I cannot believe the number of times I have looked at pictures of potential homes for my clients on our local listing service and have actually seen pictures with homeowner's pets in them. It just happened this morning which is what prompted this post. Hello... aren't you in the home-selling business, not the pet store business? It is bad enough to see pictures of houses with stuff strewn all over, or the listing agent's belongings thrown on the couch, or glaring lamps, but a PET??
The one I saw just this morning had a very large cat sitting right next to the chair in the family room. What does this tell me? It tells me that 1) cat lives in house, 2) litter box lives in house, 3) cat urine smell may be in house, 4) cat may walk all over the kitchen counters in house, 5) there may be more cats or pets....all adding up to: why would I show this home to a buyer UNLESS they asked to see only houses that have cats living in them!
Do I sound prickly about this subject? Well, I am because I continually wonder how our industry does any justice for its clients when this is what we call "marketing" a home. Come on, we get paid decent money to claim our fame is "selling homes" and that we know how to do that effectively and efficiently. So how does a picture with an animal in it capture the attention of an agent or a buyer other than "yikes!"
One other picture also comes to mind, before I end this post. There were pictures of a fairly nice home, $300K range, that included one in the family room that captured the large dog crate instead of the fireplace or vaulted ceiling or whatever else would actually attract a buyer! A large dog crate-what was he/she thinking?? ATTENTION: LARGE DOG LIVES IN HOME, SEE HOW NICELY A DOG CRATE FITS INTO THE FAMILY ROOM DÉCOR!
Do agents ever proof their work, do they take the time to review their photos and retake those that are not even close to adequate, let alone, great?? I have spent a lot of time and money ensuring that my photos are of high quality and capture highlights of a home that make it stand apart from others. That is what we are supposed to do. I mean, if you are going to sell your car, aren't you at least going to wash and vacuum it first? Come to think of it--I think some agents may take more time and place more importance on how their car looks than how they represent their clients' homes. Maybe they should go into the car sales industry...
Content and second photo are copyrighted by Chris Olsen and protected by CopyScape.
First photo courtesy of MorgueFile.com
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