Twenty minutes of prep is the difference between photos that get clicks and photos that get scrolled past. Not a deep clean. Twenty minutes.
Here is what I would do before I show up.
Turn on every light in the house
Every lamp, every overhead, every under-cabinet strip. Yes, even in daylight. A room lit only by a window goes gray in the corners, and gray corners read as small and dark on a phone screen. Matching the bulbs helps too. One warm bulb next to one cool bulb turns a living room two different colors.
Open the blinds while you are at it. All of them, to the same height.
Clear the counters
Kitchen counters and bathroom vanities photograph best with almost nothing on them. Soap bottles, sponges, toothbrushes, the mail pile, the knife block, the paper towel holder. Into a cabinet for an hour.
A clear counter is the fastest way to make a kitchen look bigger, and it costs nothing.
Move the cars
Out of the driveway and off the street in front of the house. The front exterior is the first photo a buyer sees on Zillow, and a minivan parked across the walkway is the thing their eye lands on instead of the house.
Hide the outdoor clutter
Trash bins, recycling, garden hoses, kid toys, yard tools. Around back or in the garage. Mow if it needs it. In winter, shovel the walk and the front steps, because a shoveled path tells a buyer the house is cared for.
Deal with the pets
Bowls, beds, crates, litter boxes, and the pets themselves. My local MLS does not allow pets in listing photos, so anything with a tail needs to be out of frame anyway. Crated in the garage or out on a walk both work.
Put away anything with a name on it
Family photos, mail, prescriptions, diplomas, kids' artwork with a first name on it. This one is about privacy more than styling. Those photos live on the internet for years.
What you do not need to do
You do not need to stage the whole house or buy anything. You do not need to fix the things you cannot fix in an afternoon. I shoot around a lot, and light object removal in post is included, within reason.
If a home is genuinely not ready when I arrive, I text you before I shoot instead of handing you a gallery that undersells the listing. Being there yourself is even better. You know what you want buyers to see.
Print this, send it to your seller, and let them handle it the night before.
See what a shoot includes and what it costs, or book a time when you are ready.
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