Video Series Day 3/30 - Photography!

Welcome to day 3 of my video series on investment tips to help get you better returns from your property developments and investments. Today’s video will focus on photography, so I’m going to give you 5 massive tips on how to get the best from your property in still picture format.

Click here for the video:

Summary:

1. Dress the property like you are living there, create that homely feel. Pictures up, scatter cushions tidy, curtains tied back, lots of light in there. Prep all the rooms. Toilet seat DOWN! If shower is wet squeegee it down, make it look fresh. Maybe a coloured towel and some ornaments on the sink? Discretion as can look cluttered, speaking of which make sure to take away shampoo bottles etc. Same for kitchen, toaster, kettle, microwave etc…
2. Use a professional photographer or camera and do some editing, brighten up the photos, or if you want to you can outsource that to someone.
3. Failing that: best angle is normally from the doorway. Try to get two walls in and remember that the main focus should be the join of the wall with the window. Additional reverse shot maybe but the focus should on a shot with a window in it.
4. Chest height. If you’re very tall then lower the camera a little bit and HOLD IT STILL! Better yet get a tripod. You can actually play with the exposure times on your camera to get more natural light in the frame if it’s a dark flat. Try that and with the lights on and off in order to get more material to play with.
5. Exterior – comes back to what I was saying about curb appeal. Make sure it looks nice. Windows painted/cleaned, tidy front door, no rusty old door knob. Make it look really luscious. Is it inviting? The picture is the first thing that people look at.

They say that 95% of people start their property search online. People want nice things and people know when they are getting value for money. Why do big developers get away with charging a ludicrous some for small new build flats? It’s because they know how to market. So don’t innovate, copy what the big boys do and market your property and get a better price. Dress it up, nice photos, voila!

When you go to buy a car, new or used, what kind of cars do you see on the forecourt? Property is easily 10x more expensive, why are you not presenting as well as a used car salesman?? Make sure you present your property well for the photos so it can be displayed on the forecourt (RM and Zoopdeeloops) well. You will get more clicks, more viewings, more offers.

Here’s a few examples of properties that haven’t been presented well and some that have. You can easily see the difference. Sometimes prices vary in the same block simply because of the photos/marketing efforts. It can easily make £150pcm difference. Do you want an extra £1800 per annum for putting away a few shampoo bottles and tidying?

So that’s it for today, join me tomorrow for day 4 of my video series.

As always if you are looking for help with your investments in south London or further afield just contact me through the tinternetweb, give me a shout on your preferred social media platform or just old fashioned email: jeroen@claphampropertyblog. If you’d like to meet in person then come and join me at the Clapham Property Meet, the monthly social networking event for property investors. There’s no selling, no pitching, just good quality content from a guest speaker who will be an experienced investors just like me and my co-host Trevor Cutmore. See you soon, and remember to sign up to the blog at www.claphampropertyblog.com if you’d like an email straight to your inbox when I publish a new article!