While the answer to this basic question may seem obvious, it’s beneficial to understand why real estate photography is so important to your success as a real estate agent. Understanding the role real estate pictures play in a seller’s decision to list with you, and a buyer’s decision to view and ultimately make an offer on your listing, can help you leverage good pictures to get more and better listings, and quicker and higher priced sales.
Almost every real estate listing includes pictures
Even offerings of vacant land often include images. According to the National Association of Retailers, 9 out of 10 buyers start their home search online. They search a particular area, sorting on criteria like number of bedrooms, lot size, and price. Once they get narrow down the group of properties they’re interested in, they look through pictures. The main listing picture, usually an exterior shot of the front of the property, is the first thing they see. Whether they click on that property depends entirely on whether they like what they see in that picture.
Remember curb appeal?
Before listings were available online, potential buyers, armed with a list of addresses of potential properties, would drive around and look at properties from their car. Sometimes an agent would drive them around, often they would do it on their own. How good a property looked from the street was critically important. That street side impression, referred to as “curb appeal”, was often the initial deciding factor on whether a buyer would follow up on a listing.
Now buyers cruise by listings on the internet, and real world curb appeal has been replaced by online curb appeal. Buyers browse pictures online – a virtual driveby – and rather than the past practice of arranging with an agent to see the property, they click the picture. And what do they find when they click? More pictures! No online curb appeal? No click, no buyer.
So, as you can see, you need at least one outstanding picture to get the offer process started. Good real estate photographers understand the key elements of that ‘money’ shot. Pictures that convey a sense of the property and highlight its best features are critically important.
Staging a property for great real estate photos
Getting a property ready for real estate photography is important. A well staged property invites a prospective buyer to imagine themselves in the home. Staging is so important that there is an entire industry devoted to the practice.
Professional real estate photography helps you get great listings
Every good real estate agent knows that selling houses is not the key to real estate success. The most successful real estate agents achieve that success by getting listings.
So how does good quality real estate photography help you get listings?
Sellers have a lot a stake when they decide to put their property on the market. Savvy sellers will research agents and they will look at a each agent’s current listings. This is where great real estate photography is really important.
It’s critical that your prespective seller gets a good first impression of the quality of your listings, and the first (and maybe only) thing they will see is the listing photography. This is where good professional photos help you get more listings.
If your current listings look good online, then a seller can be confident that you can make their property look good, too. And with the help of a professional real estate photographer, you can.
Getting great real estate images for your listing couldn’t be easier. Click here to book a real estate photographer, or call Ahead Photography at 84-GETAHEAD (844-382-4323).