I’ve repeatedly jumped up on my soap box about the importance of listing photos. I like to take LOTS of them so that I can chose my favorites to display on our various web sites and the MLS. Sotheby’s General Manager recently observed that I have as many as 200 photos for a listing. In the end, consumers may see as few as 9 of these, depending on how they come across the listing, but I want to make sure I have good images because I need them for lots of aspects of our marketing.
I know consumers love to look at pictures, statistics provided by everyone from the National Association of Realtors to Realtor.com have been telling me that for years. And you know who else loves to see pictures? Realtors. It helps make our job easier as we are selecting homes for our clients.
So here are a few of my pet peeves:
- Listings with NO photos
- Listings with only one photo after the MLS photographer comes and takes a bad picture of the exterior
Since photos are central to our marketing, Dmitry and I do the following:
- Get 6 photos in the MLS THE DAY the house is listed. That is the maximum our mls allows. I also know how frustrating it is as an agent to see a listing with no photos on it, and we only get one chance at making a first impression.
- If I need to, we have been known to touch up a photo to make sure we are putting our best foot forward.
- A virtual tour/slide show is on the MLS within 24 hours of listing. We monitor our traffic on our sites and buyers like looking at the slide shows. We can even tell when someone is interested in the home because the hits on the tour generally go up.
- Use as many photos as we can on our own sites like Oakland-County-Homes.com and the other sites we use to further distribute our listings, like Trulia.com, edgieo.com, craigslist.com, etc.
We’ve come very close to selling homes just based on the photos. I know the photos are what made the buyer fall in love before they stepped in the door. It is that important. Put yourselves in the position of a home buyer and imagine what you want to know when you are looking for a home on line? Pictures will be at the top of your list.
Written by Maureen Francis
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty, 248.430.4450
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Felicity White 04.30.07 at 1:05 pm
Amen! I’m glad I’m not the only one ticked by listings without photos.
When I’m marketing my sevices to homeowners who have had their listing expire I tend to target those listings that didn’t have photos in the MLS or any where else. When I ask them why they decided not to have photos online most sellers tell me they didn’t even realize their agent wasn’t posting pics. I have a pretty great conversion rate with these sellers when I show them how much internet exposure I get them.
April 05.01.07 at 10:21 am
I would agree. But I have a problem that I have not found a good solution for. Less than attractive properties. Downtrodden even. Home stager would be useless and a contractor is too expensive. What do you do with that?
Maureen Francis 05.01.07 at 6:18 pm
April, I use Photoshop! Just kidding.
I have a foreclosure right now that is admittedly a d-u-m-p. (Most of my listings are beautiful, by the way). Since that one is a tear down, I have taken photos of the property to give people an idea of what the rest looks like.
I also am almost always able to find a few very good angles, even in the downtrodden. If it is priced right, the expectations of beauty should be lessened, assuming the consumer is educated about market prices.