Every buyer sees the photographs. Most will decide whether to book a viewing from the first three. An hour of preparation before the photographer arrives is the highest-return hour in the whole process.

The hour before

Clear every surface. Kitchen worktops, bathroom shelves, windowsills, the top of the fridge. Not tidied — cleared. Surfaces read as space, and space is what people are buying.

Take the cars off the drive. Including yours. A driveway with two cars on it looks like a driveway that fits two cars.

Open every curtain and blind fully, and turn every light on, including lamps. Mixed lighting photographs far better than daylight alone.

Bins away. Wheelie bins, recycling boxes, the lot.

Toilet seats down, bathmats straight, towels matching. It sounds fussy. It is the detail people notice without noticing.

The day before

Cut the grass and sweep the front. The exterior shot is the one that appears on the portal, and it is doing more work than any other image.

Put pet bowls, beds and litter trays out of sight. Plenty of buyers have allergies and more have opinions.

Clean the windows. Dirty glass is visible in a photograph in a way it is not in person.

Deal with the one obvious thing. The scuffed skirting, the blown bulb, the cracked tile. You know what it is.

Worth doing properly

Depersonalise, but do not sterilise. Family photographs down, certificates off the wall. Books, plants and a decent rug can stay — a house that looks lived in sells better than one that looks staged.

Pick the season. If the garden is the best thing about the house, do not photograph it in February. We would rather wait three weeks and launch properly.

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