Real Estate Marketing
The advent of real estate websites has increased the importance of photography in home marketing. Having a good looking flyer in the home and in the flyer box on the for sale sign is a plus but real estate websites allow buyers to sit at their computer and compare hundreds of homes. Website listing pages that have no photos are completely ignored and buyer’s attention is directed to the homes that have photos and look good. As with other types of marketing catching a buyers interest is key.
Decades of television and magazines have buyers and sellers conditioned to expect and respond to strong visual images. Sellers want good photos of their home when it’s on the market and buyers pay more attention to strong visual images.
Ads and web pages always feature a single front view of the home being sold. Some times this is the only photo in the ad or on the web page other times it is just the biggest photo of the home. It is extremely important to have this front view of the look good and show the home’s entry because this is the design focus of any home. Take the time to get the very best angle that the physical situation allows. Many times getting a good angle takes some hard work. I frequently climb on the roof of my pickup to get a better angle. I also carry a fold-up extension ladder that I can put up either in the bed of my pickup or against a tree in the front yard. The roof of my pickup is permently dented from standing on it to good street shots!
In an article on www.realtytimes.com, on January 6, 2005 Blanche Evans reveals some amazing statistics about the National Association of Realtors www.realtor.com website. She says, “a staggering 25 percent of homes have no photos at all, despite an increase in viewer ship of about 100 percent for every photo added to a listing. By the time a listing features six photos. Viewer ship has increased 558% over listings with no photos, says realtor.com.” This statistic says it all. My own anecdotal evidence gathered by talking to homebuyers we work with or who buy our listings confirms that the number and quality of photographs on a listing webpage has a huge effect on getting it sold.
