Remember Carl? A few months ago we spoke with him on how he used HomeSwapper to swap across a few different properties to finally move to his family’s dream home in Dorset. When we chatted to Carl, he also gave us lots of advice on how to prepare your home for the kind of pictures that are going to get your house attention on HomeSwapper.

Most homeowners use the internet now to find their future homes. How we choose what we want has a lot to do with the pictures we see. Using HomeSwapper is no different. People are deciding on whether your property could be a home for them from the pictures that you put up. Here are Carl’s top tips for getting your home ‘picture ready’.

Carl: We opened up our swap saying we were happy to move to Nottingham. We had redecorated our house before the lady came around to look at it – she messaged us and basically said ‘if your house really looks like how it looks in the pictures then I’m happy to do a swap’. We pretty much made the home spotless, like a show home.

Remember that with your pictures and viewings you are appealing to other people’s imaginations. The more of a blank canvas you present them with, the more they can see themselves in your home. Before taking your photos, think about what’s in each room that might be distracting from the space itself. 

Carl: Then we moved to Nottingham and we put it all in neutral colours. Because we knew it was a temporary move, rather than to our tastes, it was decorated to make it look as pretty as possible.

It’s not just about a clean, minimal look. The more neutral the colours in the room, the bigger the room will look.

Carl: For photographs, we cleared out everything that wasn’t attached, and just left the furniture in the room. We made it look as nice as possible and we got tips off the internet of how to take perfect pictures of the rooms.

We have an article on how to take the perfect picture here on HomeSwapper.

Carl: Things to consider vary from what height you take the pictures from, what angles would be best and even the time of day that it was best to take the pictures. The best advice we found was wait until just before dusk and turn the lights on in the house. That’s where you get the best exposure. So, you’d clear one room, make it absolutely perfect, then take the pictures and move everything back in.

This may seem like a lot of effort, but for the sake of a few days’ work in what could be a long journey, it could be well worth your time if you are able to do so.

That said, some people are not able to go to all of this effort to take photos for HomeSwapper. They could be busy with children or not able to move bulky items out of the way, so just do what you can or ask a friend or neighbour to lend a hand.

It’s also up to the searching swapper to be open minded and use their imagination.

Carl: The pictures were everything at the end of the day. If the people don’t get past your pictures, they will not even read your description! The first thing people do is scroll through the pictures and see what the house is like. So, make it as perfect as possible.

Going the extra mile: tricks of the trade

Carl: I was a builder and a finisher at one point and I quite knew how to make a house look perfect. Mainly just making the place look as clean as possible. So, what we used to do is decorate the room, and as soon as the room was decorated, then take the pictures, so it was literally as fresh as fresh can be for the pictures.

To get cheap wallpaper, get the end of the line of expensive wallpaper for next to nothing, we would then put it up and take the picture. It wasn’t what we would choose personally, it’s just what would make it look like a show home.

We’ve loved hearing from Carl about how he made HomeSwapper work for him. It highlights how important it is to make your home look welcoming, even if you want to move out of it – it has to look attractive to others. Every day our screens are filled with online images, so it’s wise to make your images stand out!

If you’d like to chat to us about your experience, like Carl did, please get in touch with us at tenants@homeswapper.co.uk. We’d love to talk to you!

The HomeSwapper Customer Support team are always on hand to give advice and tips on how to get the most from HomeSwapper. They deal with Swappers every day and have a unique insight and view on the thousands of successful swaps that take place on HomeSwapper.