How to prepare your house for listing photos: a room-by-room checklist
By Ferit Patefe Coremagna, Founder and CEO, Miravely. Last checked
To prepare a house for listing photos, clear every surface, clean the windows, mirrors and floors, turn on every light and replace dead bulbs, open the blinds, and take away anything personal, from family photos to the car on the driveway and the trash cans at the curb. Do it room by room the day before the shoot, because clutter removed by software afterwards needs a label in many markets, and a counter cleared by hand never does.
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Why preparing the house beats fixing the photos
Agents agree on where to start. In NAR’s 2025 survey, decluttering was the most common thing agents told sellers to do before listing, at 91%, followed by cleaning the whole home at 88% and improving curb appeal at 77%. NAR, 2025 Profile of Home Staging, May 6, 2025
Portals put the photos first. Rightmove’s own guide to listings calls them “the number one thing you need to get right”, and asks for interior photos that are “clutter-free and capture the brightness and size of rooms.” Rightmove, “The exceptional agent’s guide to property marketing”, 2020
Editing the mess out afterwards is not the same thing. On Rightmove, removing objects from a photo is an Enhanced Edit that needs a label and a current photo beside it, and some MLSs forbid certain removals outright. A tidy room needs neither. Rightmove Agent and Developer Technical Guidelines, January 2026
Room-by-room checklist
Work through the house in the order the photographer will, and finish each room before starting the next. Most of this is the advice NWMLS, the Washington state MLS, gives in its own photography guide.
Kitchen
Clear the counters of appliances, dish racks, sponges, bottles and paperwork, and leave one or two things at most. Take the magnets, notes and photos off the fridge, and polish the fingerprints off stainless steel, which shows every one of them. NWMLS, “Real Estate Photography 101”
Empty the sink, put the trash can out of sight and close every cabinet door. A bowl of lemons or a cutting board and a plant is enough color.
Living room
Take out whatever does not need to be there: stacks of magazines, toys, throws over every chair. Straighten the cushions, square the rugs and hide the cables behind the TV and the lamps. NWMLS, “Real Estate Photography 101”
Open every blind and curtain, and turn on every lamp. Replace dead or mismatched bulbs so the light is one color across the room.
Bedrooms
Make the beds with plain, pressed bedding, clear the bedside tables down to a lamp, and put away clothes, shoes and laundry baskets. Close the closet doors.
Take down family photos and anything printed with the family’s names, and take extra care in children’s rooms: NWMLS asks that no image with a child in it ever goes on a listing. NWMLS, “Real Estate Photography 101”
Bathrooms
Clear the counters of toiletries, put the toilet lid down, hang fresh towels and straighten the shower curtain or clean the glass. Take the bath mats out unless they are new. NWMLS, “Real Estate Photography 101”
Outside and the garden
Mow the lawn, rake the leaves, pull the weeds, trim the hedges and pressure-wash the driveway and the walkways. Move cars off the driveway and away from the front of the house, and do not book exterior photos on trash collection day. NWMLS, “Real Estate Photography 101”
Set out garden furniture as if someone is about to use it, with the cushions on and the umbrella open, and put away hoses, tools and toys.
Unedited photoTake out anything personal or private
People and pets out of every shot, including reflections in mirrors and windows. NWMLS allows none at all, and Rightmove does not allow photos in which any living person can be identified. Rightmove Agent and Developer Technical Guidelines, January 2026
Documents, mail, medicine, keys and anything with a code on it go in a drawer. Rightmove reminds UK agents that whoever publishes listing photos becomes the data controller under GDPR, responsible for any personal information visible in them, and suggests checking with the seller whether anything sensitive is on show. Rightmove Hub, “How to share a Virtual Tour or video on your Rightmove Listing”
Watch the details a camera picks up and a person walking through does not: a calendar with appointments on it, a school uniform with a name, a license plate on the driveway.
Light and timing
Book interiors for a bright day, and if the weather does not cooperate, turn on every light and open every blind. NWMLS suggests taking photos at more than one time of day where the home has a view or catches the evening light. NWMLS, “Real Estate Photography 101”
Take exterior photos on a clear, bright day, which is Rightmove’s own first rule for the front of the house. Rightmove, “The exceptional agent’s guide to property marketing”, 2020
What can be fixed in the photo afterwards, and what cannot
Light Touch fixes change nothing about the house and need no label on Rightmove: cropping, brightness, contrast, color balance, lifting shadows. Rightmove Agent and Developer Technical Guidelines, January 2026
Changing the seller’s own things is generally allowed with a label. Canopy MLS permits replacing existing furniture with digitally staged pieces, and cosmetic changes such as paint or décor as long as no structural change is shown or implied, with the disclosure on the image itself and the original photo right beside it. Canopy MLS, “Digital, Virtually Staged, and AI-enhanced Images”
Removing anything the seller does not control, or anything wrong with the house, is not. Canopy bans removing power lines, water towers and nearby highways, and removing flaws. Canopy MLS, “Digital, Virtually Staged, and AI-enhanced Images”
Doorify MLS draws the same line, and names removing a fixture such as a fire hydrant among the edits it does not allow. Doorify MLS, “Data Integrity: Media Guidelines”
Unedited photo
Decluttered by AIThe night before the photos
- Every counter clear, every sink empty, every trash can out of sight. NWMLS, “Real Estate Photography 101”
- Windows, mirrors and stainless steel cleaned, floors vacuumed. NWMLS, “Real Estate Photography 101”
- Every bulb working and the same color, every blind open for the morning.
- Beds made, clothes and toys away, closet and cabinet doors closed.
- Family photos, names, mail, documents and medicine out of sight. Rightmove Hub, “How to share a Virtual Tour or video on your Rightmove Listing”
- Cars off the driveway, trash cans away, lawn mowed and walkways swept. NWMLS, “Real Estate Photography 101”
- Pets and people out of the house for the shoot, or at least out of every frame and every mirror. Rightmove Agent and Developer Technical Guidelines, January 2026
- A plan for which rooms to shoot first, with the best-lit rooms at the brightest time of day. NWMLS, “Real Estate Photography 101”
Common questions
How do I prepare my house for real estate photos?
Declutter every surface, clean the windows, mirrors and floors, turn on every light and open the blinds, make the beds, clear the bathrooms of toiletries, and tidy the outside, with cars and trash cans moved away from the front. Take away anything personal, from family photos to documents.
NWMLS, “Real Estate Photography 101”What should you remove before listing photos?
Clutter on counters and tables, appliances, dish racks, toiletries, laundry, toys, fridge magnets, family photos, anything printed with names, documents and mail, and the car and trash cans from the front of the house.
NWMLS, “Real Estate Photography 101”Should the lights be on for real estate photos?
Yes, every one, with the blinds open as well. Replace dead or mismatched bulbs first, so the light is one color across each room.
NWMLS, “Real Estate Photography 101”Should the seller be home during the listing photo shoot?
It is best if they are not, and pets too. No person may appear in NWMLS listing photos, including in reflections, and Rightmove does not allow photos in which a living person can be identified.
Rightmove Agent and Developer Technical Guidelines, January 2026How do I prepare my house for estate agent photos in the UK?
The same way, with two UK points to add: Rightmove wants exterior photos taken on a clear, bright day, and the agent is responsible under GDPR for any personal information visible in the photos, so put away post, documents and anything with names on.
Rightmove Hub, “How to share a Virtual Tour or video on your Rightmove Listing”Can clutter be removed from listing photos with AI?
Usually, with a label. On Rightmove, removing objects from a photo is an Enhanced Edit that needs a label and a current photo beside it. Removing anything the seller does not control, such as power lines or a nearby highway, or hiding a flaw is banned outright by MLSs such as Canopy.
Rightmove Agent and Developer Technical Guidelines, January 2026Should the TV be on in listing photos?
Off is safer. A screen showing a program is a brand or a person in the photo, and a blank screen reads as part of the room.
When a room cannot be cleared in time, Miravely’s furniture removal takes the clutter out of the photo and keeps the unedited original beside it, so the edit can be labeled and checked.