How important are the photos on your Trademe advert?

One of our landlords recently moved overseas and asked us to rent out his family home. The weeks before he moved the house was fairly chaotic with preparations for the move and the tidying up of the house. It was hard to take good photos of the property as the place was in disaray due to packing and construction work. I managed to take a few photos and listed the property on the Internet. Admittedly the photos did not portray the property in the best light as I was trying to avoid suitcases and boxes. There was very little interest in the property and I was contemplating having to reduce the price. Once the owner had moved out I went back to the property and took additional photos. Within 2 hours of uploading the new photos I had 2 inquiries and another 2 in the following 24 hours. These people were extremely keen to view the property. The wording on the advert remained the same. The only change that was made was clean uncluttered photos that demonstrated the best aspects of the property.

We frequently see adverts with dark dingy photos, photos tilted on the side, contain people or show unappealing parts of the property. People generally will inquire about properties that they can see themselves living in. They don't want to live in a messy cluttered house with dishes on the sink. They somehow think the house is messy, not the current tenants. They imagine when they move into the house it will always look messy despite how much of a neat freak they are. However it can work both ways. A house that is presented nicely, colour co-ordinated with "nice" furniture leads people to believe that it will still look like that when they move in with their old mismatched furniture and the current tenant has moved out with all their "nice" furniture.

To make the best impression and attract the best enquiries present your property in the best possible way. Have it clean and tidy, well presented, and clutter free.