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Good interior photos certainly help to sell homes, especially those where supplemental lighting is used to brighten up dreary corners, etc. And good exterior photos seem to require just the perfect angles to show off the charm and 'curb appeal' of a home. Is it worth finding an experienced real estate photographer? Are there any to be found in the Triangle? Are there any agents or agencies known to use expert photographers? I'd like to know, since I'm considering selling my place this year. Not sure if FSBO or with an agent at this point since it is not a conventional suburban home.
And, you can just look at listings and get a good idea what sort of skills the agent has, or hires.
The photos in listings don't lie. Cell phone photos are easy to pick out.
Good DSLR photos are difficult to fake.
Goofy wide angle photos that make a refrigerator look like it is 6 feet wide stand out.
HDR looks bizarre most of the time and often doesn't present a house well.
Ahh.. lol Throwing this out there, but, true HDR quality photo's are completely dependent on the 'photographer.' (PS, that is a VERY loose term, these days.) We were actually taken aback at how bad 90%+ of the RE photos are out here, after moving to NC.. Hubs & I are hobby photographers, have well over 10k invested in the ol' Nikon/Nikkor, but still, are blown away by the awful point and shoot photo's from the majority of listings.
Don't use HDR, it looks absolutely ridiculous, especially for interior shots!
PPS, this is coming from someone who had an offer on their house within 24 hours to MLS with said HDR photo's. Seriously. They must have been ridiculously, no good, awful.
There are a lot of hack photographers out there trying to break into the real estate market, probably a product of how common DSLRs are these days. But real estate photography pays terribly unless you're in a major market. I've done photography for other Architects and furniture builders, but only did real estate once when asked. Once was enough, never again, unless there's big $$ involved.
Best thing I can say is to google for photographers in the area and look at their online portfolios. The good ones will stand out. Other than that, ask if they use a shift lens. It's a generalization that of course has exceptions, but shift lenses are expensive, specialized, and particularly useful for photographing buildings, so most folks doing well photographing buildings will probably have invested in one.
One thing I'll mention, if your house is on the upper end of the market, hire the photographer yourself. Expensive houses tend to sit longer and are more likely to go through multiple listing agents, so if you have the rights to use the photographs and not your realtor, you don't have go through doing it all again if you need to switch agents.
There is no need to hire a professional photographer unless you decide to sell your home "by owner". If you hire a reputable real estate agent to list your home they have professional photographer's that take their photos for multiple listings, brochures, etc. Why spend the money until you make this decision? Just saying!
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