How to Get Your Dallas Home Ready for Photos and Showings

Do I need to stage my house to sell it?

No, staging is not required, but every home should be edited and arranged before photos. Buyers need to see the size of each room, the light and the floors, not the everyday life of the people who live there now.

There are three levels. You can edit and rearrange your own furniture. You can hire a stager for a consultation and a few rented pieces. Or you can stage a vacant house fully. Empty homes benefit most, because buyers find bare rooms hard to judge.

The cost of staging in Dallas depends on the number of rooms, whether the home is vacant, and how many months the furniture stays. A consultation using what you own costs far less than furnishing an empty house. Get two quotes for your actual home before you decide.

If you stage only part of the house, choose the rooms that lead the photos: the living room, the kitchen and dining area, and the primary bedroom. Secondary bedrooms can stay simple, as long as each one clearly reads as a bedroom or an office.

Can I sell my house with old furniture?

Yes. Buyers are buying the house, not the furniture, and plenty of homes sell furnished with older pieces. What hurts is too much furniture, not old furniture.

• Take out extra pieces in each room, starting with extra chairs, side tables and anything blocking a window or walkway.
• Store collections, family photos and most items on shelves and counters.
• Use simple white or neutral bedding and new towels.
• Replace dark shades and dim bulbs so every room reads bright.

Start packing now. Whatever you box up for the listing is already packed for the move, and a rented storage unit or a garage corner for a few months is usually enough.

How clean does my house need to be for photos?

Cleaner than everyday clean. The camera sees streaks, dust on fans, fingerprints on stainless steel and clutter on every counter. A professional deep clean before photo day is one of the cheapest ways to improve how the home looks online.

Photo day checklist

• Counters nearly empty in the kitchen and baths
• All lights on, blinds open, ceiling fans off
• Cars out of the driveway, trash cans out of sight, hoses rolled up
• Toilet lids down, towels folded, no toiletries visible
• Pet bowls, beds and toys put away

Yes, you need professional photos. Buyers choose which homes to visit from the pictures, and a professional photographer with the right lens and lighting shows the space accurately.

Can I sell my house while still living there?

Yes, most sellers do. You do not have to move out before showings. You have to make showings easy and leave during them. Buyers relax and stay longer when the owner is not home.

Moving out first has advantages: the house stays show-ready, and it can be staged and photographed exactly the way you want. It also means paying for two places for a while. If you are buying your next home at the same time, read about selling and buying together.

• Keep a ten-minute reset routine: dishes away, beds made, counters cleared, lights on.
• Put valuables, medications, keys and personal papers away for every showing.
• Agree on showing windows that work for your schedule, with notice in advance.

Every showing you turn down is a buyer who may not come back. If your schedule is tight, set a few long windows each week rather than refusing requests one by one, and plan an easy place to go during them.

What if I have pets during house showings?

Take pets with you for showings when you can. Some buyers are allergic or nervous around animals, and every agent needs to open every door and closet.

When that is not possible, crate the pet in one room and say so in the showing instructions. Hide food bowls, litter boxes and beds, clean the yard, and treat any odor before the photos, since owners often stop noticing it.

Check for pet wear too: scratched doors, chewed trim, stained carpet and worn patches in the yard. These show up in photos and on inspection reports, and they are usually inexpensive to fix before you list.

Are open houses still worth doing?

Sometimes. An open house brings neighbors and buyers early in their search, and fewer of them are ready to write an offer that day. It works well for well-priced homes with curb appeal, on streets with drive-by traffic, in the first weeks on the market.

To get more people to see your house, focus on what brings serious buyers: a price that matches the recent sales, strong photos, easy showing access, and making sure the agents who work your area know the home is coming. At Dave Perry-Miller many sales happen between agents in the same company, so telling the in-house network early matters.

How can I make my house stand out from other listings?

Be the clearly better value among the homes a buyer compares yours with. Buyers look at a handful of listings at once, so the home that is priced right, photographed well and in visibly good condition wins the showings.

1. Price against the closed sales that a buyer's agent will pull, not the asking prices around you.
2. Lead with the photo of your home's strongest room or feature.
3. Write a description that names specifics: the lot, the updates and their dates, the floor plan.
4. Have documents ready: disclosure, survey, service records, HOA details.
5. Make the home easy to see, including evenings and weekends.

The first days on the market matter most, because every buyer already searching sees the listing at once. Launch only when the house, the photos and the documents are all ready, rather than listing early and improving the home later. A listing that changes after launch has already used up its first impression.

Homes that qualify also get Luxury Portfolio exposure, which shows DPM listings to visitors from over 200 countries and territories in nine languages. Learn more about the full plan on preparing and marketing your home.