Photos of their kitchen sold the buyer – a cooking blogger!
Have you ever wondered why some online listings have fewer real estate photos?
This seems like a problem circa 2004, but even yesterday I ran into this totally ridiculous problem on three properties with two different buyer clients.
- The first listing was new on the market. Total photos: 0, as in zero. Since my client is a commercial airline pilot and literally spends 20% of his life at 34,000 feet, I stopped by with my handy iPhone to snap some pics and email them along to him.
Here is the deal for the seller in Herndon… most real estate sites collect data on a listing once and if your real estate photos aren’t there then you’re SOL.
- The second listing has been on and off the market in Ashburn since last summer. Total photos: 7, as in 10-3. Since my clients have looked at a few hundred homes online, they had two comments that I have heard for years.
“We thought something was wrong with that home”
“Those photos are terrible ~ the house is much better than that!”
-
Looks like a dollhouse fireplace
The third listing just popped up the other day too. Total photos: 25, which is acceptable. Since I teach my clients to look at photos but still understand that it is essential to physically see the house, their feedback was humorous. The agent must have purchased a groovy new camera with a wide angle lens because every snapshot was slightly distorted by the 14mm lens (that’s my hunch).
An essential part of a strategy to sell anything these days is good photography
I believe that the people at Apple recognized this trend when they decided to develop the Retina display, because the average blog reader isn’t as nerdy as they were five years ago when they would read a 1,500 word post and then craft a comment. People have become “scan-aholics” opting for Pinterest, Facebook, eBay or Instagram.
Visuals win-the-day in 2013
One of my brand strategies has always been to use the best photos from minute one when marketing homes. Using a Cannon DSLR with a variety of lenses, I know that it may take ten shots to get one that I like which can be considered a quality real estate photo. And maybe I talk about this topic too much, because I had an agent call me recently to try and schedule me to photograph her listing.
Needless to say, she was embarrassed!
In summary, missing, few or just bad photos happen because the marketer (agent) doesn’t care. Maybe I’m a perfectionist but photos are a big part of my “brand identity”. Getting a home ready to sell is essential before anyone should start snapping photos… no matter how great a camera they have. Really. A great photo of a dirty house still stinks!
