I’m sure that it will be hard to leave! I was a real estate agent in the US for 10 years, and I have some opinions about the photos, but you didn’t ask for any, so I will only share if you want me to.
So do I!. 
Realtors usually use their phones to take property pictures - often you can see them doing so reflected in bathroom mirrors. 
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Yep, I’ve seen those. My personal favorite is the toilet with the lid AND the seat left up. Like, there’s a reason that they have lids, people. I get why brokers take their own photos here - the system is very different than in the US what with being able to hire multiple brokers - but I still feel that it’s not a good system. Most brokers don’t know how to photograph houses for sale, and a lot of pro photographers don’t know how to either! I had a photographer that I paid quite a bit of money to, and it was worth it. It’s an art.
Yes it is. I don’t pretend to be an expert at it, although I’ve done a fair bit of property stuff, mostly hotels and commercial properties.
Not my favourite thing to photograph really, but once in a while is OK.
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In rural France the choice is poor and one takes what one can get! OH worked as an editor for international artists who use photography and film to highlight questions of race, representation, human rights and social justice. And has strong views. But that was then, and this is now, so we have learnt to go with the flow.
It is better than we had and if we do get viewings then it is good enough. After all the purpose of the promo is just to get people to the front door.
So thank you for the offer but so many other things to sort out this is now moved back down the list.
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I’m sure your photos will do the job Jane we are just being persnickety.
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Fair enough, and good luck!
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And the general standard of promotion of property in France is appalling - washing up in the sink, medicines and boxes of tablets above the bathroom sink in the foreground, clothes drying rack set up in the lounge - seemingly the only thing that matters to the French is total square meterage and number of rooms.
Occasionally there is a good photographer. Friends selling a lovely converted farmhouse finished up with half the contents of their house in their car (that was after they had - they thought - prepared the house for being photographed) The stripped down images of the rooms worked. They sold quickly and easily to Parisians for their full asking price.
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Yes decluttering is going to make rooms look bigger. And also not seeing the current owner’s “stuff” everywhere makes it easier for a prospective buyer to imagine the place with their “stuff” in it.
In the UK there are house stylists who will come and give a home a makeover if it’s not selling - that’s pretty much the first thing they do.
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I used to love House Doctor, it was the first time I’d seen the techniques. A family member is currently trying to sell in the UK and is adamant that she’s decluttered (she hasn’t, the photos make me feel queasy) and that buyers have no imagination.
This could explain why she’s on about the fourth firm of agents.
Looks lovely and best of luck!
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The first set of photos had the opposite problem. Agent was so used to trying to make small rooms look spacious that her excessive use of lenses made our 30m2 rooms look as if they had toy furniture in them.
Oh someone after my own heart. The otherwise wonderful and sainted Christine who used to come in and look after my late wife always took the chance to have a pee before leaving but always, always left the lid up. It got so the first thing I did after she left each time was go straight to the bathroom and put it down again.
I ‘complained’ to Annabel the only other English aide who visited and she was only half joking (I think) when she replied, stone faced, women never put the lid down.
So what’s the bloody point of it then? Aaargh !
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Hilarious! Women absolutely do put the lid down!
It’s a business in France, too: le Homestaging.
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Not to obnoxiously toot my own horn (although clearly I am), but when I listed properties in the US, I paid a stager to come before we even listed it. Why let it sit before you make it look its best? OK, I’ll shut up now. 
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You don’t have to shut up! But maybe recognise that profit on houses here is not in same league as US, so managing sale budget is important? As are French expectations - if knickers in the sink are the norm one doesn’t have to go far to improve and get people cooing with pleasure.
We will probably not make a centime profit on the house - which is fine by us as it is our home not an investment purchase. But equally we are careful about what we spend now, so home staging is not for us (especially as we might have to continue living here for some considerable time).
And yes it was an oversight to leave the bowl in the sink!
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Oh, I totally realize that things are different here. I don’t fault the sellers, I think that the system is bizarre and makes no sense. And, if I was not clear, the professional photos and stager were on my dime, not the sellers’. It was a risk that I took because it made selling the house easier, it was a benefit to my clients that they appreciated (and I worked by referral, so I only got new clients from happy past clients), I believed that my duty as a professional was to present the home as best as possible, and also my sellers signed an exclusive contract, so if the house did sell, I would be compensated (unless they fired me, which never happened). So it’s the system that I have a problem with. It is bonkers to me that if you’re a buyer, you have to contact multiple brokers. It’s bonkers to me that there is no MLS. What’s the incentive for a broker to really go all out for their clients, if they will most likely end up being out of pocket? So, I’m not critizing you, and I hope that you didn’t think that I was. But the system here? Could be so, SO much better.
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I think your professional knowledge will be invaluable to many on here, so please don’t.
@JaneJones , my memory of homestaging in France - gleaned from Stéphane Plaza’s programmes before the accusations - was largely
if it can be moved, get rid of it
if it can’t be moved, paint it a shade of grey
The most useful programme was Maison à vendre, which was freely available in the UK on YouTube.
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We’ll have to agree to disagree. We are not selling an urban property to be dressed in anodyne grey, but an old rural bâtisses. Most rooms are well over 25m2, and if emptied would look like hangars. So we follow the view of other property gurus who advocate dressing it with character to sell a life style (without of course too many personal things). Given the lack of imagination of some we have encountered this seems necessary!
Maybe not, but these are developing fast. Pap.fr has been around forever, and the classic pro-portals have been joined by new kids such as Jinka.
Personally the lack of a highly commercialised American broker approach suits us fine (sorry). Having decided roughly where we wanted our new house to be I spent a week there hunting. Saw or spoke to all the Agents that covered that patch with our criteria, visited the best one or two properties from each agent, and with help from SR’ers was able to look more widely to check the location.
Each Agent added hugely to my knowledge of the area, so a benefit in talking to many rather than just one. So I really don’t see the advantage of a single broker?
Signed a compromis on final day. Would a broker have made a difference? I doubt it.