Photographing your house properly: the standard we use

This is the cheapest improvement available to any landlord, and the one most often skipped. The same house, photographed properly, draws substantially more enquiries than one photographed carelessly. Nothing else you can do for free comes close.

The rules

• Daylight only. Never a flash, never at night.
• Mid-morning or late afternoon is best — harsh midday light blows out the windows.
• Open every curtain and turn on every light before you start.
• Shoot from a corner, so the whole room is in frame. Never point at a wall.
• Hold the phone horizontally at chest height and keep it level.
• Tidy first. Clear the floor. Remove buckets, shoes and washing.

The order to shoot in

Always the same order, so people can follow the house.

• The gate from the road, so people can find it
• The compound and the approach
• The front of the house
• The sitting room, two angles
• Every bedroom, one wide shot each
• The kitchen, including the counter and any storage
• The bathroom, showing shower and toilet
• The tap, running
• Parking, if there is any
• The view from the main window

What not to do

• Do not use photographs of a different house, even a similar one. This is the fastest way to lose all credibility.
• Do not use images from the internet.
• Do not hide problems. A stained ceiling photographed honestly costs you some enquiries; a stained ceiling discovered at the viewing costs you the tenant and your reputation.
• Do not over-edit. Heavy filters make people suspicious.
• Do not shoot only the best room.

A walkthrough video is worth more than all of it

A slow, steady walk through the house, narrating what you pass, is the single most persuasive thing you can produce. Hold the phone horizontally, walk slowly, and do not talk over the whole thing. Ninety seconds is plenty.