Pads for Students has been successfully linking student tenants with property owners for years. Although we are one of the best websites available presently offering this service, ultimately the quality of the advert dictates the attractiveness of your property. The key to that is taking superb photographs. Did you know that prospective tenants will spend more than half the time on an advert looking through the photographs?
Which Rooms to Photograph?
Students want to see photographs of all bedrooms, the bathroom(s) and communal living spaces, including the kitchen. One of each is usually sufficient. However, if the kitchen has recently undergone a refurb and it’s particularly attractive with all new mod cons, this will be a good selling point and worth emphasising with more. The same applies to the garden/yard. Summer parties will be a distant memory when they move in for October, but an attractive garden is a useful selling point.
Use Good Quality Photographs
Old and grainy photographs are the least appealing. If you’ve been using the same images for years, it’s certainly worth considering retaking. At the minimum, you’ll need 8MP resolution. Luckily, most modern smartphones come at this resolution. Digital cameras range in price but even the most basic should now have much higher resolution than this. The better quality the image, the more attractive your ad will be.
Choose a Bright Day
Prospective tenants will be drawn to the brightest photographs. Ideally, choose a day when the weather is bright and a room that gets an appropriate level of sunlight. The angle will need to be right – for example don’t face the direction of the sun or the photograph will come out looking dim. This has always been a problem with cameras, but a simple brightness and contrast adjustment in a photo editor should correct the camera’s natural variation.
Choose a Flattering Angle
Here, you’ll need to consider perspective and floor plan for each room. You’ll need to adjust depending on the size, floor plan, furniture location and layout to maximise the appearance of the room’s space. Oh, and don’t try to fit everything in – even if it’s possible, you’ll make the room appear cramped and claustrophobic.
Height Matters
One aspect that most landlords don’t consider is elevation. You’ll usually take a snapshot from eye level. There is nothing wrong with this, but there are several benefits to changing the elevation. In the kitchen, try angling the camera towards the ceiling to make it appear expansive. The bathroom should be angled pointing slightly above the sink line to see the most important elements of the room. Finally, in all other rooms, angle towards the floor slightly. The ceiling isn’t important, but the flooring is.