Why You Shouldn’t Display Personal Photos When Selling
How to make your property inviting, without being all about you.
There’s so much to do when getting your home ready for sale. An interior styling service can ease the burden, but even so there are emotional ups and downs that go with any sale.
One thing we always recommend to our clients is to take down personal items, like family photographs. We know this can be hard to do. After all, you’ve no doubt spent a lot of time making memories in your home. Family photos are the artwork to a home and are often a favourite. However, when selling it’s always best to put them away.
As property stylists, the main reason we don’t keep personal photos on display is that we don’t want to distract potential buyers. They want to visualise their own family lifestyle and daily routine while walking through the property. When your photos are on display, buyers will naturally be drawn to them, and wonder about the faces they see, rather than focusing on the property.
Through home staging, we’re telling a lifestyle story to buyers, and we want them to fully engage with that story. Personal photos can create a distraction and prevent buyers from visualising themselves living there. We want to avoid this so they experience the property as if it might one day be theirs.
It’s also a good way to maintain your privacy throughout the sales campaign. Buyers don’t need to know what you look like – they might even recognise you from your photos.
When taking down personal effects, it’s important to make sure you’re hitting the right balance between inviting and impersonal. You don’t want it to look like nobody lives there, but at the same time buyers don’t need to know who actually does. Home styling services will help you strike the right balance and tell the story that buyers are looking for.
The upside of taking your photos down is that it can be helpful in the process of moving on. When selling, your home now becomes the buyers’ home. It’ll help you get used to the idea of someone else living there, and can be a mental step away from the home. Plus, once you’ve packed them safely away, you’ll look forward to finding them a new place when you unpack at your next home.
Need some pre-sale advice? Book a consultation with us and find out how we can help you.