Would you use Instagram to help sell your home?

Struggling to sell your home? Perhaps the photos look a little drab and dreary, but you can't afford a professional photographer and don't have the editing skills, or the software, to touch up the images yourself. Have you thought about using Instagram?

That's a suggestion by the online estate House Network, which ran a blind test on a panel of social-media users to see which image of a property they preferred. But before you rush to download the app, you should know one thing -- overwhelmingly they chose the original, undoctored photo over the ones put through an Instagram filter.

Mark Readings, chief executive and co-founder of House Network, said:

With its photo-editing capabilities and overall emphasis on being visual, providing the editing and filters weren't overdone to the extent the property was misrepresented, there's an argument to be made that Instagram lends itself to showing off houses for sale more than any other social platform.

We decided to find out if that was the case, so we asked the experts – people who are not only followed by thousands, but also know their Mayfairs from their X-Pro IIs. Being an online estate agent, we're always looking for different ways to help our customers sell their homes online. However, if even the most ardent Instagrammers admit they prefer the original photos, then I think it's safe to say Instagram is not going to make a big difference to the sale of your home.