1. Use a tripod. Putting whatever camera you have on a tripod allows you to steady the camera and be more deliberate in making your composition. With a digital camera, you can take a quick test shot and review it to make adjustments for the final shot. First, adjust the overall composition and what is in the frame by moving the camera or changing the lens — it really helps if your camera is on a tripod. Make the next adjustments by changing or moving the furnishings and objects in the room so they are most pleasing in the photo.
by Alexandre Parent 
2. Take low shots. One really important compositional consideration is how high the camera is off the ground. I like to shoot with my camera about 40 inches off the floor. When your camera sits lower than eye level, your photos will look more like those you see in magazines.
by Alexandre Parent
3. Shoot straight on. Try to set your camera straight and not tilt it up or down. When you tilt the camera, the vertical lines in the photo get distorted, which won't look professional. For a strong composition, shoot straight onto an elevation of a room or building. To do this, you want the camera sensor to be parallel to your subject. The result is often a more pleasing photo that has a nice, graphic feeling.
by Alexandre Parent
If you are centered on the room or subject, the symmetrical balance will make the photo feel very grounded. This shot has a nice straight-on view and a low camera position.
by Stonewood, LLC
This is a good example of nice movement framing the home. The camera is parallel to the house, but the center point is more to the right. The photo feels balanced by the strong vertical of the center tree.
by Heydt Designs
4. Avoid wide-angle lenses. This is slightly counterintuitive. A wide-angle lens makes items close to the camera appear larger and items far away appear smaller. This distortion feels unnatural. Instead, use a normal lens and step away from your subject to get as much as you can into the shot. I often prefer getting less in a shot by using a normal lens, rather than resorting to using a wide-angle lens and getting the distortion that comes with it.
by Think Contemporary
Standing back and using a lens with a normal focal length and not a wide angle puts all the items in a comfortable proportion to one another. There is no distortion that a wide-angle lens would create. Of course, the trade-off is that we do not see the whole room, but we do get a nice feeling of the room.
by Applegate Tran Interiors
This shot makes use of two key tips I've mentioned so far — a low angle and showing a small part of the room without the distortion of a wide-angle lens.
by Ann Lowengart Interiors, LLC
5. Turn off your flash. Even basic point-and-shoot cameras are getting better at low-light situations, and your camera's flash will never be able to light a room well. With your camera on a steady tripod, you can have a long exposure and a natural-light feeling to the photo without getting a blurry shot. If you do not want the photo to be blurry during the long exposure, put the self-timer on and let the camera settle.
by blackLAB architects inc.
Shot straight on without a flash, this photo feels warm and inviting. The time for this natural light is usually about 20 minutes after the sun sets. The light level needs to be just right — from the inside light to the last bits of daylight — to get this glowing-lantern feeling.
by Jessica Helgerson Interior Design
The wonderful natural light is highlighted here without the use of the camera's flash, giving this photo a soft feeling. Stylistically, note how the chairs feel natural around the table too; each chair was carefully moved as part of the composition.
More:
Take Better Photographs of Your House in a Snap
How to Take Beautiful Home Photos
12 Ways to Style Your Interior Photos Like a Pro
by Leverone Design, Inc. More:
Take Better Photographs of Your House in a Snap
How to Take Beautiful Home Photos
12 Ways to Style Your Interior Photos Like a Pro
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I like Sara's question: what would you recommend for a "normal" indoor lens?
I've been taking shots of my own design projects, so reading this post gave me great tips. I also totally agree with what you said about wide angle photographs, and how they look distorted and miss the whole point of home photos, which is expressing the FEEL of the room rather then documenting everything that's in it. Also, I never use any of the flash photography pictures I take. They look fat and cold.
Thank you!
The wide-angle lens creates so much distortion that the scale of the house is lost.
Anything shorter than 30mm on a APS sensor, makes me think the agent is trying to hide just how cozy the room is. If you want to show the whole room stitch 2 or 3 shots together. Also the over saturated pix the LA and SFO RE listings' are using has become distracting.
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I am interested.
Also, you didn't mention it but it appears some of your photos have a rather heavy HDR effect applied to them... A nice technique to bring out details if used in moderation.
Also, yes no flash, but what about using additional light to fill in spaces that lack good lighting?