Resources

Our goal is to compile resources that can help you in your real estate business. Below you will find our photo prep checklist as well as some suggested apps. Keep checking back. We will add tips and tools as we find them.

 

Download The Real Estate Photo Checklist Here

Virtual Open House Solution: Live Reacting – www.livereacting.com

Live Reacting is a great tool that can allow you to do virtual real estate open houses. You can load prerecorded videos that show up as live videos on Facebook. You can schedule and publish a prerecorded video at a specific time and duration. For example, you could set up a video to loop over and over on Saturday and Sunday from 2pm-4pm. At the scheduled time a live video will broadcast from your Facebook page. Live videos are seen by more people because your followers will be notified when your page goes live. Live Reacting allows you to add layers over your video. This includes a webcam so you can appear live over the prerecorded video. You can also add branding images like logos as well as text. Our suggestion is that you add your phone number as text over the video so viewers can call in if they have questions. Live videos are favored by the Facebook algorithm and will appear in front of more people than a regular video that is uploaded to your page’s feed.

Add Text Over Photos: the Over App – https://www.madewithover.com/

Our favorite phone app is hands down the Over App. Very simply, Over allows you to add text and other items over a photo or video. For example, you can load a photo of a real estate listing. Then you can add your logo as a watermark. Over comes with thousands of built in graphic templates. This means most of the work is done for you to create stunning graphic design. All you need to do is change the text and photos on the templates to make them your own. The pro version of Over also comes with thousands of stock photos. This makes things like social media content creation a breeze. You may have heard of the app Canva. Over is like Canva but much quicker to use in our opinion. Over is a great solution to create YouTube thumbnails, Facebook ads, Google ads, web banners, and so on. You can resize content to fit any dimensions. We like how you can load your logo in so that it is quickly accessible when you need to add your company’s branding. Over is available for download for ios and Android. Desktop version is coming soon.

Create Photo Collages: Diptic – http://www.dipticapp.com/

Diptic allows you to create photo and video collages. This is where you combine several photos into a grid style format. There are also options to add stickers, graphics, and text over the photos collages but the font choices are limited. We suggest using the Over app to add things over the collages. Diptic is available on ios, Mac, and Android

Real Estate Photo Prep

Online, It’s where buyers start

The majority of home buyers start their search online, so it is important to make the first impression count! Follow these tips to prepare your home for the best real estate photos possible.

General Tips

✓ Clean whole house [vacuum carpet, mop hard floors, clean countertops, clean windows]

✓ Turn all overhead lights and lamps on

✓ Ceiling fans off

✓ Replace all burned out light bulbs use bulbs of the same temperature all incandescent or all compact fluorescent]

✓ Turn all TVs and computer screens

✓ Remove personal photographs

✓ Place all shoes/jackets in closets


 

Kitchens

✓ Clear countertops completely. no knife blocks, baking supplies, mail, etc.

✓ Leave out max of one small appliance [ex. coffee maker]

✓ Clear outside of refrigerator of magnets, papers, photos, etc.

✓ Hide garbage cans in pantry or closet

✓ Remove dishes from sink, place in dishwasher


 

Living Room

✓ Remove stacks of magazines, papers, mail, etc.

✓ De-clutter fireplace mantel/hearth no more than 5 items, including art]

✓ Clean interior of fireplace and re-paint if needed

✓ Fluff and arrange furniture pillows remove kid’s toys


 

Front Exterior

✓ Close garage doors

✓ Remove cars from driveway and front of home

✓ Clean up landscaping [mow, trim shrubs, clear leaves]

✓ Remove empty planters

✓ Use broom to remove cobwebs from leaves and door frames

✓ Remove visible water hoses

✓ Remove toys, sports balls, basketball goals, soccer goals, etc.


 

Back Yard

✓ Clean porch, tidy up outdoor tables/chairs/cushions pillows/cushions should be fresh, not faded

✓ Clear out kid’s toys, balls, frisbees, etc.

✓ Clean pool remove pool vacuum/cleaner hose hide pool cleaning supplies

✓ Turn on pool fountains/water features *remove visible water hoses *remove trash cans


 

Dining Room

✓ Clear table, dust and polish the table top use decorative place setting if available feature one center piece such as a bouquet of flowers

✓ Straighten all chairs and space them evenly

✓ Remove child seats/booster chairs


 

Bedrooms

✓ Make bed, including decorative pillows/shams if available

✓ Press bed linens and bed skirts

✓ Clear nightstands of all personal items store away phone/tablet charging cables

✓ Remove all clutter from top of dressers

✓ Remove family photos from walls

✓ Clean under bed, removing items that may show in the photos

✓ Remove personalized names from walls

✓ Remove wall stickers/posters remove diaper genies


 

Bathrooms

✓ Clear countertops completely. No soap, toothbrushes, medications, deodorant, etc.

✓ Put toilet seats down close

✓ Closet doors

✓ Remove shampoo, soap, loofahs, etc. From showers and tubs

✓ Remove dirty towels – leave out only new, unused towels

✓ Remove floor mats


 

Pets

✓ Place food and water bowls in pantry

✓ Place pet beds/toys in pantry or closet

✓ Remove pet hair from furniture & Blankets

✓ Contain pets in hidden crate or outside

✓ Clear back yard of pet waste/toys