Are you considering selling your home soon? Make sure you read this major deterrent and make sure your real estate agent is professional and is working hard for you.

Before I show clients any home, I always research the homes first to ensure it actually meets their criteria and I don’t waste their time or mine. This particular client is looking for a home located in the West Chester Area school district (for those of you who don’t know, there are three high schools in West Chester: West Chester East, Rustin and Henderson).

They are looking for a house with 4 bedrooms, 2 ½ bathrooms, and at least a ½ acre of land. As I said, I always like to preview homes for my clients to help narrow the search down and to save them time.
In any case, I was looking at pictures online of this one house and guess what I saw. A DOG. I like dogs and I want to get one soon as well. But when you are listing a home, pictures and a virtual tour are the most important online features a potential homebuyer will look at. It is where all buyers will start. All buyers will look at the pictures and this is how they will decide if they want to come look at your house or not.

Back to the dog, it was laying in the middle of the living room. I can’t even remember what the living room looked like. All I can remember is the DOG sprawled out in the middle of the living room showing everything.

So this is my very important tip for all sellers. Make sure your agent hires a professional photographer or knows how to take professional pictures to help showcase your home.

In any case you might be wondering if I showed this house to my clients; I didn’t recommend that house based on the pictures. First impressions count. Remember this.