At the Inman real estate conference last week, and in the Inman newsletter yesterdaty, there was a lot of talk on the importance of good photography and having lots of photos on each of your listings. My reaction to all this talk is- duh.
I would hope by now every good real estate agent knows that you need to have good photography. (For those that don't know this, watch for your pictures on one of my favorite real estate blogs, Bad MLS Photo of the Day, a hilarous blog) Most real estate websites report a linear relationship between the amount of traffic a listing recieves with the amount of pictures a listing has online.
However, I would like to add that it is important that the photos are attached to the listing the day that the listing enters the MLS. I know there are situations where you get the listing and immediately enter information into the MLS, even though you might not get the photos done for a few days for various reasons.
Why this is bad- There are many people who have alerts set up to ping them when something new comes on the market that matches their search criteria. When a new listing gets entered into the system, the consumer gets emailed, they go check the home out, only to find it has no pictures and they are immediately not interested. The consumer has better things to do than to remember to go back and check each day to see if new photos have been added.
Obviously photos are important. But it is also very important that the new listing launches into the marketplace 100% ready to go, including showcasing all photos, so that the home is reaching its full potential when the most people are seeing it, the day is goes live.
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We bought all our own equipment and we give clients our word we will have photos up within 15 minutes of listing!
And if you have to post a bad weather photo - go back & get a good one on a nice sunny day, at the time of day it will look best. Good points!
Sara obvioulsy like you say bad photos dont help and may hinder buyers even looking at a property. Agents taking a little more time to better their photos will better their goal of selling their sellers listing. The day of launching your marketing efforts is crucial as well so that the property is fully absorbed by agents as possibles for their current clients and not tossed into the round file like tons of other listings!
I just saw a couple of properties still in our MLS with SNOW in their pictures?!
Sara - You bring up a great point. We do not upload the listing until we have the photos completed and all listing data and photos go online at the exact same time so that the listings are not e-mailed to the buying public without photos. By doing this all at once we have been able to improve our success rate.
Shiiiiish don't tell the other agents.
Well Said, Love the website Bad MLS Photo of the Day I have been laughing for 10 min.
I take my own pictures and put them in as soon as the MLS info is in. I have seen listings listed for a month without a picture.
I love Athol's bad mls photos and do the same thing here on AR but not daily. Did you see Kevin Boer's video -- covers bad photos among other things (there's a link on my blog if you didn't)?? Jay Thompson nominated him for President of NAR!
Good and bad I think. Take at least some prelim photos, but a fully staged shoot can take some time, esp for Virtual Tours.
Susie- OMG, hilarous! Here is the link to the video Susie mentions, if anyone wants to see it!
http://buckingtherealestatetrend.com/2008/07/27/jay-thompson-i-agree-kevin-boer-for-president-of-nar/
I think pictures are very important to getting a listing sold. And the pics have to really show the house. Many clients look at th epics to make their decision.
Sara this is good advice but I struggle accomplishing. I have a photographer shoot the pictures and a video and he is not always able to go immediately. In fact sometimes the seller hold us hastage for a week
There may be a middle ground between hiring a pro (the best choice unless it slows the momentum to much) and flying with crummy photos. There are services in my area that will professionally process the photos that Realtors take themselves. Having a professional quickly optimize the photos you have taken may be worth a try before you sit and wait a week for a recalcitrant seller or a booked up pro.
Mio.
I agree.... Sometimes if the professional photographer cannot get it done, I do the best I can, especially the front, and the kitchen. No pictures means you are hiding something.
You're absolutly correct! Pictures are a MUST at the point of entering the listing. I take my pictures at the point of the listing signing and upload and size all my pictures prior to entering the MLS...then I'm already ready to go
Boy do I ever agree with you, my pet peeve is looking at the daily hot sheet and it is always the same agents in my area that post new listings and hold back the photos. A trip to their website and there they are.
I can't stand seeing a photo with the family pet curled up in the picture. One of the worst photos recently in our MLS was a man and his child playing in their pool!
You are so right!! Our office adds just the info and then the photos later. So the new listing appears with no photo. By the time a photo is added it's no longer new and other agents don't pay as much attention. So now I let them add the listing info and then jump in and add all the photos myself!