Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
“A picture is worth a thousand words” - we’ve all heard the saying, and how it can be applied to all sorts of situations - including the real estate market. In fact, if you’re a real estate professional, investing in good, high-quality photography for your real estate listings is an absolute must. Here’s why it’s time to put down your mobile phone camera and hire a professional photographer to take the pictures for your real estate listings.
So why is it so important to ensure the pictures in your real estate listings are of professional quality? It’s quite simple: good pictures speak for themselves. Because the majority of house hunters start their search online and are bombarded with dozens or even hundreds of MLS listings, you need to both grab their attention as well as keep it. With people being so visually centered, an attractive set of pictures on an MLS listing will make that listing stand out - and when you use a professional photographer to take those pictures, your MLS listing will look its absolute best.
Professional real estate photography provides dozens of incredible benefits for real estate agents looking to market properties more effectively. Let’s take a closer look at what, exactly, professional real estate photography brings to the table.
Homes that have been photographed professionally look their best, and that means sellers are more likely to get top dollar for their property. While there are dozens of different variables that go into property prices, there are no discounting things like curb appeal and aesthetics, and when a house hunter’s first experience with a property is a set of gorgeous professional photographs that make them fall in love with a home before they even set foot in it, buyers are willing to spend more to make that home theirs.
Another incredible benefit of using a professional photographer to take your MLS listing photos is that the increased quality of those photos leads to increased interest in your listing. The more people stop and really look at that property, the higher the chances that one of them will decide to learn more about that property - and that’s one step closer to potentially submitting a bid to the seller. This, in turn, increases the likelihood that the home will change hands, making both you and your seller happy.
Professional photography drives up sale prices and generates massive interest in properties, which means that, in general, those properties are likely to sell more quickly than those that don’t show as strongly. Time is money, and being able to move a property quickly means that you can build on that success as a real estate agent while also helping sellers achieve their goals.
At this point, it should be clear that finding a good real estate photographer is an absolute must. However, not all professional photographers are created equal - you need someone with the skills and experience necessary to deliver the highest-quality images they can so that you can reap the rewards. Here’s what you should look for when selecting a real estate photographer that will work well for you.
Good photography is so much more than simply snapping a shutter. Photographers need to know how to frame each image and also stage the property so that everything comes together to make the pictures as attractive as possible. Look through the portfolios of prospective photography partners and keep an eye out for the kinds of things that showcase good, skilled picture-taking.
Good real estate photography is only about 1 percent picture taking. The rest comes with experience, and you need to ensure the photographer you choose isn’t just skilled but also has plenty of photo shoots under their belt. Being able to deliver on projects in a timely manner, good communication, and general professionalism are all crucial. There’s nothing worse than taking a chance on someone who looks good on paper but doesn’t have the experience borne from long years of working in the real estate industry.
Nothing succeeds like success in the real estate industry, and good real estate photographers leave a long trail of satisfied clients in their wake. Ask for some referrals to other real estate agents the photographer has worked with in the past and find out how the photographer performed, right from the horse’s mouth. It takes a lot of time and effort to deliver on time and as promised; if you talk to a former client and find out that the photographer took 1, 2, or even 8 hours to get a photoshoot right because they’re dedicated to perfection, you know just that much more about the person you’re considering hiring - and whether they’re worth their listed rates!
Hiring a real estate photographer isn’t necessarily cheap. You have to pay for their expertise, their time, their use of real estate photography equipment, and, of course, the photos themselves. As all of these costs are a major investment, it can be tempting to just take a few quick photos yourself and call it a day, but doing so would leave you at a major disadvantage. That’s why real estate photography should be viewed as an investment in your own success as a real estate professional. Choose your photography partner thoughtfully and with care, and you’ll be able to leverage the benefits, leading to a major return on your investment!
One very important benefit... good photos will improve the realtor's appeal to new sellers. So they could attract more clients.