PSA: Center City, You Are Better Than Sh!%%y Photos Like This

True story: Frank lets me write just about whatever I want. (He may change that policy after he reads this.) So when I compliment his practices on this blog, it’s solely because I feel like it.

I was browsing Zillow – as a real estate blogger does – this morning, looking for fodder. In my clicky travels, I came across this:

We need some Clorox up in here, STAT!

*As usual, I won’t specify where the offenders live. I’m nothing if not a classy lady.

No, you didn’t just stumble into a WTPhilly post. Why am I blowing up your screen with 614×447 pixels of foul-grouted ugliness, then? It’s to make a point: pictures matter. Truly. (Cleaning does as well, FYI. That should go without saying!)

You’ve read a zillion half-assed HGTV or other home improvement blogs on staging your home for sale, but no amount of strategic prettifying is going to do jack if the person helping you list your home floods the MLS with janky snaps of your dwelling. You don’t need to go all Annie Leibovitz on things, but hopefully your Realtor has an eye for the images that flatter your home.

Like people, most homes have a good side. The art of taking decent real estate pictures is, at its core, pretty simple: make sure there’s ample lighting, ensure that everything looks nice and neat, and shoot the angles that best show off the space. I’m no photographer myself, but I know when I see it whether someone’s put a bit of effort into making a home look nice, or if they are simply half-assing it. That photo above? For more than one reason, it should not have shown up on the listing… which, by the way, was for a fairly nice little house.

I called Frank out at the beginning because his listings always show their best side, thanks to great photography. That’s not to suggest that he has the corner on this market (although he’s pretty amazing… and not just because he pays me), but to point out a nearby example of what works. Because lawd almighty, that one above does not.

/end rant.