I'd remove everything and leave it empty.

    Outside looks fine, I'm not a fan of the wicker piece where it is or the two lights on either side of it. Seems to me the wicker belongs on the deck.
    I would like to se a brightly colored bench out by the basketball court to make it look like it's ot just floating out there.

  • Linda
    14 years ago

    With the exception of two photographs, I think you made the typical mistake that most homeowners make when taking home pictures. The focus was more on the furniture and not the rooms. When I look at your pictures, I see furniture, not room sizes or shapes.

    On the positive, the house looks clean, neutral and has great curb appeal.

  • sylviatexas1
    14 years ago

    Don't let this stuff discourage you;
    ask for a critique & you'll almost always get a ton of criticism!

    These are cute pics of a cute house.

    I'd leave the dining table bare, as it looks very modern & clean that way, but buyers do need to see the light fixture without the distraction of the clock.

    Solid patterns are better than patterns for any photo (or if you're ever on tv!), so I'd use plain, unobtrusive comforters & pillow covers for the beds.

    I my own personal self like the front photo, as the weeping form of the tree is a beautiful accent, & the photo of the back shows a lot of angles & visual interest.

    Showing the tennis court against the house is a good idea, especially if you can get some of that nice fence to show up.

    I wish you the best.

  • xamsx
    14 years ago

    IMO, I like all your room except the guest bedroom (you don't need that pic), the office (you don't need that pic) and in the basement, I'd actually clear it ALL out and retake the picture to see if that works.

    When you are ready, it might be a wise investment to hire a professional real estate photographer.

  • mariend
    14 years ago

    Even thought it is winter, I would at least trim the tree out front. Also to me, some of the rooms need a bit more color, but then brown is not my favorite color. How about some red/yellow etc?
    Sure does look nice and clean though.

  • calliope
    14 years ago

    Please do not trim that tree. It's a weeping tree and would look ridiculous next spring. And the next owners would say bad words!

  • western_pa_luann
    14 years ago

    "How about some red/yellow etc? "

    Please don't do that... stay with the neutrals.

  • weed30 St. Louis
    14 years ago

    The basketball court is useless to many buyers. You might consider renting or borrowing some nice looking patio furniture with an umbrella table and a fire pit. Stage it as a nice relaxing area of the yard. Add some potted plants, etc. Take a few photos and include them in your listing, then return the rentals :)

  • rc808
    14 years ago

    Get a better camera. Most real estate agents take terrible photos too.

    I'm a semi-professional photographer and use a Nikon DSLR camera (the D40 model). I rented a super wide angle lens from borrowlenses.com and got some excellent shots of my home. The 12-24mm lens takes AMAZING interior shots. It shows the whole room and makes it look huge. I also got exterior shots during "magic hour", so I was able to get a blue sky plus warm light coming from the windows. Being an expert user in Photoshop doesn't hurt. I accepted an offer within 6 days of listing it. I know the photos were only one factor in it selling quick in this market (the other being it was priced right), but everyone complimented them.

    My advice? Get a good camera and lens (or rent one), or hire a pro photographer. 99% of agents are awful photographers.

    Also, never show overcast skies in an exterior shot.