Where have all the photos gone?
Published August 5th, 2007 in Beverly Hills MI Real Estate, Birmingham MI Real Estate, Bloomfield Hills MI Real Estate, Metro Detroit, Royal Oak MI Real Estate, Seller Information, Troy MI Real Estate.
Every morning I check the sales of local homes to keep a close pulse on the market. Friday morning there were 17 homes in Birmingham and Beverly Hills that either went pending or sold in the last 3 days, priced between $1,175 (that is a rental) and $875,000. Of those, only 2 contain the MLS maximum allowed 6 photos AND a virtual tour. One of those was my listing at 282 Wimbleton in Poppleton Park. The other was also an SKBK listing. Our two listings are the only solds with virtual tours. 6 of these listings only have one photo.
There are studies out from the National Association of Realtors and other sources that state the consumers (AKA home buyers!) like to see lots of pictures and virtual tours. I have done my own unofficial surveys with prospective home buyers and they have all said that they like to see lots of pictures on line and that they skip over the listings without photos.
So where is the disconnect? Are consumers being less than honest about what they like? They are clearly buying the houses without photos and virtual tours.
Really, I don’t think that is what is going on. I mean, yes, they are buying the houses without the tours and pictures. The statistics show that. But I do think they prefer to see the pictures and I do think that having pictures and a tour will help a property to sell more quickly because it will get more eyes on it on line and from agents searching the MLS.
I asked another local agent what he thought about the lack of photos and tours. To the lack of photos, I have NO REASONABLE EXPLANATION. A digital camera is a staple in an agent’s toolbox. The photos are free once you own the camera. This other agent felt that some agents today might not be investing in virtual tours because they do not want to spend the money when sales are slower in tighter times.
OK, I can buy that. But to me it is misguided. If I were a homeseller, I would expect that my home would have lots of pictures available on line and that buyers could look at a virtual tour. I just would.
Technorati Tags: birmingham mi real estate, beverly hills mi real estate
photo by photonka
______________________________________________________________Written by Maureen Francis
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty, 248.430.4450
Visit Website
Search for homes in Oakland County
_____________________________________________________________
Potentially Related Posts:
7 Responses to “Where have all the photos gone?”
- 1 Pingback on Aug 6th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
I totally agree. I just posted about this myself, after I noticed my reaction to listings with multiple pictures. There were definitely homes I added to my list to see due to the pictures on the listing.
-Jennifer
I think photos for the most part just change the order buyers visit properties. Good photos don’t increase sales “across the market as a whole”. No one buys because the photos are good. But the good photo houses I believe get seen before the bad photo houses.
My own home had godawful photos. But we saw it last, around the 50th home we saw. If it had had good photos, we would have seen it a lot eariler in the picture.
Also if it had good photos there would have been far more interest in it, and we’d likely have had to pay $10-20,000 more to get it.
Bad and no photo homes DO sell, just not as easily or for as much.
-Athol
I would still bet on the houses with the good photos. As Athol says, bad and no photos don’t sell for as much. Maybe that is where the best deals are. I figure if there are no photos, the place must be pretty bad.
Our MLS REQUIRES at least one exterior photo. If no photo is posted within 72 hours, we get fined! I think that’s a great policy, allows everyone to see the listing and discourages “pocket” listings.
Photos and virtual tours are great tools to have for marketing a listing! Recently, we began doing narrated video walkthroughs of Team366 listings. The response has been tremendous and consumers are telling us that they really do a great job in showcasing the home.
And, Realtor.com is actually on top of this one too! They recently allowed agents to upload their videos to the listing on Realtor.com. Here’s an example of what we’ve done so far:
http://homes.realtor.com/prop/1086132082
Maureen, you already know I agree with you 110% on this topic. If anything, it is during a buyer’s market that it is even more important to market a property as best as possible. The best agents increase their marketing during these times.