Have you ever been looking online for a home, trying to decide on the best area, the best community, the right characteristics and come across what seems to be everything you are looking for? Then you take a look at the photos and the house is dark, the rooms are cut off, the angles are awful, you can see the photographer in the mirror of the bathroom, and the home just looks plain awful. Your first impression of the home disqualifies it from your showings and you are back to the drawing board.
This happens every single day and if it doesn’t demonstrate the importance of real estate photography, I don’t know what will! Getting people through your door is half the battle. Let’s not tie our hands behind our back in the process, too. I cannot stress the importance of professional photography enough. Some agents decide to take the photos for themselves, saving themselves approximately $150-$200. The average commission in Orlando is $7,000. If your REALTOR can’t pay a couple hundred dollars of their $7,000 check to make your home pop and get it sold – RUN!
Staging Example from Jean Scott Homes
Homes with high quality photography sell 32% faster than those without it and homes with more than 1 photo sit on the market for half the number of days than those with only 1. The importance of high quality, professional photography is paramount to your home selling quickly and for top dollar!
So let’s talk video. Video is still relatively new in the real estate world. We’ve all seen virtual tours of homes, but those are nothing more than a slideshow of the photos of the home. Imagine watching a “virtual tour” where you can see the floorplan and “walk through” the home. That is the new wave of video that has launched in the real estate market. We do a REAL video tour of the home, where we start at the front of the home, the camera walks through the front door, through the rooms of the home, and out the back of the home, allowing you to visualize yourself in the home before you ever have to pick up the phone to schedule a showing. Video is very powerful and is what’s here and what’s next in real estate marketing.
Times and markets have changed. We’ve been in the markets where you have contracts on a home before it ever hits the market and we’ve seen the land of short sales, where homes sit on the market for months, sometimes years. Whichever ever is the case, making sure your home has the best possible online presence can be the difference between a quick sale and seeing your home sit on the market month, after month, and month. Choose wisely not all agents (and marketing) are created equal!
