Is your listing telling a story? You may be surprised

The pictures in your listing are not telling a story – and it costs your clients money!

I just got off the phone with a potential client who was telling me that she has not been able to get her house sold at all. She was telling me the whole story, and I picked up on some very disturbing news.

Real Estate Agents were not bringing her the leads. In fact, when looking up the property, I found out why there are not that many leads for the seller.

All the pictures (15) except four were of the neighborhood, not the property. The three pictures were: A picture of the side of the house, the flower pots out back, the bedroom, and kitchen. All of the rest of the pictures were of the pool, the swing sets, the street, and everything else other than the home.

While I am sure that a neighborhood is a great idea to attempt to sell a property, I am just wondering if this is how you tell the story of a home in a community. Many of our clients refuse to even attempt to deal with a home where there are Home Owners Association Fees. The reason is that many folks do not find that they add value to the community any longer.

But to get back on track, I want to ask everyone – when you sit down and tell a story to your children, or you are telling your friends of a situation that turned out to be funny – do you just bullet the points and then laugh? I don’t think so.

When we tell stories we build up the story until the point where there is a lesson learned, or all in all everyone breaks out into laughter. This house, according to the listing, did not have a story. The neighborhood had the story, but the home did not.

If we are to sell homes to people, we have to understand that we have to make them fall in love with the home, not the neighborhood. The story should put the buyer in the home during celebrations, during quiet times, and gives them the feeling that they are indeed, at home.

The neighborhood, comes as the “Oh – By The Way,” side story.

Posted by Matt Price on 10/22/2009 01:48 PM

Comments (33)

Telling a Homes Story Through Pictures in the Sales Strategies / Tactics Channel

pictures, home, story, auctions

This post has been included in North Carolina Information Wake County, NC Information

33 Comments on Is your listing telling a story? You may be surprised

OCT

Matt, congrats on the feature! Absolutely your right. You can't emotionally swayed to look at a home if you can't see the inside!

You are so right Matt! Pictures say a thousands words!

Actually, Matt, the pictures were telling a story. The interior of this home probably was not in condition to be photographed. This is likely the story of a seller not willing to do what it takes to sell a home in today's market.

Sometimes a listing's photography tells the story of a lazy, clueless real estate agent who doesn't bother to market listings for internet buyers.

Listing photos always tell a story but it's not always a story that will get the property sold.

It would be interesting to see if this same agent has similar pictures posted on her other listings, or past listings. Has the seller discussed this "lack" of leads with the agent? It may be that the agent is not professional, or that the day she showed up for pictures, the house was a wreck. I see pictures on listings of unmade beds, rooms filled with toys and clutter, and the kitchen counters piled with junk. Maybe the neighborhood was the best part of the story, as she at least had 15 pictures, not just the minimum. It's anybody's guess until you see the house for yourself. Good luck!

I often wonder if the seller is aware of the lack of pictures, or pictures that are frankly, lousy, or that there are more exterior shots than interior......I would bring the listing agent to task if I were the seller if the photos didn't show off my home in the best light. And as for homes that are messy, dirty, etc......tell the seller that photos can't be taken until the home is cleaned up and will show well, which may mean a delay getting on the market. If a seller is not willing to do what is necessary for the house to sell, don't take the listing!

OMG Here at the beach cities we see lots of "ocean and near by neighborhood pictures" and not enough from the house itself. I agree with you 100%. What is the agent thinking??? DAH!!!

Matt, great post and reminders! I'm so with you . . . as a real estate photographer and stager, I totally believe in lifestyle stories--no matter how "logical" people think they are going to be (or are being) when making a purchasing decision, they are emotionally affected. The seller that doesn't tap into this, is losing out.

Carol - LOL! I loved your comments. It's a story about the homeowner . . . or the agent. (Brady Bunch theme anyone? I think I may have dated myself ;-0).

Right on the money, you said it so well, I am re-blogging it. Thanks,

Sometimes a lack of photos says almost as much as a photo. I've had buyers ask me on MLS listings why there aren't more photos of bathrooms, or why there aren't interior photos of a property. Not having photos can be a red flag to buyers that the property has problems and they were afraid to photograph it.

Why do so many agents include photos of cats, dogs, toys- dirty dishes?! It amazes me how many agents will show no interior shots or the ones they include have poor lighting and the messy house.

Carol,

I agree with you that there are some that do that, however, this agent took pictures of the broken flower pots out back in the staging area for this lady. It made no sense. Inside the place was painted nicely, well kept - in this case, the pictures did not do the property justice.

But, like every other property - there is a new sherrif in town, and I have the camera warmed up.

Then too, there are always those who say they want to sell, and in a down economy where we have seen prices contract 8%-18% depending on where they live, it is interesting to see the emotion on their face when you do comps, and the comps don't look as well as this place does.

If you ask the seller what they liked best about their house and emphasize that with pictures, it should do well. In the market we are in, good interior pictures are essential to selling the house.

How the listing is written and photographed says a lot about the agent's professionalism.

Freida Knight, 1st Knight Realty, Inc., Auburn, GA 30011

Great post although I kept hoping you were going to tell me how to build up the story through photos, so maybe I'll peek at some of your listings.

Photos tell it all -- so strange how some agents do not seem to be understanding that.

Good photos are a must! Whenever I see a listng with no photos of the home interior, I pretty much chalk it off. After all, if the interior was in decent shape, why not post pictures?

Whenever there ar no photos of the inside of a home, I suggest to my buyer that the house is in serous fixer conditon in all probability.

Your not making sense, who doesn't or won't bother with Assn's? What does that have to do with pictures & presentation? 1st off - Associations can be good because they won't let your color blind neighbor paint his house day-glow orange. Associations can be good because all bushes, lawns, etc. are manicured in a timely fashion and there are no neighborhood jungles or lazy mowers.

That said, yes as an agent when I see only exterior pictures of a home I wonder what is up with the inside? Too much time with outside pictures here - did a decorating disaster happen? Yellow, red, and blue primary colors on the walls? Fire damage? The listing agent wasn't doing justice to the seller or their home.

Matt,

Very good points! At the beach, we do a number of interior shots, and IF there is a water view, a couple of pix of the water. Since what we are mainly selling is a beach lifestyle, that's what the Buyers want to see!

Kathy Opatka

You are so right!! I get so frustrated when there are several pictures and all are exterior shots. Even more so when there is only 1 picture and, of course, that's an exterior shot. They really do their clients such a disservice.

Off Topic - but deserves a response.

"Associations can be good because they won't let your color blind neighbor paint his house day-glow orange."

One of the founding principals of this country is life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness. One of the fundamental rights that is given to people is owning land, and any item on that. Now, fast forward 200+ years, and those fundamental rights have not changed.

An example is: Your rights are terminated when they interfear with the rights of another. With that fundamental principal, a HOA should not have the right to approve a fence, nor should they have the right to do anything that that an individual can not do.

We have seen HOA's complain that the grass was cut too short, and if it was 1/8th too tall, we have seen them approve a fence, and then turn around and proclaim that all of the fences approved were not according to the rules.

We had one instance here where the HOA Police was nearly shot because he was riding his bike around and fined a house that had a permitted fence because he could see the kids swingset in the back yard. The man was fined $500. It became a problem when the kids were shooting the fella with a BB Gun.

All of that nonsense has given HOA's a very, very bad name in which people just simply do not want to deal with them any more.

Now, back on topic.

While pictures of the neighborhood swing and all of that is nice, how do they put the persons mind in the home?

People are not buying the neighborhood. They are buying a home. Their second thought is the neighborhood. Now if they see children come home and go into the house and not come back out for any play - what does that tell you about your neighborhood?

Could very well mean that they love the house! Unless, of course, the HOA prohibits children playing.

People like to see all the angles, inside and out. Even when shopping for shoes or purses online, many of the shops show pictures so that you can get a good idea just as though it were tangible in your hands. It is what will make the difference in going to the next level. Same with houses. People will spend more time looking at the ones with lots of pictures of the rooms. Those are the homes that will attract buyers.

I loved the part: "Do you bullet the story and then laugh?" Good point! Now I'm laughing.

Good points. I like to use a lot of pictures, but pictures should also provide a tease to get people to come and see the home. Not everything photographs wells and some things are better seen in person.

Thanks for the post!! I actually think about what pictures that I am going to use (for a lengthy amount of time) when I am posting a new listing!! You want to play to the strengths, and not the weaknesses! It can certainly be a juggling act! All The Best!!

Drives me NUTS when a listing does not have clear, in order, descriptive photos AND a virtual tour! Do your jobs List Agents! Come on..not too hard. Buy a Virtual Tour software, and get those photos uploaded ASAP. We aware agents are ALWAYS skimming the MLS..grab our attention and you'll grab the Buyer's attention.

Whenever I see listings without photos of the interior I assume it must be too awful to photograph. Big red flag. At the other extreme are agents that post photos of rooms that are absolutley horrible. What are they thinking???? My big pet peeve - exterior photos of homes with snow on the ground .... in JULY! THAT sure tells a story. Why can't these agents take new photos?

I agree. Sell the home first and the neighborhood second. Not having enough photos of the house is one of my pet peeves.

OCT

Red flags come up for the interior of the house but I also check this Realtor's other listings. When I see this is a trend with them I can almost be sure I'm getting an expired!

We get many interesting perceptions of photos here in the rain. Nice post. Thank you for sharing.

OCT

When there are no interior pictures, I assume there is nothing worth photographing or it's too bad to photograph. But I am curious about virtual tours; I have never used them and they are not very popular in my area. When I would look at the vitural tours that were posted, they looked all distorted and in my opinion the still photographs did the house better. That being said, have VT improved? And what company do you recommend; do they really sell a house? Thanks.

OCT

I agree! It drives me crazy when there are only 1-2 photos of the inside. It definitely makes me wary.

Very true Matt. Buyers need lots of pictures of the HOUSE itself. Other than price, I believe that it is the second most important part of an effective Listing.

NOV

Price is king but after that how we let a house show is Queen. We and the owners have to take responsibility for the way the house looks. Unfortunately, I have seen a few houses that could have done better in this market if they simply looked better and had a good story told about them.

DEC

Great post and a good reminder to agents and sellers alike. Buyers are looking online and if they don't like the story, they won't bother to go see the house.

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