Make Your Virtual Listing Stand Out to Online Buyers

Tim & Angie Todd November 4, 2020

Making the virtual listing of your home stand out online is now more important than ever. With COVID-19 regulations affecting the ability to hold open houses and allow unrestrained access to view a home, home buyers are relying on the virtual listing of a home to catch their eye. For sellers, this means making your home virtually appealing is imperative to attracting buyers.

The main thing buyers are searching for in an online listing is quality photos of the home. Buyers are inherently visual, and especially now, photos will be the main factor in their decision to go see a home. Talking with your real estate agent about investing in a professional photographer to take photos of your home is the first step to take.

Once you have a photographer lined up, it is important to make sure your home is photo-ready. First and foremost, this means decluttering your home. When buyers are looking at pictures of a home, they want to be able to picture themselves living in it. When personal items and clutter from the current owner are prevalent in the photos, buyers may not have the same vision and can be deterred from the home.

Another way to make your home stand out and get attention from buyers is by staging the home. Similarly to the decluttering process, staging your home is another way for buyers to be able to picture the potential the home has. While a homeowner's taste is perfect for them, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Professional stager McKenna Lavin, of McKenna Lavin Staging & Design, notes that staging your home is a great way to make your home look cleaner and calmer. “Using colors that brighten up the space and that are cohesive makes everything in the room tie together, and will even make the space look larger,” she says. “ Using more neutral furniture and accessories will also help each buyer visualize themselves in the home.

While not all homes need to be staged, thinking about how to make it more visually appealing in photos is an important part of making your listing stand out. Decluttering your home and leaving room for buyers to be able to picture themselves in the space is the best way to get more people interested in the home, and it will hopefully result in a quick sale.