The 10 photo fails that stop you selling your house

Photos sell houses. 20 year ago, most of your buyers would get their first impression from wandering past, so selling your home was all about the kerb appeal. Now, however, 90% of buyers will see your house online first - and the photos will provide their first impression.

It means that it's essential to avoid the ten photo mistakes that will put people off - and can stop your home selling altogether.

See also: The 10 biggest turn-offs stopping people buying your home

See also: Are we set for a house price collapse?

Mess
Taking a photo of a messy house is a sure-fire way to reduce the asking prices people are willing to stump up. The vast majority of people will be put off entirely by extreme mess, and those who give you the benefit of the doubt will assume this is a sign of some kind of deeper neglect, and will be factoring this into the price they are willing to pay. We can't all live perfectly tidy lives, but most people can spend a day cleaning - or employ someone else to do a deep clean. It could add thousands to the price of the property.

Not enough photos
If you don't include photos of a particular room, people will assume there's something wrong with it, so make sure every room is shown online. If that means having more than 20 photos for a property, then that's no bad thing. It's far better to have too many than too few. If there really is something wrong with a room - putting you off photographing it - then you need to do everything you can to solve those problems. If the room is very small, remove the clutter. If it includes the world's most hideous fitted wardrobe, then take the photo facing the other way.

Clutter
If there's clutter on a photo, then that's all people will see -and they'll assume the house is too small. Over the years there have been houses that hit the headlines for having every spare surface cluttered with ornaments - but it doesn't have to be this extreme to be off-putting. Too much furniture or too many belongings in a room will make it feel crowded. The experts say most homes need at least a third of the belongings removed to feel clutter-free.

Photoshop
Nowadays anyone can alter a photo, but not everyone can do so in the best possible way. With inexperienced Photoshop there's a chance you make the photo look less inviting rather than more, and with professional Photoshop there's a chance that you end up disappointing everyone who comes to look round. Take good photos the first time round, and leave the Photoshop alone.

Bare rooms
Empty rooms are actually even more of a no-no than clutter, because people cannot imagine what the place will look like when it's lived in. You're trying to sell a lifestyle that people can move into - and nobody's dream lifestyle is a dreary empty property

Arty shots
Don't let the estate agent tell you that a close-up of a flowerpot or an angled photo of the spare room is going to look clever and arty. Get them to experiment with art in their spare time, and take clean and clear shots of your home.

Dark images
'Light and bright' photos sell properties, so don't take photos on a dull day, or with the curtains half-closed. The windows should be washed, the curtains drawn back all the way, and the lights on, so the room is as light and airy as possible. There's nothing stopping the photographer bringing their own lights if they think they will get a better result.

Close up of the fruit bowl
Whenever you take a photo, there's something strongly in focus, and your eye is drawn to it. If there are lots of vertical or horizontal lines in the photo, then your eye will be drawn along those too. Make sure there's something fantastic in focus, and that your eye is drawn where you want it. Nobody ever sold a kitchen because the photo made the fruit bowl look really good.

Photos that date
If you have had your home on the market for a while, consider how the photos have dated it. Snow on the ground, Christmas decorations, frost, or bare trees in the middle of summer will instantly tell people that you've had trouble shifting the property. You need to get them updated as the seasons change.

People
Some owners crop up in photographs, while sometimes the photographer can be seen looming in reflections too. Even when the owners have the good sense to stay behind the camera, they may well make a regular appearance in an array of family photographs. Owners will find it far harder to imagine themselves living in a property if they can see someone else living there - so you are automatically putting them off.