My 1st post please be honest... 

With the real estate market being tougher than it has been over the last few years my business partner and I have instituted the new rule "Every Inch Counts". My first post is related to photos because we feel strongly that there are only 2 things that a listing agent can control 1) Price  2)Marketing. As complex as marketing is and should be, I feel that most agents will agree that the single most important thing a listing agent can do is input a great lead photo in the MLS. So here is what we have been doing and it is working great.

The Dramatic Lead Photo - 

This looks a little complex, but with a little practice on your own home tonight you should be a pro by tomorrow. All you need is a digital camera and a tripod . Here are the steps.

1) Wait 15 minutes before sunset

2) Open all of the blinds and turn on all of the lights in the house 

3) Set your camera on your tripod.

4) Set your camera to "M" for manual

5) Change your "F" stop to 8.0 or as high as it will go

6) Change your ISO to 80

7) Set your exposure time to 1.3 to 2.5 seconds

8) Take your photo. We like to use our timer with a 2 second delay so it doesn't blur.

That is it! It might sound a little complicated, but if you read the directions to your camera it is not that bad. Our sellers are so excited when they see the photos and we get a lot of agent hit in our MLS. 

Happy photo taking!