I am with you on having plenty of pictures as you know many are going to search the web to see what is going on.

This is one of my pet peeves too.  Even showing the one required photo is nowhere near good enough but the no-photo listings, what are they thinking?!  I say the sooner those agents are out of business the better for the rest of us.  They can't possibly get referrals with so little effort; I have no doubt your DOM stats are correct too.  That won't enhance a realtor's resume!

But Frank - Digital photo's are so expensive..............

HOOORAHHHH!!!! Finally someone who told it like it really is!  I too believe in the, "If I can post 12 photos...dang it I am going to post 12 PHOTOS!" theory.

I have actually had buyers tell me that it was the photos that sold the home so I know it works. 

Go ahead bad listing agents....keep posting none or one....I don't mind, I am going to do what is best for my client!

Banks are now wanting to know  what the agents are doing to market the properties.  Maybe they will get savvy to this!

Frankly, as a stager, I do my best to stay away from such agents.  Whatever the excuse, ( now I understand the bank owned and foreclosures, thanks Frank), it's just unexcuseable to not post as many photos as possible.  Like you, I take an excess of photos of the homes I work on, in the hopes of a couple of good ones.  My husband use to be a broker and NO photos for a listing did not happen in his office.  If the agent couldn't get out to get the pictures before it hit the MLS, then the listing waited. 

Many realtors in our area have gotten better but I still find the ole' "no photo available", and I just don't get it.  LAZY, you betcha!

Thanks Frank, now I feel better too!

Frankly, you always tell it like it is and I love it! I wonder what excuse the drive by shooters are going to have for not utilizing the free 30?  Since this is new to MRIS, I wonder what your stats will look like this time next year.

Frank, interesting post. In our MLS, we can only add six photos, but on top of that, I add a RES virtual tour which holds lots of photos and a floorplan and more details on the listing. You're right though about the turn off for those homes with only one photo. Laaaaaazzzzeeee Realtor for sure. My buyers typically don't even want to see those with one photo for the reasons you mention. Good post.

Frank,

Can I deduce that only 12% of agents are providing more than a minimum level of servicing to their sellers?

Thanks,   Fran

Amen!  I just love those listing agents that let the MLS photographer take the photo a week after the listing is entered.  Of course, the prospecting e-mails went out on the listing the morning after the listing was entered!  D (DELETE)  ENTER

Great stats.  This is a wonderful talking point with potential clients.

Frank - Great advice for buyers.  I think my local MLS allows 9 photos.  If there are not 9 or 20 different shots in a home it is nice to do a close up on an architectural detail, molding or fireplace.  Kind of breaks things up.  

I know you are not a huge fan of the Virtual tour, but do you have any stats on homes sold with and w/o virtual tours.  I'd be curious.  Here is my theory (keep in mind I'm not even an agent so I could be way off) - I think homes in the lower price points, where virtual tours are uncommon, will sell faster if they have a virtual tour. I think people will think that the home is somehow better than the tourless homes.   Can you prove me right or wrong?

Frank,

Great advice.  Obviously you spent a lot of time working on the numbers for this blog.  Thanks for sharing.  This makes me wonder about listings in my area.  Might be a good point to use when going after expireds!

Frank,

I love sucky listing agents. I have buyers right now who are probably going to get a great deal on a wonderful house that has only so-so pictures and no lockbox. 

Hey Maureen,

No, I don't have any stats on Virtual Tours. The problem is there are so many of them. Some will make their horrible 4 photos into a "tour." I would have ot open up all 250 houses and decide which ones I determined to be real tours or not.

Also I don't really think that the actual photos is 100% of the reason for the difference. I think a lot of it has to do with the agent. An agent that goes out of their way to post 20 photos, probably will go out of their way to fight for a higher price.

Frank 

Thanks for the reply Frank.  I thought maybe it was some kind of information that you could access.  I think you are right about a lot of the credit going to the agent also.  Chances are if they are posting more photos they are willing to try harder with everything.  It really is about getting the right people working for you.  

Maureen,

And a listing agent that posts 20 photos, is probably more likely to... STAGE!

Maybe I'll go through all 200 and see if I can tell which are STAGED and which are not. That would be interesting!

Frank 

This makes perfect sense!  The thing that always gets me is that it's usually the older agents that slack on the pictures.  We're allowed 24 of them on our MLS, and sometimes we're lucky to get two.  It's really just slack.

Frank, Thanks for sharing.  I hate sending listings to clients when there is only 1 photo.  I am one of those Realtors who puts in as many pictures as MLS will hold.

Frank- I certainly agree about photos, but also about your conclusion that the agent who puts in lots of photos is probably much more proactive in many other areas.

There is no excuse in this tech savvy world for listings without photos.  Wonder what the stats say about virtual tours?

Andrea

Frank great post. You make a very valid point. This approach will work very well with expireds if the homeowner is convinced that this is one of the many reasons the house didn't sell while it was listed with ABC or XYZ Realty. Best of luck in 2008.

A+ On insight really ..never thought as a listing agent I use as much visual as the house will allow .. sometimes a room is just a box and does not play well visually but we never skip a good photo. However as a buyers agent I steer a 100 miles clear of a photo-less listing .. just see it as a bad listing... when it more then likely is a bad agent

Thanks for this one

Hey Eric, Good point. In regards to taking a photo of a box, I still take it. Why? If you don't show a boring box, their imagination goes crazy and they will think it is a triangle. So, they might just skip over it as "expected," but that in and of itself is information. Also I shoot the box to also show the size of the closest, the size of the windows, ceiling fan.

Agreed on the photos.  I have a video from one of my agents that bought her bank owned property. She didn't even what to see if because it had 1 photo.

Also, as predicted, when I go into photoless houses, there are FAR fewer business cards. And you know the agent is also going to be too lazy to pick up the cards.

I also say, BUY THE SMELLY HOUSE~! 

Frank 

One of my pet peeve is no pictures, I have had buyers who won't even condider a liting with no photos, and have gone to take some myself if I thought it might be a good fit

One of my pet peeve is no pictures, I have had buyers who won't even condider a liting with no photos, and have gone to take some myself if I thought it might be a good fit

Late poster...thanks for inspiring me to do my own case study in the Georgetown market (Greater Austin area).

Ya know...more photos can actually be a problem!!  Seriously!  We had an agent who put 102 photos into a listing.  If any of you are familiar with Rapattoni MLS system, get this:  Over 99 photos busts the system to the point where you can't submit changes due to the SUBMIT button disappearing.   This was about 6 months ago, so maybe it's fixed....but we had to jump through hoops to get that working again!

So careful, keep the photo count under 99!!!! :-)

Thanks for sharing the statistics.  I think it shows quite clearly the advantages of using photos with the listing.  I'll use these stats as backup the next time I have a client who's hesitating about having photos taken of their house.

I hate seeing the no photo also.  I usualy skip them, Unless I drive by them, but then that costs in gas. The single pics are a pain also. Lets see something inside. 

Great stats and an effective premise. It's amazing how many agents will list someone's home and risk thousands of dollars in commision by not even bothering to post a photo. It's no longer 1985 and the days of marketing homes with flyers on windshields and business cards at the cleaners are long gone. - Mark Selmi Avanti Films - Custom video profiles for business websites. mark@avantivisuals.com.