Importance of Professional Real Estate Photography
According to Realtor.org, 9 out of 10 potential home buyers rely on the internet as their primary research source and searches on mobile devices have grown 120% since last year! That’s a whole lot of people seeing the photos of your listing online! The importance of professional real estate photography continues to grow and is one of the most crucial marketing tools in a realtor’s tool belt.
Are you really taking photos of your listings with your iPhone?
You caution your sellers about the importance of curb appeal. You counsel them to clean up and maybe even stage the home’s interior. Then you come along, snap some quick photos on your smartphone and slap them on the MLS.
While curb appeal is your client’s responsibility, web appeal is yours. You have one chance to impress – a scant two seconds to grab a buyer’s attention without a photograph and 20 seconds with one. Do iPhone listing photos or those you take with a point-and-shoot camera make optimum use of those valuable seconds?
Professionally photographed homes sell for up to $19,000 more
According to a 2010 Redfin study, homes that are professionally photographed sell for at least $934 and as much as $18,819 more than homes photographed by an amateur. The study also shows that homes photographed by a professional garner 61% more online views.
The key to getting these results is in creating inspiration, according to real estate photographer Jay Groccia. Effective marketing photos are inspirational. If home buyers perusing the Internet get inspired by a photo, “they’ll click through to the agent’s website. If they don’t, they click “back” to view the next result in the search list,” Groccia explains. “That was it – right there – that was your opportunity to grab that buyer’s attention, and if they clicked back, you’ve lost them forever,” he cautions.
Hiring a professional listing real estate photographer costs 0.09% of the median U.S. home price.
Let’s assume that you’re an average agent, working in an average market where the median sales price is the same as the national median, about $222,275, and you take one of those average listings.
If you spend just 1/10 of 1 percent of the list price to advertise the home, it would cost you $222. Considering your commission will be around $6,668, $222 seems worth it, doesn’t it?
The extra money spent to adequately market your listing pays off even after the sale. An additional benefit of drop-dead gorgeous photos is that you’ll be viewed as more professional and get more listings, hopefully with a higher price tag!
– Source: Marketleader.com
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