<p>^ She had pics up of the bad kitchen, took it off the market when it didn’t sell after two months, did a $12K fix up of kitchen, put it back on the market and it sold in two weeks.</p>
<p>The rooms she didn’t have pictures of were all perfectly fine.</p>
<p>I’m just saying, if there aren’t pictures of the kitchen and all the baths, my reaction is not “I want to go to the house so I can see those rooms”, it’s “there must be something wrong with it or they would have a picture of it.”</p>
<p>Especially the kitchen, which is the most important room in the house.</p>
<p>Maybe that is just me.</p>
<p>Bedrooms, maybe I don’t care so much about.</p>
<p>I second notrichenough. I liked to see at least the kitchen, living room, a bathroom or two, two bedrooms, and views of the front and back yards. The few we looked at that didn’t offer those (but still had nice pictures) generally had some sort of red flag thing that happened as soon as we saw it at the house.</p>
<p>I think one really should ask their realtor. Most don’t suggest showing everything. </p>
<p>[My</a> REALTOR/BuilderCan Too Many Pictures In MLS Ruin My Chances To Sell My Home? » My REALTOR/Builder](<a href=“http://commonwealthestates.com/2013/03/19/can-too-many-pictures-in-mls-ruin-my-chances-to-sell-my-home/]My”>The Palmer Group » Can Too Many Pictures In MLS Ruin My Chances To Sell My Home?)</p>
<p>Pictures sold our house. Our photographer shot every room, some from several angles and then the realtor chose which to use with our approval. The online listing included photos of the front and back yards, all common areas (kitchen, dining, living, family, office, finished basement, screened porch) and also the master/master bath and one of the other bedrooms. Our house had an offer from an out of state couple SIGHT UNSEEN during the first week, based on the listing pictures. They were familiar with our neighborhood and had their realtor come over to make sure the pictures were an accurate representation before presenting the offer. We also pretty much chose the house we moved to (also OOS) based on the photos. Make the pictures count!</p>
<p>DW is an agent, and I frequently hear her gripe “how can you list a house for $700,000 and have only four pictures?”</p>
<p>Her customers (mostly buyers) want to see pictures… no kitchen picture is more likely to prevent a visit than entice a visit, particularly since the kitchen is often the nicest room in the house. A statement in an MLS listing like</p>
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<p>is just not going to be believed unless maybe the rest of your house is right out of Architecture Digest. And most houses in MA (where I live, and the authors of that blog are) are not.</p>
<p>IMHO.</p>
<p>To each his own. If I was putting my house on the market I wouldn’t show every room in pictures.</p>
<p>In our market, you absolutely post pictures of the kitchen, dining room, family room, master bedroom, master bathroom, and any other photos of notable rooms like media rooms, libraries, backyard and pool, etc. </p>
<p>You wouldn’t necessarily show all secondary bedrooms, but certainly the main living rooms, kitchen, master, etc. should be shown or something is wrong. There is NO reason not to feature a photo of these primary rooms unless there is a problem with them.</p>
<p>Wow - thanks everyone for the input. I think my house’s market is more similar to the one for emilybee’s sister’s house. So I think we might be ok not showing the basement or merely functional half-bath, and we don’t have a yard (front or back), but we should plan for photos of all 4 bedrooms, all 3 full baths, kitchen, living room and dining room. Plus I want a close up shot of my neighbor’s torn up front yard with the feet of a dozen St Joe’s poking up through the dirt.</p>
<p>Class, what does your realtor think?</p>
<p>^good question, em. She is coming on Monday with the realtor so I’m sure she’ll eyeball the interior and say “this, not that” in pretty short order.</p>
<p>When we put our house on the market, our realtor took the lead in terms of how to stage the house and which rooms to show. They took out furniture they didn’t want in the picture. One thing they did make us do was to keep the rooms as is in the picture because they didn’t want potential buyers to feel there was a bait and switch. Another word, if they took a sofa and chair out of the family room for the picture, they didn’t want us to put them back after the picture was taken. I still have the pamphlet they did for the house and it is beautiful. Our house was sold in 1 month 3 years ago.</p>
<p>Class, I’m sure your realtor will know exactly what to show and not show.</p>
<p>I also make assumptions when key rooms are not shown. We’re currently shopping townhouses in NYC, which sometimes have tenants in place. When a listing has mostly photos of hallway/staircase/bannister, we assume the tenant has nasty habits and a gut renovation will be needed. Sometimes I’m glad to see a photo of an older working kitchen, as long as the asking price indicates I might be able to afford to do my own renovation. Between the fish-eye lenses and photoshopping, I’ve learned to visit. </p>
<p>A multi-level floorplan helps me as much as the photos, but I think that’s because we’re looking in a market where renovation is assumed. If it was a market of similar colonial or ranch houses, perhaps a floorplan matters less.</p>
<p>Our last big suburban house had unusual angles to photograph – balconies, cathedral ceilings, great room. I understood the house and its angles. After seeing the photographer’s first set of photos, I sent some cellphone pics to our realtor. She was so impressed with the difference, she sent the photographer back to capture those angles with his better lighting and camera. If your house has a key room that is quirky or hard to photograph, consider providing some samples to the realtor in advance, just as a suggestion, for her photographer to consider.</p>
<p>We are looking in Virginia and listing ours. In Williamsburg, they usually post 25 to 35 pictures and our realtor told us to make sure that our listing agent here uses a professional photographer. The realtor we interviewed here said that they update pictures if seasons change during the listing and they take new photos if furniture or appliances change.</p>
<p>A house down the street has finally sold after two years on the market. They were overpriced but time was on their side. They didn’t get the original asking price but did get more then they would have two years ago. It is a divorce and both parties continued to live in the house. Price was most important to them. I think they were nuts.</p>
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<p>I cannot imagine living for two years in the same house as the man I was divorcing. Sounds like they were okay with it. Different strokes. But yikes.</p>
<p>Haha – some people get along better once they are divorced. I’ve seen it.</p>
<p>Photographer just left. He told us where the shot would be, and what to remove. Realtor gave her input. He was there about 2 hours. He did everything except the scuzzy basement and half bath. Interesting - he asked for some newspaper so he could light it in the fireplace and create a glow. A friend of mine said make sure you have flowers, but H said that was a cliche and a waste of money. I wish i’d ignored him - photographer kept asking for flowers. The plan is: broker open house this Thursday; public open house this Sunday. And guess what will be there? Flowers</p>
<p>^^ And St. Josephs?^^</p>
<p>I went to so many open houses and property viewing in our area that is not funny. I have never seen such a gyration on preparation. Yes, some developers do that for new houses which they want to sell at a higher price than the market. But a regular garden style old house, we seldom seen highly glossy staging and preparation. Most of vacant homes are just … Vacant. Even at 1.5 Million!</p>
<p>Different areas different stokes.</p>