Wallpaper Trends 2020

It’s 2020, and one thing is for sure: if we’re going to be stuck inside staring at our walls, we might as well enjoy them! Unique and bold wallpaper is a big trend right now: pinterest searches for wallpaper are up 40%. Consumers are looking to change up their scenery, whether it is to create a “wow” factor among potential buyers or to add dimension that creates a cool new Zoom backdrop. Since we have the privilege of photographing some of the most unique  homes in central Texas, we’re sharing a few of our favorite wallpaper trends for your inspiration!

Geometric Prints

Say hello to our first fab trend: geometric prints! The satisfying symmetry and structure has been shown to evoke feelings of security that accompany routine, in this rather “unroutine” time. Bold geometric patterns with bright colors are especially popular in home offices and studios to  help energize and stir up some creativity. These patterns also work great as accent walls to tie a room together. With so many different combinations of shapes and colors, there is sure to be at least a few that truly catches your eye!

Outdoor Inspiration

Nature has always been a muse in home design, but it is even more so now. Consumers are all about wellness in 2020, and beautiful botanical-inspired designs like these create an atmosphere of relaxation 

Floral prints will always be  timeless  for the elegance, whimsy or  movement they bring into any room. Or, if you’re not a fan of repeat  patterns, garden-esque murals make for a show-stopping focal point. Choose the colors and composition wisely though, as they can alter the mood of the room. Consider a sophisticated and muted vintage pattern for a reading nook  or sitting room or a bright wildflower mural to liven up a dining space. Check out our Staging Tips to help you complete the room!

For those who aren’t floral fans, bold, leafy patterns are also trending.  This bold living room is one of our favorite examples we’ve spotted this year! The combination of wallpaper, coordinating accent wall and warm wood textures creates a modern, tropical escape without going too far. With summer vacay season coming to a close, we are all for bringing it home!

Neutral & Textured

This year’s trends are all about celebrating nature; but if botanicals aren’t your thing we recommend earthy tones and natural finishes. Wood, grasscloth, marble, and slate are just a few subtle patterns that will add dimension without overwhelming a room. These are great options for the modern minimalist looking to change it up but not really spice it up. Wall treatments like these are so versatile: they look great in any room, and match just about any  furniture or decor style. We especially love them for a cozy office or zen master bedroom suite. 

If you typically steer clear of bold patterns but still want to make a statement, you can try a textured wallpaper. This unique approach will add visual appeal without distracting the eyes.

Bold Bathrooms

Sometimes the biggest statements are best made in the smallest rooms. Bathrooms are the perfect spot to try out a loud or fun print because it will add style without clutter that additional decor might bring. Also, in the case that you don’t like the pattern, the smallest room just so happens to be the one that is the fastest to remove these prints too. This is your chance to go all-out on animal print, or express your inner art enthusiast – remember, have some FUN! Fair warning: you can overwhelm a small space. If it feels disorienting, you might want to stick with just an accent wall! 

Whether you favor a bold statement  or subtle accent, wallpaper is all about making your space yours. Marrying the right colors, prints, and textures can really enhance the look of the room and evoke the mood you want to feel in there. We are a huge fan of this trend comeback and totally recommend going for it!  If you need help with what colors to use, check out our blog on the Psychology of Color.

Bold choices make great instagram material! If you’re looking for more home trends and inspiration, make sure you check out our blog

Space Savers

Staging Tips

Set the Stage to Sell: Helpful Tips & Tricks

Home staging is a crucial part of the home selling process. Not only is it important for showings, but it is equally as important for photos. You want potential buyers touring your home to create a mental image of what each room can be for them. It’s easy to picture a family dinner around a fully set dining room table; but in a completely vacant home it’s sometimes difficult to tell where the dining space even is!

Eighty-three percent of buyers’ agents stated that a staged home was easier for a buyer to visualize as a future home, not just a property. And, home staging has an average ROI of 586%! This is an incredibly valuable process that guides buyers closer to a purchase decision, and we’re here with some tips to help set your stage for success. 

Draw Them in with Curb Appeal

The first impression is the most important one, and it’s up to you to make sure it isn’t the only one! Most buyers drive by listings before deciding if they want to see the inside, so the exterior needs to be well maintained and inviting to draw them in. Basic landscaping goes a long way: mow the grass, trim any overgrown hedges, power wash the driveway and exterior walls and remove any seasonal decorations. Put a fresh coat of paint on the front door, place some outdoor furniture on the patio and add some pretty potted flowers to have buyers swarming like bees in no time. If you think it’s going to take a lot more than weed whacking and new furniture to make your listing presentable, check out our recent blog post on maximizing outdoor appeal.

Keep the Focus

Spend your time wisely! In the staging process, the greatest amount of attention should be given to the primary living spaces: kitchen, family room, bathrooms, and the master bedroom. If you do not have the time or resources to stage the whole house, start with these “big selling” rooms as they have the greatest potential to influence buyer decisions. 

Neutralize all spaces by removing personalized decor: family photos, names, etc. You want to create a blank slate in which buyers can picture their own style. The master bedroom should appeal to all genders and feel as clean and comfortable as a luxurious hotel room. Freshen up all bathrooms by removing the 20-something bottles of shampoo cluttering the shower. Instead, place decorative soaps and clean towels by the sink.

Living areas should also be a focal point because they are where the new homeowner will be spending most of their time. Consider how the furniture is arranged: will people be bumping into things as they try to walk through? The furniture needs to be arranged in a conversational manner without blocking any walkways, so buyers can easily flow through it. If you have a focal point of the room, such as a fireplace or TV, arrange the furniture to face it. Move all furniture at least 10” from the walls to create a more open look- space sells!

Make the Right Connections

This step might include heavier effort on your end, but it’s worth it! First, declutter and depersonalize the listing to neutralize the environment for buyers. We promise there will be a better time to show off your coin collection or experiment with printed accent walls. Choose sophisticated, neutral tones like white, grays, and taupe. Rich mid-tones like mocha and gray-beiges create a nice backdrop that pulls everything together. Neutral tones will appeal to a broader range of people and are always in style, so we’d say this step is a win-win. 

Once you disconnect the current owner from the home, it’s time to create positive connections between the home and the new owner. But how do you strengthen the emotions the space evokes, or even control what those feelings are? Use color psychology!

While choosing colors for decor, consider how you want the potential to feel in that room. Do you want them to feel relaxed in the master bathroom? You might consider blue accessories and wall art. Cool, yet inviting, shades like blue, green, and violet are perfect for bathrooms, bedrooms, and living rooms. On the other hand, you can cheer up buyers with warm colors like yellow, orange, and red in the kitchen and office. We think color psychology is a really interesting tactic in real estate, and we wrote a whole other blog about it.

Stay Trendy

When choosing the style of each room to be staged, it’s important to stay in line with current industry trends. Don’t go too crazy trying to redesign an entire room; just remember that less is more when and you need to appeal to a broad range of people! We recommend removing any outdated elements that could be off-putting for buyers, like curtains with bold prints, for example. 

When in doubt, keep it natural! Natural tones and textures are a popular design choice for stagers and homeowners alike, and we believe this trend is here to stay. These include mixed metal hardware, faux fur throws, natural wood stools, wicker ball centerpieces, granite counters, and more. Bringing some of the outdoors, indoor, will brighten and add life to the space. A big vase of flowers is perfect on the kitchen island or tall potted plants in the living area are great decorations. Not much of a botanist? Fake plants from your local furniture or department store deliver the same vibe for no work. 

Pantone’s 2020 Color of the Year is Classic Blue, a color that signifies “the anticipation for what’s to happen next”. It might be fun to include a few classic blue accents here and there to get buyers excited for their next chapter: buying a home! 

Light It Up

A great staging job can’t be appreciated if it’s too dark to be seen! Not only will the right lighting draw attention to focal points and evoke feelings of joy, but it also makes the space appear bigger, and, in turn, more desirable! 

Let in as much sunlight as possible, or, if there aren’t many windows in the room, try increasing the wattage in the lightbulbs – switching from warmer lighting to “daylight balanced” is also a top tip. Unique or abstract lighting fixtures add style to a room, and depending on the kind of light, make buyers feel warm and welcomed. If you want to go a step further, add detailed lighting under the cabinets or around mirrors. You’d be surprised how much a difference a little light might go. Good lighting is not something you can overlook for successful showings and listing photos, so make sure you get this step right!

Go Virtual

Whether you’re having trouble finding a professional home stager in a hurry or just don’t feel like moving furniture, virtual staging is a fabulous alternative! This is a revolutionary trend in real estate marketingwhere different pieces of furniture, decorative accessories, and more are digitally placed on an image of a vacant room. The results are incredibly realistic and as effective as traditional staging. On top of that, virtual staging can reduce the cost of staging by up to 97%! We’d say that’s an investment worth making.

To make sure your listing stands out, it’s important to stage to sell. An offer isn’t far behind these tips! For more real estate marketing information, visit our blog page.

Enhance Your Outdoor Appeal

When it comes to selling homes, the first impression is the most important impression! The exterior of a home can give a good indication of the aesthetic and condition of the interior, and improving your curb appeal can add 3-5% to your home value. A poorly maintained exterior can drive away a potential buyer before they even get inside, or close the page before clicking to the next picture. To help you out, we gathered a few Twist Tours tips and tricks to enhance the beauty of your listing’s exterior, and make buyers fall in love at first sight!

Fix the Face

Before even thinking about adding new features, focus on the basics. There is no shrub fancy enough to make someone forget about dirt caked on the siding or a porch with peeling paint.  A nice glow-up can be achieved with a power wash and a fresh coat of paint. If you need new roofing or shingles, this is the time to take care of it. This may be a headache of a project, but it will pay off in home value and increase interest from buyers.

Landscape

Landscaping should be well-maintained, trimmed, and blooming with the aim to pull people’s attention to the door. Do people feel like they need shears to get to the front walkway? Overgrown or dead landscaping leaves buyers worried about how well you maintained the inside. And a home without any landscaping efforts leaves them wondering if it’s finished!

Fresh new flowers, mulch, and shrubs can go a long way in the overall aesthetic of the home. Landscaping has the potential to pay a 215% return in home value, so we’d say that’s an investment worth making! This time of the year is prime for outdoor photos: flowers in bloom, green grass, and lush trees (which also add value providing shade from the sun!).  

It’s best to plan landscaping months ahead of time, but luckily early summer is when everything is clean. At the least, remove dead foliage, plant something simple in its place, and get rid of lawn decor. We’re all about adding personality to a home, but your plastic flamingos and gargoyles should really sit the selling process out. 

Now, we understand that not everyone has a green thumb or the time to redo the whole landscape. For grass that’s run down, or seen too much sun or water, we can digitally enhance the photo to create the perfectly lush lawn with our Greening Up the Grass Editing Service. We also provide a Blue Sky Replacement Editing Service in case your photoshoot falls on a less than perfect day.

Set the Lighting

We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again: Proper lightingThe Importance of Lighting in Real Estate Photography is key to getting the right photos for your listing. If your home is dimly lit, you may want to add some simple fixtures to brighten it up and change out any dead light bulbs. We love the look of lanterns for summers by the pool! Another fabulous option is shining spotlights on the front of the home. Pair this with our Twilight Photography Add On and you will be putting your best thumbnail forward. Bold twilight photography makes your online listing much more appealing to potential buyers, and looks pretty darn cool too!

Final Touches: 

Once you have a clean house with neat landscaping, fill in some features to either add value to the home, or interest in the photos. Create a nice living space to allow buyers to look forward to their stay-home summer there. If the home is vacant or your outdoor furniture has clearly seen a few too many storms, we can virtually stage the area!

To go a step further, you can add staging that can increase the resale value of the home. 

Use your discretion to spend wisely and add universally appealing gestures. For example, a new playground may be cool to families with kids, but it’s not going to pay off for every interested buyer. A firepit is a fabulous choice as well as outdoor kitchens and water features – just some of the ways to make a quarantined summer a breeze.

In a time where potential buyers are solely searching online for homes, your listing needs to stand out amongst the rest. Take some time to spruce up your exterior and it will pay off. Contact us for your real estate photography needs and we will perfect the listing’s digital curb appeal. Let us help you show buyers where the grass is greener! Make sure you check out our blog for more real estate marketing trends and tips! 

Home Selling Mistakes

Home Selling Mistakes that You Can Fix!

Are your listing photos suffering from poor, drab lighting? 

Is the guest room’s clutter making potential buyers shudder?

Is the condition of your carpet causing uneasiness?

When it comes to marketing homes for sale, we have it down to a science. The Real Estate market is getting busier and busier, and your listing needs to stand out brilliantly if you want to get top dollar for it! Let’s take a look at what not to do, and we will help you along the way. 

Skimping on Staging

Buyers are browsing limitless homes a day, but how do you make a memorable impression? If you can build a positive emotional connection between the buyer and the home, you’re one step ahead! Hiring a professional home stager, or virtually staging a vacant home will allow potential buyers to envision their lives inside of it. Imagining future dinners with the family is much easier if the table is already set! 

Virtual staging is a revolutionary real estate marketing trend, where you take an image of an empty room and place furniture, decor, lighting fixtures, and more. Virtually staging allows for unparalleled versatility in how you present the home and how buyers perceive it. A high quality, professional photo can only go so far for an empty, plain home. We can’t expect buyers to fill in all the blanks with their imagination, so let’s get creative and make them feel at home!

Our 360 Walkthrough Tour has 2D and 3D Room Planner tools that buyers can experiment with to plan or change flooring, wall colors, room layout and more. This product makes buyers realize the unlimited potential your home presents and inspires them to envision ways to make the space theirs. Twist Tours the only company in our market to provide this for our clients, how cool is that?

Leaving All the Clutter

You may have become blind to the scattered knick-knacks and towers of paperwork, but these things can be quite the eye-sore to someone who has never seen it, especially if they are considering buying your home. Think about it – if you were buying a car, would you purchase the one shown to you with gym bags and take-out boxes on the floor? Seems like a red flag! 

A clean, staged home is an inviting one. It gives a glimpse of how the home could be lived in, not how it is being lived in at the moment. Deep cleaning and decluttering adds an average of $4,000 to a home’s resale value. So pour yourself a big cup of coffee, break out some trash bags and boxes, and get to work! Not only does decluttering reveal the great features of your home, but you’ll feel pretty darn good afterwards too! 

While decluttering, depersonalize the home to create a neutral environment. Buyers may have difficulty picturing their life there if your child’s art is on the fridge and school portraits are lining the hallway! Put away personal belongings and family photos, repaint bold colored walls, and remove products from the bathrooms. If it’s a bit more than you can handle, you can save time and stress by renting a storage unit.

Using Crappy Photos

It’s 2020 and our cell phone cameras have 3 lenses, but your listing photos look like disposables from summer 2004! In this day and age, buyers are scrolling through listings incredibly fast on websites like Zillow, Trulia, and Redfin. Humans are immediately drawn to images, in fact, it is estimated that the human brain processes visual content 60,000 times faster than text. Photos must present your home in tip top shape, otherwise you may lose the lead’s interest before they even pull up to your curb.

Professionally photographed homes sell 32% faster, and for more money.  Flaunting the best features of your home is our photographers’ passion, and it sure shows! We are the leading experts in real estate photography, 3D immersive spaces, floor plans, drone footage, virtual tours and virtual staging. From breathtaking stills to advanced Matterport 3D models, we know how to entice online users to come see the home in person. If you’re looking to capture the authentic beauty of your home, look into our Professional HDR Photography services

 

Presenting the Home in the Wrong Light

Unless you’re selling to the local caveman, dark rooms are not appealing. Bright lighting is essential to taking high-quality photos and capturing the true beauty of your home.  After all, diamonds can’t shine in darkness! A dimly lit room is often overlooked, but when illuminated becomes inviting and full of spectacular detail.  

To prepare for your photoshoot, change any broken or dead lightbulbs, and replace those that don’t match the rest of the room. When your photographer arrives, turn on every light and let in as much natural light as possible through the blinds. 

Our team at Twist Tours does a full evaluation of lighting before every shoot to ensure we can create irresistible enticing content for buyers. We know how to skillfully take advantage of perceived size, color pallets, mood light and every other different factors of lighting. Since we love painting your home in the perfect light, we even offer extra photos to all of our customers! 

Not Refinishing Hardwood Floors or Cleaning Your Carpet

To create a thoughtfully composed room, you need to have a solid foundation! As a focal point of any room, anything awry with the floor will be noticed. Dirty carpets appear careless, and scuffed hardwood floors leave buyers wondering how well the rest of the house was cared for.

Carpets hold a lot of dirt and odor, and they show more damage than almost any part of your home. A professional cleaning makes some of the oldest carpets look like they were just installed, and blasts out any smells you’ve been desensitized to over time. In some cases, you may want to consider replacing the carpet entirely. 

Buyers may be discouraged by the work associated with seeing worn hardwood floors. They would much rather see gorgeous, natural light reflecting off of the freshly finished floors. Hardwood floors can add up to 2.5% to the sale price of your home, and you need to put in the work to keep that value. And refinishing means you’ll have to move everything out of the room – the perfect opportunity to declutter!

Reviving your floors is a big, but valuable, undertaking. Buyers will appreciate having one less thing to do, and it lets them get in the house quicker! 

Mismatched Appliances

In our opinion, mixing and matching should be saved for throw pillows. Appliances of varying material, texture, and color may distract buyers from the bold backsplash or the vintage light fixture begging for attention. Kitchens with matching appliances give a satisfying, cohesive look for a more sophisticated vibe.  Some appliances might just need a little facelift with a new front panel.

We don’t mean that the black microwave amongst all other stainless steel appliances will send buyers running for the hills! However, kitchens are often a deal maker or breaker, so consider upgrading for high-end look and functionality.

Whether it’s your first time selling a home, or the fifth, we are here to help you dodge these mistakes! Selling a home is not simple or easy, but we’ve got the experience to help you get your home in top shape. Pick up some more tips on our blog, and reach out to elevate the online presence of your home with Twist Tours!

And don’t forget to use our online guide: How To Prep Your Home Your Home for a Photo Shoot!

Boost Your Marketing with our Add-On Services!

Real estate agents in today’s competitive market know the importance of professional photography and videography content. When done properly, professional photos can help your listings close in record time and for more money.

In today’s media-saturated world, having visuals and information about your listings available online is no longer a recommendation, it is a necessity. 

When agents and brokers come to us looking to book a shoot, it is our job to make sure that they get the most out of what we offer. We want to make sure you know about all of our products!

 

What Additional Products Are Available? 

Sometimes your listings need more attention than just professional photos and when they do need more attention, Twist Tours has your back!  We offer specific add ons for every shoot. Our add ons include Floor Plans, Portfolio Shots, Twilight Photo Shoots, Social Media Video Clips, Custom Video, Aerial Photography and Videography, and Virtual Staging. 

We offer these add on features so agents have more marketing materials to help spread the word about their listings and increase their online presence.

 

Portfolio Upgrade: 

Let the details speak for themselves! The more high-quality photos you can provide for your listings the better. We are visual creatures, the more details that can be photographed, the more potential buyers will have to help make a decision. Twist Tour’s Portfolio Add On allows our professional photographers to display the perfect balance between creativity and attention to detail.

 

Utilizing The Power of Social Media with Social Media Clips:

Social Media is one of the biggest marketing platforms available right now. You definitely don’t have to be a social media influencer to make Real Estate Marketing happen! With our newest addition to our product offerings we can create social media video clips for your listings. This is a fast and easy way to add value and to reach out to potential buyers who are scrolling through their news feed. 

Buyers are now shopping on social media! Though you might not be getting offers on listings right from your Instagram profile, potential buyers are constantly taking to social media for information. As a real estate agent or a broker, displaying your listings using Twist Tours Social Media Video Clip add on can help to spread the word to more people, plus it will help create the top of mind awareness to help encourage others to reach out to you in the future to real estate advice and available listings. The upside is endless! 

 

Floor Plans

If you didn’t read February’s blog about the importance of floor plans, you really missed out! Floor plans help show potential buyers how they can live in a space. Buyers love floor plans. They help listings stand out from the crowd. They can generate more inquiries, and convert those into viewings.

 

Virtual Staging

Virtual Staging photos take listing a step further by providing an in-depth look at how your listing can turn from a house to a home with the help of some interior design. Virtual staging helps a listing stand out and presents a home’s true possibilities. Buyers can envision their life in the home with virtual staging – it has the potential to connect them emotionally to the listing.

 

Twilight Photo Shoots

Bring the drama! Our Twilight add-on feature is the perfect way to upgrade and enhance your listing.  Twilight photographs stir emotions and make a connection with buyers. They also allow you to showcase your listings in a new, differently lit way. Set your listing apart from others with this premium add-on.

 

Custom Video

Increase your listing’s online presence AND bring awareness to your personal brand! An upgrade from our included slideshow video, we hand-craft a 2 minute HD-sized custom slideshow video for the tour with agent branding, photos, floor plans, Matterport clips (if applicable), artistic photo render effects and custom music. You also get an unbranded video for the tour, full use rights to use anywhere and the Social Media Video (also sold separately above) for use on Instagram and other sites.  

 

Aerial Photography and Videography

 Drones are transforming real estate. Drones can showcase properties from the sky,  and this is quickly becoming an industry standard. Aerial imagery and videography has been proven to sell listings faster. According to MLS statistics, homes with aerial images sold 68% faster than homes with standard images. By marketing your listings with aerial images and video, you can attract more attention and sell your properties faster!

 

Marketing Center

Each tour comes with a robust Marketing Center that grants you access to marketing materials for you to use to boost awareness of your listings.  The Marketing Center contains it ALL: web links to your Tours and Video Tours, buttons for downloadable content, such as photos, your flyer or various file formats for your floor plans, and it includes quick access to xpressdocs so you can print your marketing flyers and brochures.  

We at Twist Tours are invested in your success and offer ALL the tools and resources for you to market both your listings and YOU! 

The Power of Floor Plans

Photos allow potential buyers to picture where they will live. Floor Plans show potential buyers how they will live. We live in a world where photos are not as cut and dry as they used to be. Any photo can be edited to enhance the raw version of reality. However, there is no embellishment when it comes to floor plans. The above view of living spaces shows both the potential and limitations of listings. Floor plans have the power to get your listings sold faster, why? Because they are real

When marketing a home, you may believe that having stunning photographs paired with an elegant description is enough to set yours apart in a competitive real estate market. Despite what you may think, recently completed research shows that floor plans are also at the top of the list for what buyers look for when hunting for their ideal home. If you are in the market to sell, is getting a floor plan a necessity? Yes, and Twist Tours is happy to tell you why. 

According to a recent National Association of Realtor’s (NAR) survey, buyers think that floor plans are very useful as part of a website’s listing content. Of course at Twist Tours, we have always believed that floor plans assist in the home selling process and provide a vital piece of the complex marketing puzzle for listings. After all, photos show that the seller lives in the home; a floor plan shows how the buyer can live in it. We spoke with the NAR research team to get floor plans included in their annual survey for homebuyers and sellers and the results we have all been waiting for are in:

55% of buyers stated that floor plans were very helpful as part of a website’s content features.

As a matter of fact, they were right behind photos and detailed property info! The top 5 items ranked upon how useful they are were:

  1. Property photos
  2. Detailed property information
  3. Floor plans
  4. Virtual tours
  5. Recently sold home data

Given this information, it is clear that in today’s market that floor plans increase the chances of selling your property! Now it is time for another important question:

Why do buyers want to see a floor plan?

When purchasing a home, many buyers like to have the opportunity to visualize the room layout to see where rooms fit in relation to other rooms and to understand the flow of the property. Since each home is unique, a floor plan will offer more than just a simple photograph. Dimensions are also important in this process. Clear dimensions will allow buyers to see if a specific property meets their needs, which in certain cases can be tricky to meet. On the floor plan itself, dimensions can be noted or beside the room descriptions, which make the floor plan easier to understand.

A floor plan presents the buyer with the opportunity to picture a property as their very own, rather than someone else’s property. They can see how their furniture would fit into space and how they would live in a specific layout. It is possible that in a property there is a wall in between a kitchen and a dining room where the buyer can knock it down in order to create a more open floor plan to allow for easier communication between those that reside in the home and guests. Alternatively, if a buyer is purchasing new furniture, they can use the floor plan as a template for designing a new layout that properly reflects their interior taste.

When buying a home, boosting efficiency is so important because no one likes living in a home they aren’t thrilled to reside in! Using a floor plan saves time for both sellers and buyers. From a seller’s perspective, they don’t want to waste time showing their property to people that will lose interest the second that they walk through the front door and buyers don’t want to view properties where they layout will not provide the space that they require.

Are floor plans useful after a viewing?

Not only are floor plans a great asset for buyers before a viewing, but they can also help buyers visualize a property after they have viewed it. When the potential buyer is considering making structural alterations to the property such as adding an addition or knocking down a wall, a floor plan is a big help. A floor plan on a printed schedule can even allow a potential buyer to make notes when they are in a property and then refer back to them, which will increase the “buy in!” Floor plans can also make a property seem a bit larger. It is possible to forget certain parts of a property following a viewing, especially when that property features a box room, pantry, or basement where a potential buyer may use space differently. When showing all of the potential space on a floor plan, this will reinforce the overall size and unlimited potential that a house has and will result in the perceived value increases.

Floor plans and your strategy

Floor plans can even tie into a strategy for how to be seen throughout the web on places like Zillow, Realtor.com, and other websites that offer users the ability to learn about homes on the market. By incorporating our content in smart ways you can leverage those sites and the millions of people that venture to them every month. Ultimately, you will get people coming to you and the virtual tour by marketing the fact that you offer floor plans tied to the listing.

It is very clear that floor plans are becoming increasingly important when it comes to marketing your property and provide a real upper hand to sellers. The opportunity to increase interest, encourage viewing, and sales mean that floor plans are a must when placing your home on the market.

The Power of Single Property Sites

How to Prepare for your Photo Shoot

Are You Ready?

Check our detailed Photoshoot Prep Checklist twice and nail your next first impression!

Text the word PREPARE to 866-648-0022 to receive our How to Prep sheet

 

Home selling is as much about psychology as it is about pricing and marketing.  Buyers need to be able to picture themselves living in a home – not how you live in it.  Floor Plans can help tremendously with this side of the equation but your listing photos are the first thing anyone will see.

With social media becoming a prime marketing platform, media-rich marketing materials are everything. But, high quality listing photos or videos won’t matter if the home itself is scattered with laundry piles, family portraits, soccer-themed wallpaper,  and a funky rooster collection. You want buyers to immediately picture themselves living in the home – and a blank, or neutral, canvas is more likely to inspire their imagination.

Not to mention, a totally prepared house ensures that we can hit the ground running and don’t miss a beat (or a room!) while waiting for things to be moved, cleaned or mulched. Because our photographers do not handle cleaning, dusting or furniture rearrangement we fully rely on you and your clients to ensure the space is ready before the scheduled shoot. 

Pro Tip:

It’s a specialized process to make your home as appealing as possible to a diverse range of people. A professional home stager  can provide you with a consultation to help you prepare your home for sale and make sure your home shows at its best online through the photographs. If your home is vacant, virtual staging is always an option!

General Tips:

Clean all visible surfaces

Declutter by removing unnecessary decorations, counter top appliances, toiletries, wires, laundry and toys.

Neutralize colorful walls (children’s rooms in particular). 

Depersonalize by removing family portraits and personal collections or nicknacks.   

Illuminate by replacing any bulbs that don’t match the other lighting throughout the home or are just totally out. 

 

Day Of: Prep for your Photographer

  • Turn off all ceiling fans. 
  • Turn on all lights – replace any bulbs that are out and/or replace mismatched bulbs. 
  • Open blinds to let in natural light.
  • Park vehicles 1-2 homes down from the property so they don’t show up in window reflections. 

Exteriors – Clean, Green and Manicured.

  • Put away garbage cans, toys, bicycles, and other garden items away.
  • Clean windows, especially if they look out to a fabulous view.
  • Sweep / blow away leaves and debris from patios, walkways, driveway.
  • Power-wash siding to remove dirt / mildew / mold buildup.
  • Clean the pool water of leaves / debris and put away the nets, toys, and inflatables
  • Park vehicles up the road a few houses down before the scheduled shoot time

Living Room – Cozy, Comfy and Clean

  • Remove unnecessary items from the coffee table, side tables and bookshelves,
  • Remove any personal photos 
  • Straighten cushions, pillows and throw blankets
  • Hide any dangling cables (You might need to unplug the appliance in question and tuck or tape the cord away)

Kitchen & Dining – Clean + Declutter

  • Clean countertops, tables, and kitchen island surfaces. 
  • Straighten barstools and in-kitchen dining chairs
  • Remove unnecessary appliances or cooking utensils (paper towel rolls and sponges in particular!).
  • Remove or replace grungy rugs or tea towels
  • Remove rugs and/or mats

Bedrooms – Neutralize

  • Make all the beds.
  • Remove clutter or personal items from bedside tables, dressers, desks and walls.
  • Organize closets; clear them completely where possible.  
  • Remove dangling cables / cords (unplug and  remove the item or simply unplug and tuck the cord up. 
  • Clear wall decals, funky wallpaper from children’s rooms, etc., to neutralize the rooms

Bathrooms – Create a Spa-Like Ambiance

  • Clear all toiletries from shower, bathtub or counters.
  • Close toilet lids.
  • Replace or remove well-worn rugs. 
  • Remove trash and clean all mirrors and windows.
  • Details:  Rolling hand towels or small bath towels creates a special touch.

Pets – Minimize Presence

  • Put away food, water bowls. 
  • Take your pets for a fun walk or contain them in a secluded area (crate or garage are best!)
  • Put away pet beds, cat towers and toys – unless they are super fun like this!

 

Hipsturbia?

Do you prefer a city or a small town? In many surrounding Austin and San Antonio neighborhoods, you can find a combination of both! Recent reports show that Millennials are moving to a hipper version of the suburbs, deemed Hipsturbia – populated with good retail, food and recreation outlets, along with solid transit options. First coined in 2013 by the New York Times, the term Hipsturbia lives on as more and more suburbs are meeting the needs for and attracting millennials.

Experience what it’s like to look out your window and see a booming development or attraction that is nearly accessible from your front door. With Austin taking the number one spot on the list of popular cities to live according to US News & World Report, this trend proves to be absolutely true.

When you hear “Hipsturbia,” what Texas location comes to mind? If you’re looking for two perfect examples, Austin and San Antonio have been popular hot spots attracting tourists and residents alike. Twist Tours is proud to photograph both of these flourishing communities to show just how much these areas have to offer!

AUSTIN

The perfect location for young professionals, Austin is home to beautiful residences that are centrally located to support the booming job industry and millennial migration. The short commute to multiple WeWork locations all around Austin allows for creativity and collaboration, a hub for many working residents. When you’re off the clock, many of these Austin residences offer an abundance of amenities that will allow you to relax and enjoy the essence of Texas living.

SAN ANTONIO

If you’re looking for an area that has a lot to offer near southern Texas, you can’t pass up San Antonio. The city is sprawling with modern homes that are just a bike-ride away from parks, restaurants, and local businesses. Compared to the nation’s capital, San Antonio is also a top contender in the world of real estate. With attractions such as Six Flags Fiesta and The San Antonio Zoo, this area is a desirable location for anyone looking to settle into Texas.

Living in Hipsturbia means moments of tranquility with a balance of entertainment. Surrounding communities across Central Texas put a spotlight on local attractions, dining, and accessibility, showcasing that there’s no place better to start a new life than in the Austin – San Antonio corridor.

Let us capture the neighborhood amenities for your next listing to show potential buyers what surrounds your listing.  Check out some of the other awesome locations we photograph while learning tips and tricks for creating your listing presentation at our other blogs found here.