Great photographs will sell your house faster, and for a better price!

However, to take great property photographs you need more than a photographer with  a good camera, great lens, flash, tripod, years of photographic experience etc.  You also need the property to be well-prepared for the photo shoot.  This can make all the difference.  A beautiful bathroom shot can be ruined by having the owners´ toothbrushes in sight with the toilet seat up and a smear on the mirror.  A great kitchen shot can be ruined by a tea-towel hanging over the oven handle and the fridge covered in post-it notes and fridge magnets.  A wonderful lounge shot can be ruined by a couple of pets lounging on the sofa and Jeremy Kyle on the TV! I think you get the picture!  It´s about de-personalising the property but still making it inviting.  It´s fine to show off your furniture because that´s something that anyone could use, but if you have personal items on display such as clothes, photographs, toothbrushes etc these are things that nobody else wants to use and only serve as a reminder that the house is somebody else´s home.  The buyers need to start imagining themselves making it their own home.

So, here are some tips for how to prepare your home for the photo shoot:

REMOVE OR HIDE AWAY THE FOLLOWING ITEMS:

* as many personal belongings and photographs as possible (clothes, shoes, family photos, football or religious icons)

* bins and cleaning equipment - we all know kitchens don´t stay beautiful without a mop and bucket and a waste bin, but those things won´t sell your property! - so please try to keep them well out of sight!  That goes for cans of insect spray too! (you´d be surprised.....)

* pet bedding, dishes, toys....in fact everything to do with your pets including your pets (except fish tanks, fish tanks can stay, if nice and clean!)

* anything in the garden or on your balcony  that can be easily stored away to make the outside space look more presentable

* vehicles in front of the house - park them round the corner please, and preferably not in your garage

* ash trays

* paperwork, letters (especially bills!), newspapers, crossword books, knitting, craftwork, tools

* coats and dressing gowns on the back of doors.  I often take a shot that includes the back of the door, and so the backs of all the doors need to be free of coats, bags and dressing gowns please.

* in the bathroom, remove ALL toiletries (even the soap) and ALL towels (unless perfectly clean and folded - but if in doubt just hide them away).  Don´t leave anything hanging over the side of the bath or the shower cubicle.  Toilet rolls should either be full and unused or taken away completely.  Packets of toilet wipes should be out of sight too.  Bath robes/dressing gowns?  No thanks, not even slinky leopard-print ones.  Less is more!  Remember that anything hanging on the back of the door will possibly be seen in the mirror, so nothing on the back of the door please.

* in the kitchen have the bare minimum on the worktops - ie no cleaning equipment, no crockery (clean or dirty), nothing in the kitchen sink, no Fairy Liquid, no boxes of cereals, nothing except shiny worktops and maybe just one feature appliance or two if they are of high quality.  So unless your kettle and toaster are things of beauty that shout out "living the dream" - just hide them!

* take all fridge magnets, calendars, post-it notes and shopping lists off the fridge and hide them somewhere, (and maybe keep them hidden so that when we do viewings you don´t have to go to that trouble again.)

* people - that´s right!  It´s important that everybody stands behind the camera and not in front of it, so to make that easier the fewer people that are present the better.  I can take quite a long time doing the photos, so feel free to go for a nice long walk whilst I concentrate on getting the photos right.

THINGS TO CLEAN BEFORE THE PHOTO SHOOT:

* mirrors

* windows (it´s nice to see the view!)

* ceiling fans (especially if they look like they would create a brown snowstorm if you were unlucky enough to turn them on)

* make the beds please (!) and don´t have anything under the bed that will appear in the fotos if possible 

WHAT ABOUT LIGHTS?

Before I arrive, please turn on all the lights that you think enhance the property, eg bedside table lights, spotlights in the ceilings etc.  If you have multiple light fittings, make sure that all the bulbs are working and are preferably of the same colour (eg if they are a mix of yellowy-white and bright white, that doesn´t look good).  When I´m taking the photos it can be quite difficult to manoeuvre the tripod from room to room, and having to worry about finding light switches and plugging in bedside lights can slow me down and detract from the business of taking great photographs.  The extra electricity costs involved in doing this will be forgotten when you find a buyer for your home!  

If your home looks great at night, eg if you have pool and garden lights, let´s talk about the possibility of me returning to do some twilight shots.

CAN WE USE THE PHOTOSHOOT AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO FINALISE THE PAPERWORK AND LOOK FOR BILLS?

We prefer you to visit our Villas Fox office prior to the photoshoot with all your bills and documents and to sign the agency contract.  Our office is the ideal place for us to scan your original documents if required, sign the contract, give you a copy of it,  and discuss the marketing of the property if required.  That will make it easier for you to have the property prepared for the photographs, and for me to concentrate on taking them.  Of course that´s not always possible if you´re unable to visit our office, so we will try to be as flexible as possible of course. 

Remember - if you do as much of the above as possible before the photographer arrives, you will probably be handsomely rewarded by having much better fotos that will sell your home faster, and for a higher price!  It will definitely be worth it! 

1. As a small family company, we offer a friendly and personal service to all our clients, whether they are buying or selling property.  We have been established in the area since 2005, and have built up a solid reputation as reliable professionals that you can depend upon.  We have sold over 200 local properties since our new office opened in 2014!  We are proud to support and put something back into the local community by sponsoring the Racing San Miguel football team, Help Vega Baja charity, San Miguel Tigers petanca club and the Tarambanas carnival group every year.  

2. PEACE OF MIND  

We are proud members of APIAL (the Asociácion de Agentes de la Propiedad Inmobiliaria y Agentes Inmobiliarios de la Provincia de Alicante) which is an official register of professional estate agencies in Alicante province that are sufficiently qualified, experienced, insured and legal, and are associated with the Colegio Oficial de Agentes de la Propiedad Inmobiliaria de Alicante, and form part of the APIRED network of collaborating agents who also meet the required standards, and share property information to make it easier for us to find you a buyer by networking with other reputable estate agencies.

When you buy and sell with us, you are covered by our professional civil responsibility insurance which protects all parties against any personal or financial damage up to 3,000,000 euros.  Many agencies  (especially those without offices, will not cover you in this way).

4. WE ONLY SELL DIRECT LISTING PROPERTIES, ie we focus 100% of our energy on promoting properties which are our direct listings with the owners.  We don´t sell properties for other agencies.  So, not only does that mean that we will prioritise finding a buyer for YOUR property, but it also means that potential buyers can be reassured that they will only have to deal with ONE AGENCY if they see your property advertised by us!  

5. We have a wider selection of properties in the San Miguel de Salinas area than ANY OTHER AGENT which is why buyers and other agents call us first.  An important benefit to you from this is that we already have a MASSIVE database of potential clients we can market your property to.

6. Our modern office with lots of window-space is ideally positioned on the busiest road in San Miguel, with lots of parking spaces and is open at least 48 hours per week including Saturdays!  Some of our local competitors only open 30 hours per week in comparison!  We often conduct viewings on Sundays too.

7. IMPORTANT ADVICE - We can give you solid advice from the outset about everything to do with marketing your property, including your likely costs in plusvalia tax, energy and habitation certificates, 3% retention, costs of rectifying title deeds to include swimming pools and extensions etc.  By discussing these costs on day one, you will not have any nasty surprises the week before you go to the notary to complete the sale!  Our valuations are free and not flattering, ie we will not deliberately over-estimate the true value of your property in order to gain your business, as this wastes time for you and can give your property a "left-on-the-shelf" effect if it fails to sell promptly.  Nor do we under-estimate the value in order to gain a quick sale.  Instead we will work hard to maximise your proceeds from the sale, and use our negotiating skills to make sure that you get the very best deal possible.

 8. We believe in taking our time to make sure the photographs of your property look professional and stunning, and for that reason we use professional photographic equipment, and spend a considerable amount of time editing and choosing the best photos to use.  The presentation of our properties also benefits from input from our sons Patrick and Ollie.  Patrick is a maths and computer science undergraduate who advises us on website design and systems.  Ollie has a good head for marketing and graphic design, and was responsible for designing our eye-catching logo!  For our sole agency clients we offer a 360º virtual tour service:  

9. In this day and age, a strong internet and social media presence is of course essential for a business like ours, especially to attract international clients.  Our own websites are extremely well-positioned on Google to attract buyers of apartments and villas looking in this area, and we also advertise on several high-ranking international portals which currently include Idealista, Fotocasa, Kyero, Green-Acres, Think Spain, A Place in the Sun, Indomio, Spainhouses, Yaencontre, Wallapop and Milanuncios.    We also advertise on social media eg Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Whatsapp, to make sure every property hunter is likely to see YOUR property when you advertise with Villas Fox!;

10. Our fees are highly competitive, and we believe in delivering excellent value-for-money above all.  We aim to be the BEST, not the cheapest!  Any agency offering to sell your property for less is likely to want to make a quick sale and move on to the next one, rather than spending time marketing your property correctly and obtaining the very best price for you.  Either that or they intend to charge the buyer as well as the seller (this is a common practice) which means that their margin is not transparent.  We prefer to keep all parties informed about all costs and prices, with total transparency, and according to the law, in order to protect you.  As someone once said, buying a cheap suit could be the most expensive purchase you ever make!  We believe that because we are so well-established with a high volume of existing clients that we are much more likely to bring you a buyer who is willing to pay the full asking price, or close to it, than less well-established agencies.  That means that the net proceeds to you are likely to be higher with Villas Fox.

11. Although we recommend the services of a solicitor, we will take an active role in the sale up until completion and beyond, since finding a buyer can sometimes be only the first step in a daunting process if you don´t regularly sell Spanish property.  We are here to provide the guidance and reassurance you need, including the best advice about how to process the bankers draft you will receive in order to save hundreds of euros on bank charges and exchange rates.

12. Should you decide to leave keys with us, they are never labelled with the property address, and are stored in a safe behind strengthened glass in our former bank cashier´s box (our office was previously a bank and  is alarmed with video surveillance connected to a central monitoring station!)  

13.  Andy is a former mortgage consultant for Bancaja (now Bankia) and is not afraid to ask questions about a buyers´ finances and to offer them realistic assistance in getting a Spanish mortgage, which allows us to connect buyers only with properties in their affordable range.  Sorelle has a long track record in customer service and administration, and is often the friendly voice our clients hear first when they contact us to enquire about properties and arrange viewings with us.

14.  FEEDBACK - we understand how important it is to keep you informed of progress with enquiries and viewings.  In fact we have recently developed a system to allow owners to monitor this directly on-line.  You will have access to your own page which shows how many viewings and enquiries your property has received, the nationality of the clients, where the lead was generated from etc.  It also includes a comparison of your advertised price with previous sales of similar properties, and suggests a benchmark price based on the average price per m2 for your type of property.  This could prove invaluable in helping you decide if you are marketing your property at the right price or not!

15.  Having been in business for a long time locally, we now have a superb network of professionals that we rely on as part of the selling process, e.g. architects, solicitors, builders and bank managers.  We are widely respected for our efficiency in making sure the sales process goes smoothly from start to finish, and we get lots of recommendations from solicitors for example who know that they are putting their clients in good hands with us if they are looking to buy or sell.  Andy holds the Técnico de Gestión Inmobiliario/Agente Propiedad Inmobiliaria Diploma which is the official course of the Asociación Profesional de Inmobiliarios. The objective of the course is the specialization in the management of real estate companies, as well as the theoretical knowledge necessary in the professional field of real estate law and urban management.  Although the industry is currently not regulated in this region, there are moves afoot to change that, in order to protect consumers.  In the future therefore, it may be compulsory for estate agents to undertake formal training such as this, and belong to a professional body.

16.  Despite fears over Brexit, our business has gone from strength to strength since 2016, and have recently converted from self-employed to S.L. company status.  This doesn´t mean that we want to expand the company though, as we know our clients prefer to deal with a small and friendly family company that is focussed on their needs, rather than a large corporation.

17. We operate on a "no sale, no fee" basis, ie we only charge for our services upon successful completion of the sale.  Our terms do not restrict which solicitor/lawyer you can use.  We are happy to work with the lawyer of YOUR choice (although for your own protection we do strongly recommend you use an official lawyer on the list found at: https://www.abogacia.es/servicios-abogacia/censo-de-letrados/). 

  18. We offer a choice between exclusive (sole agency) and non-exclusive (multiple agency) contracts.  

19. Should you change your mind at any time, then we understand that life is not always predictable, and circumstances change.  We will give you good advice prior to marketing your property, to make sure that it´s the right decision for you, but are always available to discuss any changes to your plans.