5 Reasons To Use A Professional Real Estate Photographer
"97 Percent of Your Buyers Will First See Your House On The Internet" - NAR
A Luxury Home Showcased With Twilight Aerial Photos
First Impressions Are Everything…
When it comes to selling real estate, first impressions are everything. Chances are that the first time buyer’s see your listing, it’ll will be online. If you want your listing to get the most traffic, you need to have more than just great photos. Videos, 3D tours, reels and floor plans are all great ways to attract a buyer's attention. Hiring a professional photographer is home-selling 101 and it can make all the difference in the world when it comes to marketing your properties. Having high-quality photos and media is worth the extra effort and can help the home sell faster, get multiple offers, and often get the home sellers more money at the closing table. Gone are the days when realtors could whip out their cell phones and the home would be sold that night. Between buyer fatigue and sellers needing the best marketing, real estate photography is essential for realtors who want to showcase their properties in the best possible light and set themselves apart as true professionals.
Here are 5 reasons why real estate photography is so important for a real estate agent.
Reason # 1 - Faster Sales
Professional photos lead to faster sales. 97% of all buyers used the internet in their home search. With most people starting their home search online, the first image that they see of your listing is incredibly important. It's the buyer's first impression of your property and the photos better support the asking price. Good photos and video can give buyers a better sense of the property and they are thus more likely to put in an offer. One study by the Wall Street Journal found that listings with professional photos got 61% more views than those without them.
By using real estate photography, a real estate agent can help improve the online visibility of their properties. Professional real estate photos can be used on real estate websites, real estate listings, and real estate social media pages to help engage potential buyers and generate more interest in the property. The general rule of thumb is that the more visibility you can get a property, the higher the likelihood of a quick sale. In fact, one study found that listings with professional photos spent an average of 10 days less on the market than those without.
Not only does the use of professional photos speed up the time it takes to sell a property, but it can also help agents get better results from clients. Professional real estate photos show potential buyers that an agent is serious about their work and provides them with quality images that will accurately reflect the beauty of the property. This can be especially helpful when trying to capture upscale properties that require extra attention when photographing. As a result, agents who hire professionals for real estate photography have reported increased demand for their listings as well as higher sales prices for their clients.
Reason # 2 - Command A Higher Price Point
Listings with professional photos will naturally tend to sell for higher prices. Having better representation will attract more traffic making the listing more desirable. A great photo can make people fall in love with the house and will do more to “stop the scroll” than anything else that you can do. You can have a great home with beautiful staging, gorgeous views, and a great location but unless the photos reflect that, buyers will often not even give it a second look online. An excellent presentation with photos, videos, 3D tours, and floor plans are great ways to justify the sales price to potential buyers. Getting a good angle of the house is oftentimes a better use of your time than throwing on another fresh coat of paint on it. I’ve seen some really beautiful homes that had all the trimmings, I am talking beautiful tile work, gourmet kitchens, the works and all of it goes to waste if you don’t take the time and present it in the proper light.
Professionally photographed homes command a 47 percent higher asking price per square foot, according to Redfin.
There have been plenty of times in my professional career where I had to go and re-shoot a home that an agent lost out on because they just didn’t do it justice with their marketing. Sellers notice that their house is sitting longer while the one down the street with professional photos is getting lots of attention. Like I said at the beginning of this little blog post, presentation really matters.
A real estate photographer’s job is to highlight a property's most desirable features, such as its spacious rooms, beautiful views, or luxurious finishes and a good photographer will know what sort of photos attract buyers and which angles will increase that curb appeal and ideally the price that goes with it.
Reason # 3 - Raise The Visibility of Your Brand
Anytime that you have a listing - it's an opportunity to elevate your brand. I am going to repeat that one more time because I think it's so important -
Every listing is a branding opportunity.
What you do to market those homes matters. How you market matters. What I am talking about is that your previous work is your biggest resume for future clients. Sellers will judge you based on your recently sold properties and what kind of work you did for your past clients. A smart agent takes advantage of every listing opportunity to showcase what you can do for your future sellers. One of my favorite realtors will order aerials on a property and then lets all the neighbors know that’s what will be happening. Not only does he get to have a reason to knock on some doors but the neighbors see what kind of marketing the agent can do and what a house in their neighborhood will sell for. Now he’s got a face to face contact with potential clients all around the listing he’s currently marketing. It’s brilliant. And if he doesn’t get anyone at the door he just leaves a door hanger with a business card letting them know when the flight will take place so they’re not worried who is sending a drone up.
Using a professional photographer will give you better marketing materials. This is because you will have high-quality photos that you can use in your marketing materials, such as your website and brochures. Additionally, you can also use the photos in social media posts and online ads increasing the property's online visibility. Professional real estate photos can be used on real estate websites, real estate listings, and real estate social media pages to help engage potential buyers and generate more interest in the property. Whether you are creating real estate postcards, real estate flyers, real estate brochures, real estate mailers, or other real estate marketing materials, real estate photography can help to make them more compelling and engaging. This can help you to better reach your target audience and ultimately maximize your real estate marketing efforts.
Reason # 4 - More Tools At Your Disposal
A professional photographer will be able to bring multiple tools to really showcase the home. We have everything at our disposal from wide angle lens to 3D tours, drones, floor plans and video to make sure those unique features are shown in the best light. We spend a lot of time in post-processing making the edits just right to catch someone's eye online. Showcasing a property online properly is being able to tell the story from multiple angles and capturing the attention of someone who is looking to buy. Good real estate photographers typically have years of experience capturing a property's best features, from the ideal angle for highlighting a home's exterior or interior to showcasing its landscaping, fixtures, and other elements. It’s second nature to us and I find myself constantly walking around looking at homes and angles that I would capture them from.
There’s a lot of time and money that goes into our craft. There’s not really a straightforward school of photography that deals with real estate or running a business that caters specifically to realtors. Most of us are self-taught passionate perfectionists who love taking great photos and we practice and perfect and learn constantly. Our equipment tends to be collected over the years and upgraded as we advance in our profession. The real estate photographers kit is unique to each shooter and a lot of thought and money goes into it.
When a real estate agent hires us, all that equipment and experience is now at their disposal. Our only job at that point is to make the agent and the property look good and we have a plan on how to do it right. We want the twilight photos to catch someone’s attention during the scroll. We want the teaser reel to make people click to learn more. We want the video to really get someone emotionally connected with the location. We want the 3D tour to help people visualize just how big that family room really is and the floor plans to confirm that yes, the couch will indeed fit here. Telling the full story of the home is what we bring to the market.
Reason # 5 - You Honestly Have Better Things To Do
Real estate agents have better things to do than try and take real estate photos themselves, and they're better off hiring a professional for a variety of reasons. Over the years, we’ve seen plenty of agents make the mistake of trying to do it all by themselves. Another one of the biggest misconceptions people have is that anyone with a good enough cell phone or a fancy camera can take great photos. That’s simply not true.
For starters, even if a real estate agent has good equipment, their lack of experience in the field means that post-processing the photos won't be up to par with what an experienced professional can achieve. I would take my skills with a cell phone against an agent with a great camera any day. It comes down to more than just equipment, it’s the composition and experience behind the shutter button that matters. Additionally, the technical knowledge required to get the best possible shots out of any given camera or lens combination is immense. Finally, no matter how talented an amateur photographer is, it’s still hard to beat an experienced professional who knows precisely when and how to get the perfect shot.
And then after the shoot is done, you have to do a lot of work in post-production to really make the photos stand out. That’s a lot of time and hours put into it. I honestly feel that agents really should be focusing their time on what they do best - connecting with potential buyers, marketing their listings, and closing deals. After all, that's why clients hire them in the first place. Instead of trying to become a master photographer overnight, agents should trust their work to those who have the experience and technical know-how to showcase properties in a way that sets them apart from the competition.
Conclusion
Real estate photography is an essential tool for realtors looking to showcase their properties in the best light and improve their chances of a sale. When you are marketing a home, real estate photography can help you to highlight the best features, increase online visibility, and enhance your real estate marketing materials. So if you're a realtor looking to stand out in the real estate market, consider investing in real estate photography today. There’s a really good chance that the money you spend on good solid marketing and investing in your own brand is what’s going to pay off rather than trying to cut corners and end up losing more money in price reductions because no one is paying attention to your listing other than that cash buyer who is offering 50k under asking.
Questions?
-
Absolutely. Professional real estate photos are worth the investment for agents as they help to improve visibility, generate more interest in the property, and can help increase the sale price of a home. In addition, professional photos show potential buyers that an agent is serious about their work, which can lead to better results and higher demand for listings.
-
Creating the look for your house may be an effective tool to increase sales. But that's not always a requirement that every stager is hired. Cleaning and decluttering can significantly affect the price of your residence and should take place in advance, regardless of the purchase.es here
-
Sorry but this is not something within a photographers scope of work. The real estate agent is responsible for making sure the home is ready for picture day!
Our photographers are trained to take a 5-10 minute walk-through of the property and let the agent/homeowner know if anything last minute needs to be moved. We might quickly adjust a pillow or a blanket to aid in a composition but beyond that it is the responsibility of the agent and the homeowner to make sure the property is photography ready by the time the appointment starts.
Our photographers are not allowed to move clutter, toys, boxes, etc. and are trained to shoot the home as-is. This allows our photographer to maximize the use of their appointment time and make sure you get the best angles. If the house is dirty or cluttered, we will do our best to shoot it as is in the time that we are scheduled to be there. Any retakes will be scheduled with the appropriate fee.
We have a checklist that you can download and pass on to your client to help get ready for real estate photos.
-
The best time of day for real estate photos is early in the morning or late in the evening when the light is softer and more flattering. This is because natural lighting creates a warm, inviting atmosphere that can help to show off a property's features, such as its layout, architecture, and landscaping. Additionally, it's important to avoid overly bright midday sunlight as this can create harsh shadows and overexposed images.
If you are really looking to kick things up a notch - consider getting twilight photos. They are great at focusing the attention on the features of the home and if you have any sort of dead landscaping or if it’s the fall or winter months, twilight photos are a great way to use the light to highlight the best parts of a home.
-
We recommend at least 25 photos for a 1-2 bedroom home under 1500 Sq Ft and 35 photos for 2-3 bedrooms. We can add as many photos as needed but you can also order some extra photos if you want additional angles or other shots.
-
We typically schedule a photographer to be on site for a little less than an hour for a 2-3 bedroom home. This allows time for the photographer to take 35 photos and make sure the composition and angles good to go.
Larger homes and properties take longer and if you ordered additional services like aerial photos, 3D tour and video it will extend the time we’re a the listing. To give you an example, if we’re doing The Works package which is aerial photos, aerial video and interior photos and interior video, we typically can get that done in about 2 hours for a 3-4 bedroom house.on
