As the old saying goes a "picture is worth a thousand words." FACT: Real estate photos sell vacant land and residential homes. Often one can observe that the listed property lacks photos and this is quite true for vacant land or “dirt.”
Some Multiple Listing Services (MLS) will allow a county map as the only photo of the property. What this may suggest is the following:
- Vacant land listing is not readily accessible (vacant land is land lock) or the roads require high clearance, 4x4 vehicles
- Property has some significant issues such as deep washes to gullies, ravines which limit building and even placement of septic systems
- Listing agent has not invested the time to travel to the property
This week I received a call from an out of state buyer interested in a one acre vacant land parcel to the Northeast of Kingman, AZ off old Route 66. The vacant land listing only showed the county map and did not have any photos of the parcel or surrounding area. I volunteered to drive out and visit the property along with taking photos. This out of state buyer was both surprised by my offer and very appreciative.
Having never traveled this particular street, I was quite curious. Imagine my surprise when the property was just three parcels off a paved road (about 800 feet) and the parcel had great mountain views. The listing price of this one acre vacant land parcel with power at the property line and rural water was extremely inflated when compared to other recently sold parcels.
From my trip to the property and information about other sold properties, the out of state buyer decided to look elsewhere. (Note: The above feature photo is of this vacant land listing that I visited for this out of state buyer. Aren't the views great?)
Good news is this out of state buyer is now a client because I made this effort of going the extra mile.
When I list vacant land, I take photos of at least two of the property corners (markers) if available, the road in both directions, the property from standing at different property lines and views looking outside of the property Usually this means investing 20 minutes or so and taking between 30-50 photos. For a vacant land listing I prefer to have at least 20 photos. My time does not include travel time.
My belief is to list a vacant land property I must visit the property because there are some vacant land properties that may have issues. These issues are often the vacant land was bought for investment years ago and at that time of purchase the surrounding areas were pristine. Over time some of the parcels may have been purchased that may have changed the initial pristine look of the surrounding parcels.
Additionally for listing residential properties, I take photos as one is entering the home. I believe the photos should represent the home in the best possible light as well as give the potential buyer a “sense” of the traffic flow. Exterior photos are often taken which may highlight the outbuildings to the well to the location of the water meter or power pole.
Yes, photos, pictures are worth a thousand words and can easily translate into thousands of dollars for the seller and save thousands of dollars for the out of state buyers.
Photo Courtesy of Leanne M Smith
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