Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Even professional photos aren't always that great. The last time we sold, we had to delay listing 3 days to get this photog our agent SWORE was the best. He took 3 hours to get all these shots of our rooms, and they were good and clear, but made the rooms look distorted and the furniture and paint colors bleached out.
ahh yes. The overly processed "HDR" photos that usually look nasty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke
What's wrong with that photo that would stop you from looking at a house?
I tried to find a picture where you couldn't see much.
I guess I'm in the minority - I see nothing really "bad" about the house based on that picture. I just looks like a bad photo. I will say that really bad photos do turn me off but many things come into play. Price, location being two main things.
A photo like that wouldn't stop me as a buyer. I'd look at that picture and think, "Pull down those out-of-style drapes, a ceiling fan doesn't belong in the dining room, and I'd have to paint and replace the flooring." So I'm adding up the money in my head and at the same time thinking, "But my dining room furniture is better proportioned for the room than that one is. So I can fix this for not too much cash." If all the rooms need as much work as this one, I'd better see a price I can live with, but if I do and the location is right, I'd do a tour.
But as a seller, I KNOW those photos would deter a lot of people so I would never publish something like that to represent a property I was selling. I'm a firm believer that staging and good photography pay for themselves. If you're going to put your house online, the representation of it there is every bit as important as good curb appeal when the potential buyers pull up outside.
I would definitely look. Here is why. People will focus so much on the bad photo and not give the house a chance which might be a great deal. So I come along, find the house is pretty awesome, no other competition to contend with because other buyers are focused on photography and I end up with a pretty sweet deal. Thank you very much. I find this with other deals too.
A while back I found a beautiful piece of furniture on craigslist. I called and went to take a look. Even more beautiful in person, the seller hadn't had any bites due to the bad photograph (messy room in the background) and basically gave me the piece so she didn't have to deal with it anymore.
Even professional photos aren't always that great. The last time we sold, we had to delay listing 3 days to get this photog our agent SWORE was the best. He took 3 hours to get all these shots of our rooms, and they were good and clear, but made the rooms look distorted and the furniture and paint colors bleached out. Live and learn.
If a listing has bad pix, I assume the agent is at least clueless or inexperienced.
There are a lot of fly by night RE photographers that don't know what they are doing. They are one of the people who thinks that just because they bought a DSLR they can go around doing everyone's wedding and graduation photos for very little or free. I do believe that good photos can make a difference because certain buyers that are ready to buy are not going to waste their time when 20 other houses with their criteria have good photos to go off of. Also if the person is out of town and coming to look at houses they probably don't have a lot of time and will weed out home buy their online presentation. It takes me about an hour max to shoot a home. I've shot rather large homes in an hour. Three hours is ridiculous. He's probably not going to be in business long.
I "may" go look at the house, if it's in my price range and in a desirable area. However, the photo is very dark and the room indicates the rest of the house may need some updating. I'd have to see more, but this one photo makes me put it into the "maybe" file. I'd need other things to convince me (price, location, etc)
If the house otherwise met my criteria, I would not be deterred by a bad photo.
I agree--our realtor tried to take some photos of our view from inside the house and he could just not get one that did the view justice--weird lighting I guess.
What will make me pass sometimes is the lack of photos. If there is only one or two of the outside of the place, I assume there is a reason.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.