The bottom line is: photography matters when selling your home. Big time. It matters so much that this is our second post talking about it. (Check out “Four Ways to Sell Your Home Through Photos.”) Online listings, postings on Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com are the frontline of home shopping. The second you log on to
one of these sites you are immediately scanning picture after picture after picture, just waiting to be hooked in by professional photography.
Professional photos are brighter, more appealing, and more clear. The angles welcome you. The light highlights the space. The viewers are able to imagine themselves in the space and can understand the home’s floor plan.
There is something that is just…different about them.
Can People Really Tell When You Use Professional Photography?
YES. Absolutely yes.
The thing is, once you have a few agents on the market using professional photography it becomes painstakingly obvious when you come across those who don’t. A photo on an iPhone will immediately cheapen a house and make home buyers wonder what else was skimped on. Professional photography is often what attracts a shopper to click on a property in the first place. It is also a huge reason why someone won’t click on a property, and thus cause the house to sit on the market for longer than it should.
Did you know that listings with professional photographs sell 32% faster, spending only 89 days on the market compared to 123 for other homes? (PR Newswire)
Online home shopping is essentially a beauty pageant now. But instead of a few houses placed on stage, you can see hundreds marching across your screen in a matter of minutes. The viewing power is in the hands of the consumer, and they are consuming at an incredibly high rate. Homebuyers are just waiting to be impressed.
Is There Anything You Can Do to Make Your Photos Stand Out?
Professional photographers can do a few things that sellers and agents really can’t. An agent might try to do a close-up of a countertop, for instance, while a professional photographer is going to allow you to see the whole space. You can see that the living room is off of the kitchen. You can see how the light hits perfectly during the daytime. These wide-angle photos are great attention-grabbers and can truly separate you from the pack.
Being able to focus on what grabs attention is incredibly valuable. That is why another important thing we try to do is make sure the first four photos are the best. On a site such as Zillow, pictures are aggregated in a way for consumers to see the four best photos up front in a “picture block” so to speak. It’s incredibly important to compile a good “first four.” This compilation of photographs is going to produce an irreplaceable first impression for potential buyers. You want this to be a positive experience.
So How Can I Sell My Home Using Professional Photography?
A listing agent will typically decide whether or not they would like to make the investment of hiring a professional photographer. Sellers tend to trust their listing agents to handle the marketing of their home. Unfortunately, asking about professional photography is not usually the first thing on their minds, which is a huge mistake. Sellers are more worried about price, open houses, etc. This causes many agents to hesitate when going to hire a professional photographer. If sellers aren’t demanding it, they wonder if they’ll get the money back that they put in.
At MD Home Team, we’ve always felt that it was more than worth the cost. That’s why we offer professional photography with every listing. We all know that consumers are out there wanting immediate satisfaction. We’ve experienced the real success of professional photography and noticed the difference. Photography is a make or break for listings. At the end of the day, if the photos you’re posting aren’t aesthetically appealing, no one is going to bite.
You can sit on the lake all day, but if you want to catch the fish before supper time you better use the best bait in your box. A house with striking photographs can reel in a buyer’s attention and sell the home faster. And that’s the bottom line.
Interested in hearing more about why we use professional photography? Click here.
