Spotlight on Real Estate Photography
Our Favorite Statistics
In these days of fake news and fact checking wars, sometimes it's hard to know who and what to believe. NAR, the National Association of Realtors, is a pretty reliable source. Here's a few statistics they have gleaned from their research:
95% of all buyers use the internet to shop for homes and 44% of them look online as their first step in the home buying process – before they contact an agent or think about financing.
89% of those who use online resources consider images as one of the most important factors in their decision process
Homes with professional photos were viewed 61% more online than others
Homes with professional photos commanded a 47% higher asking price per square foot.
Homes with professional photos tend to sell for more than those taken by others, from $900 to over $116K more.
If you already use a professional photographer for your listings, then you get this, but far too many agents, with the best of intentions, think they are saving their clients (or themselves) time and money by taking pictures their own pictures or even allowing their clients to send them pictures. We know this, because sometimes your clients are calling us to take the pictures for them. Allow me to translate these statistics into reality.
For the sake of discussion, let's say that you've listed a home and there are 2,000 qualified buyers in the market who would potentially buy this home. That means 1900 of the qualified buyers will be looking for your listing online. Only 100 people will find out about your home through some other means. So do you think you are more likely to get a buyer out of 1900 people or 100?
Of those 1900 people who use the internet to shop for a home:
1,691 of them will use the picture of your house as one of their most important decision making tools
1,159 of them are more likely to click on your listing in the first place if you have posted professional pictures
836 are going to look at pictures of your home before they even talk to an agent or a lender.
That's some pretty powerful numbers! Can you sell a home without using professional pictures? You bet! It happens all the time, but why would you choose to start out with over half your potential buyers being more likely to click elsewhere first. Let's say you did make it to their final short list and it's between your listing and one with professional photos. Those pretty professional pictures will be wooing them every time they open up the internet to check it out.
Still think you can do a good job for your client without professional pictures? Are you aware that professional pictures can command a 47% higher asking price per square foot and that can mean from $900 to $116,000 in selling price.
Such a Bargain!
Still not convinced. For as little as $139 you can get professional photos for your 2500 square foot home in 24 hours. That's not beginning at $139! That's not for a limited number of photos. That's not before editing or mileage or green grass or blue sky. That means all the pictures it takes to sufficiently show your listing online, professionally shot with a professional grade camera and then professionally edited. We don't add fees when the weather goes bad or the house sells before we take pictures or the client postpones the session. What's more, you will own the rights to the pictures, so if you want to use them for something besides the MLS, they are your pictures! And if you want a drone shot, it's only $50 more!
