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Photography and Selling Homes....

How To Sell Your Home Faster
Using Photography As A Tool

Quick! There's a big one. Get close, blur the back ground - Snap!

Peach The I-do-not-believe-in-photography listing agents are on to me again. My client requested pictures of a home that had no pictures on MLS. Doesn't it feel like they are laughing at you knowing you'll get those emails? Sometimes I feel like it's a conspiracy. They post pictureless listings and send demanding buyers your way. Ha ha, now you have to go look at the house and take pictures yourself or tell your clients that it probably is an ugly house and therefore it has no pictures. But the description doesn't say so and we are not going to lie...

Experiences like this have made me appreciate photography more. I know I'm supposed to outsource little meaningless things and non dollar-producing activities, but what if you like the activities? So what if they don't make you money, you get to enjoy life and that's what it's all about....

One thing about pictures when it comes to selling your home is that the picture itself won't sell the home. It will simply let the buyer make a decision whether or not they want to look at the house or not. The question then becomes, how many pictures to use?

Flower In Washington

The answer obviously varies depending on the house, location, price and yes your camera. I used a point-and-shoot sony camera when I first got started in real estate and it did a great job at taking pictures. My upgrade to a better camera came when I started seeing the plethora of it-is-not-about-the-pictures agents who use their mobile phone (did I really just say mobile phone instead of cell phone or camera phone?) to take pictures of the house they intend to sell. These pictures are smaller than my thumb and blurry so I don't really know what the point of uploading them really is.

Or what about those who take pictures of a room using a standard lens and therefore you get a nice shot of two walls and the corner of a room. If this is the picture you are hoping will get the buyer to jump out of their seat, call their agent and arrange a showing, trust me you are better off to just have a picture of the front of the house. At least it builds curiosity on what the rest of the house looks like. So, unless you have a wide angle lens, I would stay away from taking pictures of small rooms and bathrooms.

What makes good photography, umm.... good? Well it's not so much about the camera, it's more about the lens and the lighting. I personally use a Nikon D60, but if you don't want to look like a tour guide (or where's waldo), and if you are not into photography then a good point-and-shoot camera should be sufficient. Keep in mind that with point and shoot cameras you don't have to worry about ISO settings, shutter speed, aperture, etc. We have enough to learn as agents to even bother....

Origami Sushi Yeah it's nice to take good pictures, but really you don't have to go spend hundreds to promote a listing as long as you keep in mind what pictures are doing for you and how they are helping you sell the listing. It's as simple as looking at your own listing and thinking to yourself "if I were a buyer, would I want to go look at this home based on the picture(s)?". If your answer is no then you need a better picture or you are selling a home that doesn't need more than a picture of the front.

Good pictures can really help you drive traffic to your listing, but I think that more pictures and better quality should be left for higher end listings that really require more attention to detail.

Pictures are like the SAT's. If you get them right you get points towards selling a home. If you don't use them well you don't get points, but if you get it wrong, you can actually lose points. So use pictures to drive traffic and know that some pictures can actually cause you to lose traffic. (It's worth repeating)

Now get out there and sell some houses.....

Posted by Jorge Zarate on 05/25/2009 04:33 PM

Comments (46)

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46 Comments on Photography and Selling Homes....

MAY

You hit it on the nail. Homes will not grab the attention of a buyer if there are no great pics.

You are 100% correct about great pictures. It is our job to take GREAT pictures and put them on the MLS! If Realtors are not doing this one little activit then they are doing a big diservice to their clients. Also sellers need to think of this 85% of all buyers start looking on the internet when they are ready to buy. The listings with multiple (more than one) pictures is higher onthe search engines. Our MLS is passing out fines to Realtors that do not post pictures.

Our MLS insists on at least one photo and if there are no internal shots it makes you wonder what is wrong with the house. I have seen some very creative photos that capture the ambiance and design and leave you wanting to see the house. It is very important in promoting a property.

Least we forget what a picture is worth (1000 words for those of us with short memories). Most buyers are doing their filtering on the internet via pictures. Without good pictures you don't make that first cut.

You say <It's as simple as looking at your own listing and thinking to yourself "if I were a buyer, would I want to go look at this home based on the picture(s)?". If your answer is no then you need a better picture or you are selling a home that doesn't need more than a picture of the front.>... let me add on, if the answer is no, the house needs staging. Every house should be staged before photos, even if that simply means major de-cluttering and picking up the toys. I am *amazed* at the terrible photos on MLS - not just the bad photography, but the bad homes. If realtors don't feel comfortable letting buyers know what *must* change, then by all means, get a stager in to do it! Even with 0 dollars spent, a home can look 100% better. Staged home = better pics = more potential visits = more potential buyers.

Hi Jorge...I believe that no matter the price of the listing they all should have photos of the same quality, the best you can get.

With higher end listings I often take more photos simply because there are more features to highlight. Waterfront homes have the additional photos of the views, the shoreline amenities such as a beach and/or dock and boat house.

I certainly agree that photos are extremely important and need to be appealing.

Kate

No matter what, always do amazing photos.... better photos gets more potential buyers to the home... and more potential buyers means more opportunities to get an offer or multiple offers. It all starts with your real estate marketing on the Internet... better photos and video... more people... faster to an offer... or multiple offers!

I agree with Sharon~Homes need to be ready to have photos taken. I cringe when I see a photo of a kitchen w/ dishes on the counter and stuff on the fridge. I saw a living room that had laundry and toys all over the floor. Come on! If your clients won't pick it up, you should pick it up yourself, or not take them on as clients......take your pick!

Great post and great reminder!

Most of my buyers don't want to see homes that don't have pictures. They figure they'll be really bad.

Your pictures on the other hand are great.

MAY

Others have made great points--having the house ready to photograph, using a camera with a wide angle lens, and making enough pictures. No one has mentioned sequencing pictures when posting them. I shoot a walking tour of the outside and then shoot each room from each corner on the inside tour. These shots are made in the order that buyers would normally walk through the house. Not all shots will be equal in quality, but shooting enough will give a much better "feel" for the house.

Then there's lighting--one of the most important elements of photography. Rooms with lights, especially non-ceiling ones, turned on will appear much warmer and more appealing

Taking time to see what's really in the picture is important, too. Our eyes eliminate some elements--the camera lens doesn't! Doing this analysis using a view finder on a SLR is much easier than on a point and shoot, but still critical analysis should be done. I've found that sometimes when I move something for a picture it doesn't get put back, so staging has begun!

Marilyn Robertson, Town & Country, Realty

Hear, hear Jorge!! I'm so frustrated with our local agents and their photos that I now give mini seminars to RE offices on RE photography AND I'm not a photographer. BUT most of them DO NOT listen. I'm scheduled to do another seminar during TECH day and with your permission I would like to refer back to some of your information...especially the "if I were a buyers" line. Thanks for a well written post with great photos!

I'm gonna have to agree AND disagree with you, Jorge. Yes having good pictures is important, but not just for high end listings.

As I see it, the key here is what's going to make the property stand out? Obviously the first thing that people see when they look at a listing (online at least, and that's where the majority are going these days) is the pictures. So unless the only listings you're hoping to actually sell (in a reasonable amount of time) are the high end ones, as a realtor, I would think that you would want your listing to be the first one people look at no matter what price range it falls into.

So for example, I have a property that's listed for $210K, right smack in the middle of the price range that the average buyer is looking for in my market. Now every other realtor around me is saying 'you're nuts to worry about decent pictures, or {gasp} to even go so far as to pay for them, the listing's gonna get seen no matter WHAT you do. That's where everyone's looking.'

Ok, so that assesment may be correct, however, the question then becomes 'how long will it take for that eventual outcome?'

I would put forth the supposition that by having better quality pictures, ones that put your listing in the top 10 must see's in the price bracket, your chances of selling the property sooner are going to increase.

So do you cross your fingers and hope more people will want to see your listing, or do you go the extra mile and put your best foot forward to try to expediate that outcome?

You do what you want, but when it comes time to sell MY house I know exactly the kind of service I'm doing to DEMAND no matter the price.....

I saw a listing this weekend where the pics showed dirty dishes and excessive clutter on every kitchen surface, and then totally unmade beds, with toys, trash, laundry, etc. strewn all about in the bedrooms. WHOA!!! Where did that agent tuck his/her eyeballs when taking those pics??? If it were me, I would not have taken the listing, much less taken the pictures, until the home was presentable. It's just not worth it!

I also noticed that one of the recent expireds from the end of last week NEVER DID HAVE A PICTURE. Now, I just wonder why that house never sold in 3 months?

The pictures are just too important. You are so right on!

As a photographer who speacialises in real estate (www.propertyshoot.com) here in Australia it warms my heart to read the general tone of this thread :-)

Convincing realtors and/or vendors of the value of RE photography, especially in a tough market, is one of my constant battles. With 85%+ of potential home-buyers using the internet to browse the market it just makes good sense to bait the trap with something that looks enticing. We are visual creatures (good luck with those radio ads).

I'm accumulating reliable stats that show that in cases where the same property has been listed with 2 selling agencies; one using pro photography and one shooting their own photos, that the 'pro' version listings on our main RE portal were clicked on (opened) twice as many times as the 'amateur' listing.

Same home, same website, different photo quality...the ad with the better photos attracted more attention.

I will suggest to those of you shooting your own photos...learn how to control it and when to over ride the automatic functions. Becasue they essentially average the incoming light values, all cameras regardless of cost will struggle to properly expose a dim interior AND the view through bright windows. Sometimes you have to decide which is more important and over ride the camera so as to bias the result in one direction or another.

If you enjoy photography, learning to control your camera will be fun and ultimately profitable.

If photography is a chore and you don't have time to learn to improve it....hire a pro. We all have our specialties and can save each other time and potentially costly mistakes. (here endeth the sermon ;-)

Hello Jorge, I agree with Sharon, Pam and Tim.

1. Sharon states the home should be staged first and Pam says she cringes each time she sees a photo with dishes in the sink or stuff on the fridge. Both these Rainmakers couldn't be more accurate. First of all look at the inventory a seller needs to compete with. With everyone knowing that 85% of buyers eliminate properties while looking at photos how could any professional agent set their seller up for failure by not preparing the home for photos first.

2. Tim is another Rainmaker who understands what Sharon and Pam agree about because he makes the point that 'every' home needs excellent photography.

Today when I received the email from Activerain I took the time...which I don't always do....to read your blog. Why? Well the truth is the author said 'he has one of the most visually appealing blogs we've seen in a while.' I was intrigued so off I went to your blog.

I agree with the author you really do a visually appealing blog and I truly enjoyed reading it. I did exactly what buyers do!! I went to the blog and they go to the houses that visually appeal to them because they are intrigued.

I could not agree more!!!!!! As a stager we see some horrific looking homes and pictures. I often wonder why Agents dismiss the opportunity to make a great first impression. For a few dollars you can get a R E photographer to take the right pictures. So home sellers and Agents need to understand that this home is a product on the market and it must shine. Inside and out. And it has to do so till it is sold. A stager is worth it and should really be involved in readying a listing. Again, great pictures!!!!!

are you telling me, a picture of a bathroom which shows a sink and toilet (seat up) Won't sell a home? Its absolutely incredulous what some agents put into mls as pictures to showcase a home! nice post and thanks.

Absolutely true! A picture is worth a thousand words, especially if the house is spotless clean. Also, having it professionally staged truly helps in showcasing the home to its highest potential.

Jorge,

I agree with your thoughts and comments about the importance of good photography. When I preview the MLS and see all of the 1 photo listings, I can't help but wonder if their client knows how their properties are being represented. I guess they are just lazy Realtors and, like you said, want the selling agent to do the work. Keep up the good blogs!!!

Clarification on one point in my previous response--I did not mean that staging begins when I shoot a picture! My intent was to suggest that if the agent is helping the seller with staging (yes, professional staging is preferred but not always a possibility) looking at areas such as counter tops, mantels and other smaller areas through the view finder will reveal items that do not need to be in a photograph. If they don't need to be there, then they don't need to be seen when the house is shown! Much better to shoot with a critical eye than to Photoshop later!

It is amazing that with the convenience and lack of expense of using a digital camera that agents don't shoot tons of pictures, edit and use the good ones and impress buyers, sellers and other agents in the process!

I'll take it one further. It's also important when those photos are uploaded. If you load the listing, and put the photos up later, you've still lost potential opportunity. With all the listing alert services out their, would-be buyers are getting emails with those new listings the minute they hit the MLS.

No photo? Opportunity lost. Sure, perhaps local folks will know the street and drive by for a look. But you've just drastically reduced the number of potential buyers for that property. Many MLS platforms allow for you to partially load a listing. So, get the data in - take your shots the next day if you have to and then let it go live all at once. Gotta put your best foot forward, straight out of the gate!

Jorge,

Great post.

As the professional our clients are looking to us for advice. While a seller may not say anything if the photos are bad, you may never know that the few buyers in your listings price range made a decision which of the many listings available they considered looking at just because the photos told a better story.

We regularly hear that our photos and interactive floorplans/virtual tours 'sold' the house, and even had one international buyer purchase a $1.5M home WITHOUT SETTING FOOT IN THE HOME, just from the photos and virtual tour, and their attorney's confirmation that the home really looked as good in person as the photos/tour showed.

A simple one page outline for your clients to prepare for their photographs seems so obvious, but seldom is this done.

While professional staging and professional photography are luxuries that not every agent can afford, and not every listing has in the budget, there is a lot we can coach our clients to do which is free for them. and in this market, if the client isn't motivated enough to do what I can coach them to do for free to give us and them a better shot at helping them sell their property, why would I want to invest my time and money in the listing?

As to when to hire a professional or do it yourself, I believe Jon covered that above - a 2 to 1 consideration ratio has to translate into more sales. We saw in our agency in 2008 a 20% higher closing ratio for listings with both professional photography and virtual tour. Perhaps all or most of the time if you can afford it is close to the best answer?

I am curious what others think.

I would think that all Realtors would agree on the importance of photos in a listing. What I find incredible is that there are numerous listings in our MLS that have only one or two photos and others that offer such poor images that they might be better off without any. Time after time images appear that don't portray a room or environment, but a single item such as a bed, a sofa, a refridgerator,etc. And as pathetic as it may sound, I have even gone to show a home, only to realize that the picture in the listing was not even the correct house.

As a professional photographer, it should be noted that a good camera does not make a good photo. I suppose if you want average results, then you can shoot with your camera and hope for the best. Fantastic real estate photos are shot by professionals who know light, depth of field, composition and exposure. They also compose to enhance the property and know when the best time to shoot is.

If you think owning a camera is all you need to bring buyers to your home, hire a pro and compare what you do to their images.

Well Good Morning Everyone,

Thank you for all of your comments. I definitely agree that home staging is critical in selling a home.

I do always care about taking good pictures. I do like art and was always wanting to do photography, but never quite figured out how some people took such great photos. I started changing the settings on my point and shoot and then consulted a friend of mine who does photography and video up in Seattle. He did a TV commercial for Vespa (you can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NHrKj0dMNM) He recommended to buy a Nikon D40 or D60 which is a lower end SLR, but takes great photos.

The Peach photo is from the garden in my backyard. The flower and the sushi are from my last visit to seattle a couple of weeks ago. These are not photos I could've taken with my regular point and shoot, so in my opinion it was worth the investment.

Ginger Foust - You sure can refer back to my blog for your seminar.

Jorge - Congrats on the recognition in the daily e-mail! Gilbert AZ getting a little AR love...

I like good pictures and always post as many as I can. What frustrates me is the intentionally deceptive pictures, like using the wide angle lens to photo the front of the house so I get a fish eye view.

You've definitely hit on one of my pet peeves! I did make the investment in a nice DSLR (Canon 40D) last year (along w/ the wide-angle lens) and I can definitely see the difference between that and my point & shoot. I have received many compliments from my sellers as to how nice the pictures look. One of my sellers even joked about the fact that I had him hold a portable light for some of my shots like he was my assistant (he liked that I cared enough about the pictures to have him do this).

I think everyone has had great comments. I know that in my market, it doesn't make sense to hire a professional for every listing b/c of lower average selling prices and budget constraints right now. It amazes me how many high end homes have very poor pictures. I wonder if the sellers ever look at them...

Now if only the quality of my pictures could remain high once uploaded to the MLS and syndication sites...

Chad,

I've found that to be a problem. What I found that works is to edit the photo in photoshop and reduce the size of it using their image size reduction feature in bicubic sharper mode.

Luckily our MLS keeps the quality of the pictures but other syndication sites don't.

Hope that helps,

Jorge

Jorge: We could not agree more with what you and others are saying, in fact we blogged about this fact a while back. We cannot believe the quality, or lack there of, of photos we've seen and continue to see on our local MLS. Are people even trying?! They're blurry, dark, too far, too close, only in half the shot, or worse yet, there are no photos at all. Please couldn't we all try a little harder.

One of the realtors in my office had 20 photos on line but three of them were upside down. He had no clue had to position them. Perhaps no picture in that case would be better. Gina

I just used my new wide angle lens today at a new listing and it was amazing what a difference it made. I didn't have to crunch myself back into a corner to get most of the room! I didn't know that those lens were so reasonable, I ordered mine from Magneticlenses.com and it was shipped for under $50. I highly recommend using one if you're not already!

Hi Laura - a wide angle lens (WAL) sure does help 'fit more in'. If I can suggest a couple of things to help avoid the distortion inherent in these lenses.

* Bend at the knees and shoot from around 4 ft while keeping the camera level. If you stand at normal height and tilt the camera up or down, vertical features such as walls, door and window frames will lean alarmingly and you risk having the room look like a carnival funhouse.

* Avoid having straight-edged features (eg door frame or wall corner joint) at the left or right edge of your frame. WALs make such lines appear curved.

Lots of tips for RE photography at www.photographyforrealestate.net

How are sellers still allowing an agent to take pictures...? A professional photographer will capture the listing better everytime. An agent that asks a seller for 6% and then takes their own pics with a digital camera is not a professional.

Laura - Congratulations. Isn't it fun to actually take good pictures.

Jon - Thank you for your tips

Carlos - I don't necessarily agree with your statement.
Agents can take pictures just fine. They just need to learn. If they can't learn and still decide to take the pictures then you would be right, they are not professional.

Yes Jorge - you are right about pictures taken with a cell phone! I could never figure out why the pictures were so grainy. No matter what price the listing is, you should treat it the same (take good enough pictures), that's tells a thing or two about the agent. And the seller, I guess they just trust their agent... 85% of buyers initiate their search on the Internet, and having crummy pictures lessen the chance to capture buyer's attention, they will just skip over!!!

MAY

Jorge:

I'm a firm believer that taking pictures will get more buyers to call you! Whether is a buyer working with another agent it does not matter... they key is taking pictures of all your listings.

Now I had foreclosures that I even taken pictures after the home was cleaned out! I sometimes take pictures of lime green paint on the walls etc., The more pictures you have the more activity you will get on your listing.

You are so right! By the way love the pictures that are being displayed. Good job!

Maria Cutrona

RE/MAX VALLEY REAL ESTATE

BOARDMAN, OHIO

MAY

Great post - do you shoot your own virtual tours? If so does you cameria take wide angle photographs? I am looking for one that does.

May I suggest an effective and cheaper "virtual tour?" It's not a 360° shot with a fish-eye lens, but a slide show using the "walking tour" of the property that I mentioned earlier. I, personally, don't like the feel of something rotating around me, so find this method preferable and have been told by others that they agree. I upload my shots (as many as 75) to the provided in the order that I want them used, select background music, post descriptions, have my credit card charged with $9.95 for each tour and expect it to be posted automatically on Realtor.com within a short time. The comments that I have received from these have been very positive, both from sellers and buyers. I'll be happy to share the information re the company I use.

Did I mention that I use a Nikon D50 and shoot most views with wide angle?

One other tidbit--our firm has a videographer who makes videos of each listing. These are on the MLS and any personal sites with IDX. This is a perk provided by the firm for each agent.

Marilyn Robertson

I don't do my own virtual tours. Ever since our MLS changed and allowed for us to post many pictures, I don't see the advantage of having a virtual tour. I agree with Marilyn, my website has a feature that plays a slideshow of the pictures, so as long as I have good ones and place them in some sort of order, it's just as good as a virtual tour.

I have a nikon D60 and have an 18-55mm lens. It is a wider angle than your normal point and shoot cameras, but not wide enough to capture a full picture of a small space. If you get a wider lens you'll get the fisheye effect. In my opinion, I don't want to take pictures of spaces that are too small to fit on my lens. If that is the case, I rather take pictures of the outside of the home and any open spaces. If that's not enough then I take pictures of the sorroundings (common areas, shopping centers, etc.). If those options are not available, I probably won't be listing the home (not my target market).

My friend recommended to buy a D40 or a D60. It's an entry level SLR camera and you can find one that comes with a wide angle lens kit. I am personally very satisfied with the lens that I currently have and don't see the need to buy a wider lens.

I use the same 18-55mm that Jorge uses--not a fisheye, put effective for rooms as well as exteriors. I do editing with Photoshop Elements 6. Of course the better photograph that one starts with the better the end result! I think that, were I not a photographer, I would either pay someone, perhaps another agent or even barter services with other agents, if possible, to provide good photographs. With the high percentage of buyers using a computer during their buying process and with sellers also checking what we post, how can we possibly NOT provide good photographs?

JUN

I recently had a house I've listed professionally photographed. I thought my photos with my higher end Canon PowerShot were pretty good (and by and large they were) but the SLR photos taken by the pro captured so much more of the rooms, and the time he spent in photoshop making colours pop, framing and cropping, and whatnot... well I'm sold. When I can I'll be getting an SLR for my lower end listings due to the incredible difference in photo quality and breadth - and the upper end homes are being farmed out because I'm a Realtor and I believe in professional services!

Jorge! So true! You need to have pictures to sell anything really. Most people are visual...you have to see it to entice interest. Especially in today's technological world where you can see prior to buying you have to offer that to prospective buyers. Have a nice evening.

HiJorge~ I have to admit that your sushi photo made me crave some sushi! Good photos of our homes make buyers crave more- they want to see more of the home! I think it is disgraceful for any agent to ever put a house on the internet or the MLS without many photos taken to the best of their ability, and if their ability isn't very good, hire a professional!

JUN

Jorge,

I just don't get listings without pictures (well, unless they're LLF). That's the first thing I look for, the more the better. Our MLS had just increased our limit from the previous 8. If the property has problems, then take pictures of the high points of the property. This way you are still creating interest.

Stephen - It's amazing the difference in quality between SLRs and regular point and shoot. Photoshop is a different story. It can be hard to do and unless you are artistic and like doing it, I would hire someone. However, if you are good at taking photos you shouldn't need to edit them in Photoshop. Search some of your higher end listings and notice how some of these photographers go to an extreme with the editing. They'll brighten up the lights and make the pictures look artifical.... not visually appealing in my opinion.

None of the pictures I took and posted up above have any kind of editing. They were just taken with good lighting. If anything lighting can be a problem when taking pictures in a home... good luck

Vickie - That sushi is from a small town called Silverdale in Washington. The place is called Origami. It is by far one of the best Sushi places I've been to.

Thanks everyone for your comments

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Using Photography As A Tool