“I post bad real estate photographs of my listings on the MLS.” Who would admit to actually doing that? It is common knowledge that the vast majority of home buyers start their home search on the internet and that real estate photographs are extremely important. How many buyers look at every single listing? Generally, they flip through the photographs. If the pictures of the house aren’t desirable, it won’t make the cut.
That said, it is really easy to go on the MLS and find lots of bad real estate photographs. Today, I was short on time. I only looked at two homes that were on the same street in the same neighborhood. Both homes were listed by different agents in different companies at different times of the year. Yet both listings had at least one really bad MLS picture posted. (RSC is our primary MLS in Colorado Springs/El Paso County.)
I define really bad as something that the ordinary person would probably call bad. Bad is something that professional real estate photographers would notice - ALL of the verticals not being vertical, blown out lighting, etc. (I'm not a professional yet - but I'm about to hit that area where I know just enough to be dangerous.)
Both of these pictures are so dark, you can’t really see anything.
It's a shame. Both of these homes are VERY nice. The home in the top picture is listed at $379,000. It's nice. The home in the bottom photograph is $ 449,000. It's barn is a bit nicer. (The sale of my personal house is creating comp issues....Did I buy my house for my house or for my horse barn???? Us horse people are kind of weird.) Regardless, both of these homes and my home are comfortably above the average sales prices in Colorado Springs area. As a relatively new home owner in the area, I would like to see both of these homes sell sooner rather than later. So, I'm concerned.
Photographs like these have the potential to do more harm than good.
Why post such a dark picture?
I’ve got a few theories about why it happens. For the sake of education, I’ll share these ideas.
1. Maybe, sellers don’t realize they can tell their listing agent that they do not like a picture. (Sellers you can ask your agent to take a bad picture off the MLS.)
2. Maybe the listing agent thinks they need to have at least one picture of every major room. (Listing agents, no picture is better than an awful picture. Dark pictures are awful.)
3. Maybe, the listing agent or photographer does not want to go back and take another picture. (Oh boy- this is the scariest option. What is it going to be like trying to get a deal closed on this house?)
4. Maybe the listing agent doesn’t know enough about photography to know how to avoid this type of picture?
These bad pictures are so common, I'm going to throw out the following tips.
How can you avoid these taking these types of pictures? Pay attention to the light.
1. Pay a professional to take the pictures. If that person doesn’t know how to avoid pictures like this, I’d pick out someone else. (Taking into account that I'm about to start focusing more on professional real estate photography, this may not be the most objective answer. So, I'll provide some more tips.) Regardless, the photographer has to pay attention to the lighting.
2. Try using the flash and/or additional lighting sources. If not that isn’t possible, take the picture with the brightest light to your back. In the case of the bedroom, you would have your back to the patio door or be standing outside looking in. Did I mention, the photographer has to pay attention to the lighting? Lighting is everything.
3. The lighting in both the rooms, shown above, is all wrong. The camera, which hasn’t been told to do otherwise, is focusing on the bright light coming in from the patio doors in both cases.
If by some chance the listing agent was trying to show that there is a great view from the master bedroom, the photograph should have been cropped.
As a photographer, I am familiar with this neighborhood. Even though I’ve never been in this home - yet, I know the owners have an amazing view of sunrises from their master bedroom and porch. I would have included a picture of one of the sunrises. (In the picture below, I was jogging on a bridle path. This picture coincidentally should have been directly behind the home in photograph one. I was focusing on the sunrise, not the horse barn. So, the horse barn is dark. For me, I consider the below picture to be a bad picture because something is off with my balance....Yet, I would still use this photo to demonstrate a "Morning View from the Master Bedroom or Back Porch" (if truly applicable. I figure I was on the bridle path)
If you happen to be the owner of either of these homes, have your Realtor call or email me. With your Realtor’s consent, I’ll go out to your home and take a better photograph for you for FREE.
Sincerely,
Sondra Meyer Peterson, CPA
Colorado Horse Property Specialist
Colorado. See It. Experience It. Live It
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