Where do you think most people look for their new home? Unless you have been living under a rock for the last two decades, I’m sure you answered, “The internet!”
Yes, that’s right, almost all homebuyers flip through home after home online to find the home of their dreams. Before the internet, homebuyers relied on recommendations from their REALTOR, picked up a home magazine at the grocery store, checked the newspaper or saw a for sale sign in the front yard of a home as they were driving by. But with the internet, searching for the right home was completely changed forever.
I cannot stress enough to you how important it is to present professional high definition photos of your home when you are selling. It makes all the difference in the world! Quality photos will dramatically increase the showing traffic of your home. Did you know that when your REALTOR uploads the listing of your home that it is pushed out to 50+ websites, you know all those websites you have heard of like Zillow and Realtor.com. If you live in a metropolitan area, the listing of your home and it’s photos could easily end up on hundreds or possibly even over a thousand websites. You see, most agents, like myself, have websites where homebuyers can search for properties. All of us are getting these listings fed to us directly from the MLS. The question is, how do you want your home to be presented?
Unfortunately, many homebuyers believe that all real estate agents will have professional real estate photos taken of their homes. But this just isn’t the case. In fact, if you start looking at homes online, you will be shocked at how many homes are listed with less than attractive photos. You will see photos that are dark, photos that are blurry, photos that do absolutely nothing to present the home positively.
Professional photographers and photographers who specialize in real estate photography are knowledgable in the best way to photograph a home. They have better equipment and understand lighting. They typically use wide angle lens which are great for small spaces. Your home will sparkle and shine with well lit, HD photos. And it will definitely attract more buyers as they flip through house after house online.
When you hire an agent, even if it’s a friend or family member, be sure to ask them who will be taking the photos. I would be very leery of an agent who cuts corners when having pictures taken. It would definitely make me wonder where else they are taking shortcuts. But this sort of unprofessionalism is wide spread so be cautious. An agent who is making thousands of dollars selling your home should have no problem spending $150 on real estate photos for your home.
I wanted to show you some examples of the rampant use of awful real estate photography in action. So I went to the Denver MLS and just flipped through homes that were listed today. There were 138 homes listed today and I had no problem finding bad photos. And you may think this only happens with cheaper homes in less desirable neighborhoods but that just isn’t the case. I do think there is one exception to the professional photography standard, and that come to homes that need a complete renovation. I don’t think it is necessary to have high definition pictures of homes that look like they need to be condemned.
Without further ado, here are some of the pictures that I saw of homes that were listed today…
If you take a look at photos from this first home, you will notice the bad lighting and the fact that many of the pictures are blurry or at least a far cry from HD. Many of the pictures are crooked. The small bedrooms would have benefited greatly from a wide angle lens to show more of the room, instead they practically look like closets. Also, look at the very top right side of every photo, there is a black cloud in every single photo, not sure what that’s all about. Even though this is an older home which could use some updating, professional real estate photography would do this listing wonders, (you can click on each photo to enlarge)
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- Crooked with bad lighting.
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- Too dark! Not inviting!
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- Uninviting and crooked.
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- Again, photo is too dark.
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- Crooked and highlighting ugly tile…not a feature!
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- Horrible lighting.
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- Hmmm
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- A wide angle lens would help make this room look bigger.
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- Crooked and once again a wide angle lens would help make this room look larger.
In this next photo you can see that it is a fairly nice home. However, you can see that this DIY Real Estate Agent took the pictures and the lighting doesn’t work at all! The colors and definition in this photo is completely washed out.
Too much light.
This is a nice home. But the pictures do it no justice! The photos are much too dark and there is not enough definition.
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- There is nothing straight about this picture.
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- Too dark and no definition.
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- Once again too dark with no definition.
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- Very dark office.
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- More horrible lighting.
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- This does not look like an inviting space at all.
Looks like this isn’t a bad little house. The bathroom looks nice but it’s crooked and the lighting isn’t so great. A wide angle lens would have helped quite a bit. And the picture of the shutter is just pointless, as it could be seen from other room pictures listed.
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- Why this picture?
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- This room would’ve benefited from a wide angle lens.
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- This bathroom looks nice, too bad it’s crooked.
This next home is listed at over $800k! You can tell that the home is beautiful but professional real estate photos could have made this listing look stunning!
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- Not sure what the Realtor was trying to accomplish here.
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- Gorgeous kitchen could have looked so much better.
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- Very dark.
This home has a wonderful kitchen but it certainly isn’t straight. A professional photographer would have made this kitchen look like it was straight out of a magazine!
The kitchen is nice, too bad it’s sliding into the living room.
The next photos were obviously taken with a phone. The photo of the kitchen doesn’t show you much. Plus the real estate agent should have had the homeowner clear the countertops. I love the living room picture, there is a ball in the middle of the floor…really?
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- Not much kitchen to see.
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- Wanna play ball?
Classic! I found a gem in today’s listings, here you can see the Realtor’s hand in the mirror taking the picture. And what are they using…a phone of course! Here’s another tip that this Realtor missed, open the shower curtain! What are you hiding in there? Most homebuyers would be interested to see what the entire bathroom looks like, plus it would make the room look much larger.
Boy, did I get lucky today, not only did I find a shot in todays listings of the Realtor in the mirror but I also found a shot of the thumb holding the camera! This is okay in your family photo album but not on the photos which feature your home online! What I don’t understand is why this Realtor didn’t at least crop the picture before posting it.
Seriously, this is just from one day of listings! Bad real estate photography is more wide spread than most people could imagine and a question most sellers don’t ask their Realtor’s about.
The next picture just made me wonder why?
And one last baffling picture. Even it’s a small empty bedroom, what good does it do to just show a few feet of the floor. Once again, a wide angle lens would allow you to see the entire room.
These are not the only photos I found from today’s listings that were not up to par, but I think you got the point. Real Estate photos are important when selling your home. Be sure to ask your Realtor how they plan to feature your home online.
To work with a REALTOR where you know you will always receive top quality service, call Courtney today at 720-476-0370! Courtney uses Virtuance Real Estate Photography to display listed homes. Virtuance’s HDReal® images have been proven to achieve more than two times the number of showings as other leading professional photographers’ images.
