Get your home ready for listing photos.

Most of this is free and takes an afternoon. The rest is a short list of repairs worth making and a longer list of ones that are not. Work through it with your listing agent: they know what buyers in your neighborhood notice, and they book the shoot. The short version, as a printable list, is the pre-shoot checklist.

One thing to know first: photos can be touched up in editing, but the 3D tour and video cannot. They show the house exactly as it is on the day. Short on time? Start with what matters most.

• A few weeks out: repairs worth making
• Declutter and depersonalize
• Clean like a buyer is looking closely
• Light is the whole photo
• Room by room
• Outside and curb appeal
• For the 3D tour and the video
• Selling in Boise or Denver: plan for the season
• The morning of the shoot
• If you cannot get to everything
• Ask your agent for Luxury Listing Media

A few weeks out: repairs worth making

Listing agents across the country give sellers the same advice: fix what a buyer would read as neglect, and leave the big remodels alone. A dripping faucet, a scuffed wall or a loose cabinet door costs little to fix, and in a photo or on a walkthrough it can make a buyer wonder what else was skipped.

• Replace burned-out bulbs, so every fixture works on the day. A dark room photographs as a smaller room.
• Touch up scuffed paint, patch nail holes, and re-caulk around tubs and sinks.
• Fix the small things a buyer will try: sticking doors, loose handles, a running toilet, a missing outlet cover.
• If a room is a strong color, a neutral repaint helps it read larger and brighter in photos and in person.
• For big items (a roof, a furnace, an old appliance), get a repair estimate even if you do not plan to fix it. The National Association of Realtors suggests this, because buyers will price it in either way.
• Ask your agent before starting a remodel. A half-finished update tends to raise questions rather than the price.

Declutter and depersonalize

Every room is photographed from every angle, and the 3D tour shows all of it at once, so moving things into a corner still leaves them in frame. The goal is rooms a buyer can picture their own things in.

• Put away anything you do not want online: family photos, mail, prescriptions, anything with your name or address on it. Art can stay.
• Clear kitchen counters down to one or two pieces, and take the magnets and papers off the refrigerator.
• Pack away some of what is on shelves and tables. Fewer objects read as more space.
• Use the garage as storage for the day. We do not photograph garages unless you ask us to.
• In basements and storage rooms, push clutter to the edges rather than the middle, so the floor reads as open space.

Clean like a buyer is looking closely

Listing photos are large and sharp, and a 3D tour lets a buyer look at any corner. Streaks on glass, dust on a ceiling fan and water spots on a faucet all show.

• Wash windows inside and out, and clean every mirror and glass door.
• Vacuum the carpets last, so the lines are fresh, and mop hard floors.
• Wipe down stainless appliances, faucets and light fixtures.
• If you do one paid thing before listing, make it a professional clean, especially kitchens and bathrooms. Of everything on our checklist, it makes the single biggest difference.

Light is the whole photo

• Turn on every light, including lamps, under-cabinet lights, closets and hallways.
• Open the blinds and shades, and set them the same way in every room. If one is broken and has to stay down, put them all down so the rooms match.
• Turn off ceiling fans, so the blades do not blur, and turn off televisions and screens.

Room by room

Kitchen

Clear the counters, the sink and the stovetop. Put dish soap, sponges, towels and small appliances away. Take everything off the front of the refrigerator.

Bathrooms

Put away toilet paper, plungers, shampoo, razors and toothbrushes. Take towels off the hooks, or hang one clean matching set. Put the toilet seats down and clear the counters.

Bedrooms

Make the beds with the pillows fluffed and the throws folded. Clear the nightstands, put clothes and shoes away, and close the closet doors unless the closet is a feature.

Living areas

Straighten the cushions, clear the coffee table, and tuck remotes, chargers and cords into a drawer. Straighten the rugs.

Pets

Put bowls, beds, toys and litter boxes away, and plan for pets to be out of the house or settled in one room while the photographer works.

Outside and curb appeal

The front of the house is usually the first photo a buyer sees, and a drone shows the roof and the yard from above as well.

• Mow and edge the lawn, trim the shrubs, and put fresh mulch in the beds if they need it.
• Spray down the driveway, walkways and front steps.
• Coil the hoses, and put toys, tools and yard equipment away.
• Move the cars out of the driveway and away from the front of the house, and put the trash cans out of sight.
• For drone photos, clear leaves and debris from the roof and gutters, and take down anything you would not want seen from above, such as tarps.
• Straighten the patio furniture, and clean the pool or hot tub if there is one.
• Check that the porch and landscape lights work, if your listing includes evening photos.

For the 3D tour and the video

We can virtually stage rooms and remove small items in photos. The 3D tour and video show the house exactly as it is on the day, so they are where the preparation matters most.

• Every room in the tour needs to be open and reachable, so unlock the doors and clear the thresholds.
• Secure valuables and anything personal. A 3D tour lets a buyer look at every surface.
• Streak-free glass and mirrors matter more here than anywhere, because the tour moves past them.

Selling in Boise or Denver: plan for the season

Both markets have real winters, and agents in both give the same advice: buyers want to see the house and the yard, not a blanket of snow or a brown lawn.

• From spring through fall, a green, edged lawn and a few seasonal flowers do more for the front photo than anything inside.
• In winter, shovel and clear the driveway, walks and steps before the shoot, and knock snow off the porch and railings.
• If you are planning a spring listing, ask your agent whether to photograph the exterior earlier, while the yard is green. Some agents photograph the outside in the green season and the inside when the house is ready.
• On acreage, show the land at its best: fences mended, gates closed, equipment parked out of the way. It is the part of the property a drone shows best.

We shoot in the Boise area and across the Denver metro and Front Range. The Boise service area and Denver service area pages cover travel; most of the Denver metro has no travel fee.

The morning of the shoot

• Lights on, blinds open, beds made, towels away, toilet seats down.
• Cars out of the driveway, trash cans out of sight, pets settled.
• A last pass with the vacuum in the main rooms.
• If your agent is helping get the house ready, they arrive 30 minutes before the shoot. If they cannot be there, they confirm with you that the house is ready.

Shoots are booked back to back, so a house that is ready on arrival keeps your shoot, and everyone else's that day, on time.

If you cannot get to everything

That is fine. Every item on this page helps on its own. If you only have a few minutes, start with the outside, because the front of the house is the first photo buyers see, and with the bathrooms. Everything after that is a step in the right direction.

Ask your agent for Luxury Listing Media

In most sales, the listing agent chooses and books the photographer. If you would like us to shoot your home, tell them. Here is what your listing gets:

• Every room, every angle and every exterior, with no shot list and no photo count cap.
• The best frames, sequenced in MLS order, with the full set kept on file.
• A Virtual Twilight Photo and a marketing kit with every package: a property website, print flyers and brochures, and posts sized for social media.
• Photos delivered the next day, in MLS order. Video in 2 to 3 business days.
• Depending on the package: drone photos, a Zillow 3D Interactive Tour and a 2D floor plan, and a listing video.

The packages and starting prices are in the pricing section, and the marketing kit page shows everything in the kit. Your agent can book online, or call either office.