Seller's Prep Checklist: How to Get Your Listing Ready for Shoot Day

One rule covers everything: if you don’t want it in the video, it shouldn’t be in the house on shoot day.

An FPV tour is one continuous take. There’s no cut where an editor removes a pile of mail or a car in the driveway. What’s in the house when we arrive is what’s in the video.

Here’s the checklist. Do all of it the day before, do the time-sensitive items the morning of.

The day before

Counters cleared. Kitchen counters, bathroom vanities, nightstands. Leave one or two intentional pieces (bowl of fruit, plant). Hide the toaster, coffee maker, dish rack.

Floors cleared. Pet beds, kids’ toys, shoes by the door, gym equipment. The camera flies low; floor clutter is the first thing it catches.

Personal items put away. Family photos, mail, medications, paperwork, anything with names or addresses on it. Buyers need to see themselves in the space.

Beds made. Wrinkled sheets read badly in motion. Use the good bedding.

Bins hidden. Trash, recycling, laundry baskets — into a closet or the garage.

Lawn mowed. Day before, ideally. Move hoses, garden tools, outdoor trash cans.

Driveway and walks blown clean. Pressure-wash ahead of time if oil stains or heavy buildup are visible — they show up worse in aerials than you’d expect.

Pets arranged for. Garage with water + bed is the simplest. A crate in a closed back bedroom works too, as long as that room isn’t on the flight route. Active flight is 10–15 minutes.

The morning of (do these last)

Every ceiling fan off. Interior, exterior, covered porch, pergola — all of them. Fans spinning at editing speed cause strobing the edit can’t fix. If the house gets warm, crack a window or run AC instead.

Every interior light on. Overheads, lamps, under-cabinet, vanity lights. Replace any dead bulbs before we arrive — a single burned-out bulb reads as neglect on camera.

Cars moved. Driveway and street in front of the house. Garage or down the block. Two minutes to move; impossible to clean up in post.

Window screens (optional, but flag it). For multi-level FPV tours we sometimes route the drone out a ground-floor opening, around the exterior, and back in through a second-floor window — one continuous flight connecting the floors. If you’d prefer we don’t touch screens, fine — just tell the agent before shoot day so we plan the route around them.

Flag before we arrive

Tell the agent ahead of time if any of these apply:

• Rooms or areas off-limits to the tour
• Ongoing construction or renovation
• Gate code, alarm code, or access instructions
• Anything in the house that can’t be moved

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Setup is 15–20 minutes. Filming is 10–15 minutes. We’re done in well under an hour.

The FPV drone tour playbook covers what happens during the shoot itself.