In our market (Palm Beach & Broward Counties, South Florida), quality pictures are as important as proper pricing. Buyers are coming from all over - Europe, South America, Canada, the North East, the Midwest, across the State and across the Country... While our inventory is still relatively low, there are options. Properties that show poorly across the Internet, will not generate much traffic.
This particular referral client was a friend of a friend, and she "absolutely needed to sell her home." She couldn't understand why her Villa wasn't selling. One look at the MLS Listing, and it was apparent why it hadn't Sold...
(WARNING: The following images are actual photos taken from our local MLS. May contain some disturbing images. Viewer discretion advised!)
Ouch...
A single mother, she NEEDED to get her home sold. She was in imminent danger of being foreclosed on, but the Judge presiding over her foreclosure case had waived the foreclosure judgment if she agreed to put the property on the market and get rid of it (she had a great Foreclosure Attorney in Broward County, FL - I'd be happy to refer!) Unfortunately, she couldn't get rid of it.
After speaking to the homeowner, then seeing the Listing, I was torn. Is this property even sellable? I thought I might be able to help market the property more effectively. It had been poorly staged, and she said she had been doing some work on it, but man... it looked rough.
Now to the homeowners credit, she had spent weeks painting, cleaning, rearranging, and landscaping since the MLS pictures were taken. Why weren't new pictures taken and loaded on to the MLS? Good pictures are CRITICAL! She was priced below market value - in a HOT South Florida market - but not low enough to make sense to investors. She was getting very few showings, for obvious reasons (see pictures above). The public remarks state, "This will not last!!! Hurry!" Followed by, Days on Market: 183... Will not last, huh?
The property did look a little better than the pictures above when I visited it - 1 day after her previous Listing had expired. We talked about the importance of keeping her property clean for every single showing. I left her a list of things to do before the photographer came by the next day. I cannot stress enough, the importance of picture-day. The property needs to be clean and staged for photos. This is what the world sees first. Before anyone ever walks through the door, they have an idea of what the property feels like based on the pictures they have looked at on a screen - be it a computer, or a tablet, or a cell phone.
She listened! And because she listened, the following was the result:
We listed her Villa at the same price. She had 10 showings and 2 offers, and went under contract at full List Price after 5 days on the market. She narrowly escaped losing the property to foreclosure, and she was able to move back up to New Hampshire, closer to her family, where her daughter just started Kindergarten last week.
Quality pictures - along with an agent who cares - helped this home go from Expired to Sold, and helped a struggling homeowner go from stressed out, to moved out.
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