What dose it say about you the real estate agent, when you show up to your clients home and shoot one of those poorly lit slideshow type virtual tours or one of those nauseating quarter pan type virtual tours? It's says, "hi I'm your agent and I'm to cheap to hire a real photographer and spend money to market your home". We see these every day in the industry and with digital cameras so affordable these days many agents think they can save money by buying into one of those "do it yourself" virtual tour packages or they shoot images for the MLS with their 200 dollar camera & lens they got a wal-mart. The end result is.....well really bad images and very badly done slideshows passed off as a virtual tour.
Ever notice how you see a photo of the front of a house that was taken from clear across the street and the house looks like a postage stamp in the image? This is because the use of those cheap cameras & lens, a real professional will use the right lens and take the shot in the front yard so the person searching for a home can see the house clearly. It never ceases to amaze me just how many agents will use such bad images in their marketing, I always enjoy a good "drive by", no I'm not talking about a shooting by gang members here, I'm talking about those agents who don't stop the car as they drive by a listing and stick the camera out the window of the car as they go by, I guess their blind or assume everyone else is blind and can't see the blur in the images. Or they shoot a house that faces east @ 5 pm so so ti's all back lit.
Two weeks ago after I uploaded a real virtual tour for a client, we were searching her brokers website for comps in the area to see what other agents in the area were doing for marketing, and up pops a listing that had a DIY virtual tour and the agent had taken one of those "nauseating pans" from the landing of the stairs looking towards the foyer......the funny thing was, it was laid on it's left side and paning back and forth, my agent looked at me and asked "what the hell is that?" so I turned my laptop on it's side and that's when you could see it was a half pan from the ceiling to the floor, I couldn't believe it and the agent I was working for just busted up laughing and said "that's my local Competition?"
So agents & brokers in todays tough market place it pays in the long run to hire a professional in the long run and you won't look like a person trying to do marketing with out having a clue and you'll save time and money over all by selling more houses and using clear and crisp images and real 360 degree virtual tours that can be hosted in multiple websites. On the plus side though, the more of you who keep on using substandard virtual tours & images, you just keep me looking better and working for your competition. And if your a home owner, you need to make sure you choose an agent who is not to cheap to hire a real professional to shoot you homes virtual tour so you don't get stuck with a lame slideshow with badly taken images.
William McCauley President www.marketmediallc.com
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