As a Chester County Mom of 4 and a full time Realtor, I know the thought of selling a home can be scary. It is not something people do often and are not quite sure how to go about doing it. There are many blogs out there about selling your home but I wanted to share 5 “secrets” that will make your selling process as quick and smooth as possible.

The first secret: Use a professional photographer or make sure your realtor uses one. This is a personal pet peeve of mine. There are too many bad pictures of what are often beautiful homes- pictures that are dark, have poor angles, show clutter. Non professional pictures will often show non important rooms like plain bathrooms photographed a bunch of different ways and usually all bad. Real estate photographers do not cost much  (100-300 dollars) and are so worth it. Remember you are selling what is probably your most valuable asset. I personally pay 110 dollars for an hour long photo shoot which includes 25 pictures- this is a service I offer to clients but it is also for myself. I know my photographer will help me get my listings sold quicker. Today, they say approximately 90 percent of home buyers look for their home on the internet. Therefore, when your home is online, you can basically consider it your first showing- if your pics are bad, people will often pass your home and will not even ask to schedule that first appointment.

TREND MLS does not allow us to use other realtor’s pictures in publications but I often show bad versus good pictures as examples during a listing presentation so my potential client can see the value added. What I did do however is take 2  pictures of my kitchen eating area – only with my iphone which does not take professional pics but I wanted to demonstrate the difference even angles can make.

Angle 1

Angle 2

This is actually my breakfast room- I am not moving but if I was am I selling my kitchen table or am I selling the fact that my breakfast room is large and opens up to my family room with columns in between. Need to think about angles and what you are showing in your pictures. My rooms would be less cluttered too which will be covered next time when I talk about staging.

Over the next few weeks, I will be discussing my 4 other secrets.. Staging your home to sell, accurately filling out a sellers disclosure, making sure your buyer is financially qualified, and having a realtor meet the appraiser when he or she comes to appraise your home. In the meantime, if you have any questions feel free to contact me: Teri Gabrys- REALTOR with Keller Williams Exton- 610-212-0293 (cell) 610-363-4300 (office) or terigabrys@kw.com