The advent of smartphones ushered in a time where almost everyone has a camera at their immediate disposal. In turn, camera accessibility created social platforms where the main medium of communication is through photos—hello Instagram and Snapchat—creating an increasingly visual society. Today, selling a home, and selling it quickly, depends on more than just the goods—that house has to look amazing in photos to entice prospective buyers doing internet searches to book an appointment. Read on to discover why professional photography sells homes faster.
The internet plays a huge role in the process
It’s reported that 92 percent of homebuyers use the internet as part of the house hunting process -- 92 percent! And according to the National Association of Realtors, 44 percent of homebuyers begin their search online before contacting an agent for assistance. And of those buyers who used the internet during their search, 87 percent said that photos of property listings were very useful.
You never get a second chance to make a first impression, so featuring professional photos in your listing can make the difference between people passing over or clicking on your listing...and calling you for an appointment. Appealing photos get more clicks.
The photoshoot is planned and staged
When you’re taking photos of a home, you may just set a date and time with instructions to make sure that the seller’s home is tidy. Perhaps you have an idea of a unique or enticing feature you want to capture to post in the listing. Professional real estate photographers, however, utilize art direction, staging, and master the angles of a home to capture it in the best lighting from the best vantage point.
If you've ever seen a dark and dreary listing photo taken in the depths of winter, you know how important lighting is in presenting a home at its finest -- it can mean the difference between being bombarded with requests for more information or a showing, or absolute crickets. While a professional photographer can’t change the weather, they can take well-lighted, beautiful photos of the exterior of a home on a grey winter day; when all else fails, post-production editing can brighten things and transform a dreary day into a cheery day.
Professional real estate photographers take the “right” photos
Letting a professional direct your listing’s photoshoot means getting the “right” photos to market a house. What are the “right” photos? Photographs that showcase just enough of a home to highlight the features and get people in the door for showings.
You know your listing best, so team up with your seller to assist the photographer by pointing out any unique features that are selling points. A window seat in one of the bedrooms, a walk-in pantry with custom shelving, a cubby hidden under a stairwell; point out any interesting features to your real estate photographer so that they can capture them in their planned shoot.
Beautiful photos on an internet listing are worthless if they don’t generate traffic. Professional photographers approach a home from a visual standpoint and know which features to focus on for listing photos--and how to stage them--as well as ways to “camouflage” less than desirable attributes (c’mon, we know not every home is perfect!).
““Lauren B. Stevens is a writer and member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. She spends her days crafting content for businesses in the areas of family, technology, and home. In her free time, she drafts personal essays about her experiences growing up in Cold War Europe, several of which have been featured in print anthologies.””