Those who know me know that I love photography. I read a lot of photography (and real estate) blogs and I just saw a comment at The Online Photographer that really hit home as it relates to real estate and sellers who are trying to sell their homes.

The sentence (and the entry it came from) was: If someone doesn't like your photograph, they're not going to like it after they find out how hard you worked to make it. If they already like it, they're not going to like it better hearing of your pain.

One of the hardest things for sellers to learn is that, once the house has a For Sale sign in the front yard, it is no longer a home -- it is a commodity in the eyes of everyone who sees it. No one, except your family, cares about how much hard work went into getting it ready to sell. We only judge the results of the hard work.

Sellers, do the very best you can to present the house to the market. Make it look its very best, scrubbed and shining for the public to view. Just don't expect that your hard work will be a factor in the public's reaction. Buyers and their agents don't take any of your personal circumstances into consideration. They are only looking at what it looks like now and how it compares to the competition.

Truth is, the public expects you to make the effort to show the house off at its best. The public will really only take notice if you haven't.

(C) Susan Pruden.