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Camera, Photo, Action. The Real Estate Agent's Primer

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Realty Arts NC Broker License #235526

These are photos of cameras.

 

Camera! 002Camera! 016

 

This is a photo of a house.

Grandale, Durham, NC 

It was taken by a real estate agent.

Mike Jaquish

With a camera.

 

This is a photo of a phone.  A smartphone.  Very smart.   A little eccentric, but really smart.

 

Cameraphone! 002

 

This smartphone even includes a camera, but it doesn't really take great photos.  I would not want MY house marketed with smartphone photos.

Next we should have a photo of a house, taken by a camera similar to the one in the photo of a camera, but as the caption says, "No Photo Available." Whoopsie! So, we put a house photo beside "No Photo Available" for comparison.

 

No Photo AvailableGrandale, Durham, NC

Which image above would you linger over when searching for a home?

Buyers who search for homes online commonly list lack of photos as a major complaint, and often say they pass over listings with few or no photos.

If you are settling for less than the maximum number of good photos in your listings, or if you are a hopeful home seller and have selected an agent who posts less than the maximum number of photos allowed when marketing your home, the question the rest of us have is, "WHY?"

Next time, we will discuss which end of the camera the pixels go in, and how they come out to make the photos....

Posted by

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___________________________________________________________________________________________

Scan the QR Code with your Smartphone to Email MeQR CodeMike Jaquish, REALTOR®

919-880-2769 www.RealtyArts.com

Try my"No Hassle Home Search"

Visit the Triangle Real Estate Forum for hassle-free answers to your questions and discussion of local Triangle Topics.

 

Independent Broker/Owner, Realty Arts

130 Towerview Court,

Cary, NC

Comments(16)

Eleanor Thorne
Equity Resources - Cary, NC
Advantage Lending 919-649-5058

Excellent point Mike! I've seen some listings with GOSH Awful pictures, that are NOT UPDATED!  I mean maybe you leave a picture of the nice azaleas, but we have Crepe Myrtles blooming now - don't really want to remind people the house has been sitting there since the Christmas decorations were out!

Sep 14, 2009 09:46 AM
Mike Jaquish
Realty Arts - Cary, NC
919-880-2769 Cary, NC, Real Estate

Eleanor,

Mediocre photos don't bother me as much as "No Photo Available."

When a new listing hits the MLS 2 days after the agreement is dated, and there are no photos, you have to wonder....

Sep 14, 2009 09:50 AM
John Novak
Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace - Las Vegas, NV
Henderson, Las Vegas and Summerlin Real Estate

Excellent use of humor to drive home how important images are in online real estate marketing. This should really help sellers get the picture!

Sep 14, 2009 09:52 AM
Mike Jaquish
Realty Arts - Cary, NC
919-880-2769 Cary, NC, Real Estate

John,

Humor?? 

OH!  Oh, YEAH, HUMOR!  Sure, HUMOR by the GIGApixel.  We got that...

Sep 14, 2009 09:55 AM
Nevin Williams
Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation - Cary, NC
Senior Mortgage Advisor

Mike -  I think you made you point!  LOL  With more and more people buying homes by looking at pics on the internet means the photos are critical!

Sep 14, 2009 10:27 AM
Mike Jaquish
Realty Arts - Cary, NC
919-880-2769 Cary, NC, Real Estate

Nevin,

Thanks, and of course, I agree with you.

Sep 14, 2009 12:34 PM
Terry & Bonnie Westbrook
Westbrook Realty Broker-Owner - Grand Rapids, MI
Westbrook Realty - Grand Rapids Forest Hills MI Re

Almost any photo is better than none but I have seen a few that are the exception to this rule.

Sep 14, 2009 02:01 PM
Mike Jaquish
Realty Arts - Cary, NC
919-880-2769 Cary, NC, Real Estate

Terry Bonnie,

Yes, there is always the exception. 

Sep 15, 2009 12:16 AM
Stanton Homes
Stanton Homes - New Home Builder - Raleigh, NC
Design/Build Custom Home Builder in North Carolina

My favorites are the close ups of the beds.  Hey, there's a bed.  Next photo.  Hey, another bed.  Can't see the room, but it must be small because all I can see is the BED. 

Sep 15, 2009 02:09 AM
Mike Jaquish
Realty Arts - Cary, NC
919-880-2769 Cary, NC, Real Estate

Penny,

Frustrated Rooms-2-Go photographers, maybe?

I can shoot the bed and the wall.  The black camera is a Kodak p880.  The zoom ring on the lens shows that it goes down to 24mm.

I can even get TWO corners in most bedrooms with it.

Sep 15, 2009 02:18 AM
Stephen Kappre
KW Hometown - Mantua, NJ
Helping You Home

I'm sure the stickiness of homes with few pictures is far less than multiple pics, multiple angles, etc. People want to look at pics - NOBODY doesn't. If words sold homes, we'd have a pictureless MLS.

Sep 15, 2009 02:00 PM
Mike Jaquish
Realty Arts - Cary, NC
919-880-2769 Cary, NC, Real Estate

Steve,

The funny thing is, it is one of the easiest tasks to get at least half right, and so often totally ignored!

Sep 15, 2009 02:11 PM
Sandra Scott
DPR Realty - Payson, AZ
REALTOR of Choice! Payson, Pine & Strawberry, AZ

Ok, so you've hit my hot button.  The thing that make me the MOST nuts are the agents who put their listings on the MLS (with no picture, of course) and then WAIT 2-7 days to get any pictures up. 

My auto-notification fires off these listings to my prospects only to have them call me irritated because there are no pictures.  So what do I say?  I generally say, "You know, all agents are not created equal."

Please, agents, think this through.  Put your pictures up when you load the properties on the MLS.

Sep 16, 2009 10:38 AM
Mike Jaquish
Realty Arts - Cary, NC
919-880-2769 Cary, NC, Real Estate

Sandra,

I have come to the conclusion that agents withhold photos as a means to pocket the listing.

To heck with the client, as long as they can maximally capitalize on the opportunity.

Sep 16, 2009 10:41 AM
Sheri Spain
Next Home Team - Raleigh, NC
Wake Co. NC REALTOR Apex to Raleigh to Wake Forest

I like this lesson:)  I think it is a shame when agents don't included photos (quality photos) of their listings.  I think @Sandra said it right that "All agents are not created equal"

Sep 22, 2009 07:45 AM
Mike Jaquish
Realty Arts - Cary, NC
919-880-2769 Cary, NC, Real Estate

Sheri,

And it is SO easy to get a few decent photos up i a few minutes!  I think a week is a VERY long time to let a listing sit without photos.

Sep 22, 2009 07:53 AM