I was up late again thinking about ways to make properties stand out, especially in this market with high inventory levels.  We all know the impact of the Internet on home sales and especially the exposure that homes get from buyers.  The internet has caused some progress in the way that we do business.  In the old days we had the MLS books with the listing inside.  We would research these books that came out monthly (at least in our board) to find what the client was looking for.  Often we would need to go and preview the property prior to setting appointments with our clients.

Things move much more quickly now.  New listings have to be on our MLS within 3 days of securing the listing.  That gives the agent much more up to date and accurate information.  Many agents no longer preview large quantities of homes prior to showing them to our clients.  The IDX systems have exposed our listings to the Internet directly from our MLS system.  Now potential clients can see new listings within minutes of them being uploaded on the MLS.

An article that I read on RIS Media about the effects of photography on todays buyer.  It was an article about making a home stand out from all of the other listings that are out there.  The statement in the article that stood out to me was the survey that VHT Inc conducted where in respondants stated they were 7 times more like to view a listing if it had photographs and those listings with video and professional photographs made them much more likely to see the house with a Realtor.  The quality of the photography was key in maintaining the interest of these clients.

The fact that buyers are 700% more likely to stop and check out a listing on the internet than one without any photographs.  I wish that they had quantified the level of success that high quality photography and video had on sales of those homes.  I believe that the fact that so many people demand photographs and good detailed descriptions of listings should tell us that we have to make a much better effort with our photography and videography of listings.

Many Realtors spend a lot of money and time establishing and maintaining a strong Internet presence with their web sites, and by blogging and doing other thing to enhance our SEO, yet some get lazy with their photography.  I will admit that I have much to learn about SEO and other things Internet, but I do realize the importance of making our listings jump out at prospective buyers.  There are agents that really impress me with their photographic skills, many of them blog here, Robert Swetz comes right into my mind, if he takes photos of his listings that are as good as the ones that he posts on his blogs.  He is really doing a good job for his clients!

The evidence is clear and the fact is that our clients deserve our effort to do everything we can to market their properties.  The very least that we can do is make sure that we take photographs of our listings so they will at least have someone look at them.  Anyway I guess that is enough of my rant for one day!  Have a great day and a great and safe Labor Day Weekend!