When getting your home ready to sell, you may be focused on painting a room or replacing the bathroom fixtures, but the small details matter too! This is especially true when you think about photos and pictures you have around your home. There are many reasons why it’s good to “depersonalize” your home when you are getting ready to list your home for sale.
1. Buyers need to envision themselves living there. When a buyer walks through your home, they should picture themselves in the home. If you have family photos everywhere, it may feel to the buyer like someone else’s home and they may have a more difficult time imagining it being their home.
2. Safety for the sellers. Listing photos of your home are published on the MLS. From here over 50 websites, including Zillow and Realtor, syndicate your listing. People should only be able to see what the inside of your home looks like, not what your children look like or find out their names from cute signs hanging in their rooms. Make sure to remove photos and identifying information before having listing photos taken.
3. No chance for prejudice/bias. Having photos of a young family, an older couple, people of different colors and races can be cause for prejudice or bias. An older buyer may assume the neighborhood is suitable for young families only if the sellers have children. Someone may be put off by something in the photos.
It is always best to depersonalize your home. Use non-identifying decorations and artwork to fix up your home. Pack up your personal photos for decorating your next home! It is only for a short time and you will soon be able to display all of your favorite smiling photos again!
