It's the electronic age. People are connected to the larger world around them visually, through their computer screen. Military families are often limited to online research since travel can be prohibitive. If you want to show your prospective property, you better get it right online first. Here are some handy tips from a frustrated online browser:
1. Pictures. Everything else is really a sub-listing of this, but I really want to make a strong point here. Lots and lots of pictures. Oh, and by the way, posting the same five pictures five times SHOULD NOT FRIKKIN' QUALIFY for the 25 photos slot.
2. If your seller seems like a good candidate for a reality t.v. show like "Hoarders" you might want to encourage them to get professional help before you try taking pictures of their home.
3. If it looks like the home was decorated by the design team of Laura Ashley and Jesus, get the sellers to tone it down a little before picture day. Cabbage roses and Christ don't do it for everyone. I feel like I'll need a pressure washer to get all the guilt off.
4. Unless you are featuring a specific architectural element, never - ever - take a vertical-format shot. First of all, nine times out of ten you'll get it crooked. Secondly, what are you hiding?
5. While it's true that smell-o-vision is not yet a reality, certain visual items do impart a olfactory experience. For example, plastic on the couches smells like grandma and not in the baked-goods way. Messy nurseries smell like old diapers. Red-violet walls smell like crazy. Just a thought.
6. Take the CRAP off the refrigerator. The single most important picture is the one of the kitchen and if the fridge is stuck all over with finger paintings and grocery lists I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING ELSE. Fair? Probably not. True? Abso-frikkin'-lutely.
7. The picture of the blank wall. Why??
8. Finally, and this should go without saying, except that it obviously can't: if you don't know how to operate your camera, get someone else to take the damn pictures. Blurry shots, shots with your thumb in the corner, dropped camera shots... these all make you look like an idiot and no one wants to buy a house from an idiot.
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