With home showings going online during COVID-19, learn how to make your listing stand out digitally via Screen Appeal.
You’ve undoubtedly reconsidered your plan if you were banking on packed open houses (or any open houses, for that matter) to sell your property. Because so many people are staying at home these days, online for-sale listings are more important than ever, and it all starts with improving your property’s screen appeal.
Stage your Space
Aggressive decluttering is the first stage in presenting your property. For the time being, put away all of your children’s and dogs’ toys, store or discard loose periodicals, and put your photo frames and souvenirs in boxes. You don’t want to remove all of your home’s charm, but you do want it to seem neutral enough for potential buyers to picture themselves living there. Plus, the less random items on exhibit, the larger your rooms will appear.
After that, think about the layout. You may like the way your rooms are set up, but your furniture placement on the screen may not be optimal. Take a few test shots to evaluate if the current arrangement looks well in the images. Do a video chat walkthrough with a buddy to determine if you have a clear path between furniture items if you’re intending on making a recorded or live video tour. During a live tour, you definitely don’t want to trip over an ottoman.
Finally, clean and dust every visible surface, and change all lightbulbs to make the rooms as bright as possible – even the most gorgeous interiors won’t read well on camera if they’re too dark.
Consider Virtual Staging
If your current home is empty, you have a few options:
- You can leave it empty. (But staged homes tend to sell faster.)
- Purchase furniture if you’re able to have it safely delivered to your home. You just need a few key pieces to show the scale of a room — a couch, coffee table and rug establish a living room’s size, for instance. You can always resell or donate the pieces to charity later if you don’t want to keep them.
- Try virtual staging, which digitally adds furnishings to your space. It’s come a long way and can make a home look very attractive. There are many online services as well as DIY apps to choose from.
Your Home has great Screen Appeal – Now Share
Even if hiring an agent or professional photographer to do the effort isn’t an option or requires creative solutions, there are a few methods to showcase your property online to create more interest.
- Still photographs
- Recorded or live video walkthroughs
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