The New York Times has an interesting article covering how important good photography is when selling a piece of property. With more and more people scouring the web for a home (24% look on the internet first), images are more important than ever before. They make a strong case for using professional photographers to ensure your pictures help you sell and not have your home ignored.
In many cases, it is the agents themselves who are snapping the pictures and posting them on the agency Web site. Because of this, it is important that sellers choosing an agent know who will take and pay for the pictures and whether a professional photographer is available.
This article is worth a read. However, this is nothing new to most real estate agents. Rain City Guide has some excellent pieces on this as well:
Real Estate Photography — Camera Choice
The Value of High Quality Photos for Real Estate Listings
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3 users responded in this post
Erik,
You bring up a valid point. While some agents may also be experienced photographers, most would be best served by bringing in a professional.
Over the last couple of weeks at Vox Pop we have considered a few tips on getting some placeholder shots if your pro is not immediately available to shoot.
I hope more agents begin to realize that saving a few bucks on a photographer is usually “penny wise and pound foolish.”
It’s a good point and WellcomeMat thinks the same about video. Is bad quality a good marketing move, or a public black eye? Imagery is extremely important as it’s often the first opportunity for someone to make an emotional connection with the property. Yes, video is new and hot: the do-it-yourself videos are fine now, but we would argue that quality is very quickly going to be absolutely necessary for video to do a realtor/seller justice. OnlineWalkThrough and other video Pros such as Fred Light (NH) and Dave Herring (FL) are leading the way.
Dave’s Channel:
http://www.wellcomemat.com/preview/v/154
Freds Channel: http://www.wellcomemat.com/preview/v/714
This seems to be a popular topic. I agree that video is the way of the future, an as it becomes more and more popular, clients will expect better quality. I have been doing video walkthroughs for 9 months, and my first was horrible – but the client loved it (amazing how iDVD can dress up trash). Now I have a fancy tripod, better camera, video lighting, etc. It’s a lot of work to do on your own, but it gets easier with each tour.