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Buyers! Photoless Listings= $15,000 "Sale"

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Northern Virginia Homes - FRANKLY REAL ESTATE Inc

Punchline: Buy homes with No Additional photos= Save $15,000 on a $400,000 house.

Buyers LOVE seeing tons of photos for each listing online. I think Realtor.com said that listings with multiple photos get seen 6 times more than listings with 1 photo. The tendency for buyers is to see a photoless house and think it is garbage and skip to the next listing, when in fact it might just be a sucky listing agent or a foreclosure with an underpaid agent. (see the Arlington foreclosure Megan bought, it had no extra photos and she almost skipped it)

I've vented previously about Sucky Listing Agents that use free "drive-by" high school photographers to post one default photos on the MLS. Well sucky listing agents are GOOD for buyers!

Fewer photos= Fewer showings=Fewer buyers= LOWER PRICE!

Therefore, DO NOT skip photoless listings. I know it is a pain (also a pain for the buyer agent, which should be making a photo album for each viewing), but take the extra effort and potentially save $15,000.

I painstakingly reviewed 268 Sold listings in Fairfax since 5/1/07 from $400k to $500k.

24% had NO ADDITIONAL PHOTOS!

This is embarrassing! Also note that 57% of FORECLOSURES, Bank Owned, REOs etc had no extra photos.

Only 12% of agents posted the maximum 20 photos. This amazes me (FranklyRealty.com Requires All 20). Note that the local MLS just went to 30 photos, and now they are free. So if the $12 was too much for your agent, now they have no excuse.  

I also found listings with more photos sold faster (duh). Here are the photos to Days on Market (DOM, not the champagne) analysis:

  • 1 Photo  = 70 DOM Avg
  • 6 Photos =40 DOM
  • 16-19  =   36 DOM
  • 20 MAX=   32 DOM

The Closed NET Price as a % of the Original Price also showed a direct correlation.

I scrubbed the data to find the REAL Original price. I manually adjusted the 20% of listings that were relisted (see my best of 2006 blog on MLS DOM data fudging), and I adjusted for seller subsidy.

Listings with fewer photos sold for less.

  • 1 Photo= 91.2% of Original Price
  • 6 Or more= 95% of Original Price

Therefore on a $400,000 home, Photoless listing sells for 3.8% LESS.
(Now one can argue that a sucky listing agent also might suck at proper pricing, but come on, you get the point)

Bottom line for Buyer: Just like I've said staging gets you MORE $ for your listing, the opposite is true for buyers. Buy unstaged homes (see Don't Buy Staged Homes) when you can and consider the poorly marketed homes to get a better deal. 

Bottom line for Sellers: Duh, at the very least, make sure your agent puts a ton of photos. 

Bottom line for Agents: Keep up the bad work, it makes me look better. 

Make sure to sign up for this blog as next week I'll show more of the data and how Days on the Market correlates to price. Also more on DOM-M vs DOM-P Relisting tricks. 

- Written By Frank Borges LL0SA Broker FranklyRealty.com

If you like this post, rate it and flag it for a feature. Also please report typos!

Show All Comments
Maureen Maureen
Orangeburg, NY

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?

Nov 21, 2007 11:06 AM
Kim Peasley-Parker
AgentOwned Realty, Heritage Group, Inc. - Sumter, SC

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!

Nov 22, 2007 10:00 AM
Susan Peters
Dove Realty Inc. - Seattle, WA
The Better it Looks the Better it Sells

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. 

Nov 22, 2007 05:45 PM
FRANK LL0SA Esq.- Northern Virginia Broker .:. FranklyRealty.com
Northern Virginia Homes - FRANKLY REAL ESTATE Inc - Arlington, VA

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 

Nov 24, 2007 09:48 AM
Maureen Maureen
Orangeburg, NY
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.  
Nov 24, 2007 09:52 AM
FRANK LL0SA Esq.- Northern Virginia Broker .:. FranklyRealty.com
Northern Virginia Homes - FRANKLY REAL ESTATE Inc - Arlington, VA

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 

Nov 24, 2007 10:26 AM
Jim & Maria Hart
Brand Name Real Estate - Charleston, SC
Charleston, SC Real Estate
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.
Nov 25, 2007 12:09 PM
The All Pro Team
EXIT Realty Leaders - Crystal River, FL
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.
Nov 25, 2007 01:01 PM
Sharon Simms
Coastal Properties Group International - Christie's International - Saint Petersburg, FL
St. Petersburg FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS
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.
Nov 26, 2007 10:58 AM
Andrea Thompson
Realty Executives of Killeen & Harker Heights - Killeen, TX
Killeen's Real Estate Professional

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

Andrea

Nov 27, 2007 06:09 AM
Vicente A. Martinez
Prudential Douglas Elliman Licensed Real Estate Salesperson - Woodhaven, NY
Realtor, Brooklyn - Long Island - Queens Homes
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.
Nov 27, 2007 02:51 PM
Eric Reid
Renaissance Realty Group of Keller Williams Atlanta Partners - Lawrenceville, GA

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

Nov 30, 2007 02:57 AM
FRANK LL0SA Esq.- Northern Virginia Broker .:. FranklyRealty.com
Northern Virginia Homes - FRANKLY REAL ESTATE Inc - Arlington, VA

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 

Nov 30, 2007 05:30 AM
Michael Eisenberg
eXp Realty - Bellingham, WA
Bellingham Real Estate Guy
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
Nov 30, 2007 07:42 AM
Michael Eisenberg
eXp Realty - Bellingham, WA
Bellingham Real Estate Guy
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
Nov 30, 2007 07:42 AM
Edward W. Lui
Mars Hill Realty Group - Georgetown, TX
Georgetown Texas Real Estate
Late poster...thanks for inspiring me to do my own case study in the Georgetown market (Greater Austin area).
Feb 18, 2008 02:13 AM
Nick Ruta
Whitehall, PA

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!!!! :-)

Feb 18, 2008 03:14 AM
Max Douge
Exit Realty Enterprises - Frederick, MD

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.

Feb 18, 2008 03:19 AM
Mary Pichardo
Keller Williams - Mira Loma, CA
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. 
Feb 18, 2008 03:36 AM
Mark Selmi
Los Angeles, CA
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. 
Feb 18, 2008 03:46 AM
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