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Yeah, Mike, but you are the rare bird. I agree that someone like you, a real professional, would and should select the photos provided by someone else and that that someone else should be a professional or semi. However, most of the careless/clueless realtors out there wouldn't know a good photo if they tripped over it, honestly. Mediocre (or worse) is the name of the game these days.
I well remember before the age of the Internet how the only way you could see home listings was in those glossy four-color booklets you picked up on newsstands. There'd be only ONE photo listed among many on an agency's page, and that was a shot of the exterior. Based on that one photo alone, each home was marketed. And they were very good photos for the most part, nothing blurry or poorly composed.
Now, with all the technology we have there's no reason for poor presentations unless realtors want the quick sale at a probably lower price.
Many of the realtors I interviewed before going fsbo were just not with it, either a few years out of college or past their prime in savviness about marketing. Not one mentioned how to present the house or the photo process. I quickly realized I could do a much better job myself and hire a lawyer at much less $ to handle the paperwork beginning to end. Which I did.
For the current house I'm in, being much older now I'm lacking the energy I once had and would like to have a realtor handle the sale when it comes time. If I do, I will insist that I provide the photos and description. That said, maybe I will muster the energy...
You know, buyers often shortchange themselves by passing a home up based on the quality of photos.
Here is a buyer who got a house because she overcame her dislike of the photos:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sweet Like Sugar
She had gotten to a point where she thought I would find fault with every house I looked at. The house I ended up buying, I actually hated the photos so I didn't want to ask her to show me that one. Turns out it was more impressive in person.
I sometimes give feedback saying, "Home shows much better than the photos."
Last edited by MikeJaquish; 09-09-2015 at 06:28 AM..
According to me agents don't have any mandatory photo training, and skill levels are no better than the typical person with a camera.That is why anyone selling a house should look at the agent's portfolio of listings to see photo quality.
Why single out realtors, we live in the society of the cheap and the quick. Bad photos and artwork are to be had anywhere and everywhere on the internet.
Saw this pic on a foreclosed house listing that popped up. 4 pictures total...feel like this one could have been left out.
Honestly, I almost wanted to go check out the house
When I see something like this, something tells me the real estate agent doesn't have any background in sales and marketing and they are just using real estate for a stopgap way to make money while they look for another opportunity.
For the current house I'm in, being much older now I'm lacking the energy I once had and would like to have a realtor handle the sale when it comes time. If I do, I will insist that I provide the photos and description. That said, maybe I will muster the energy...
I think you need to be a little flexible on this. Most agents will welcome input from the seller, but keep in mind that if you have an internet-savvy real estate agent, they are going to be writing the description to make sure that keywords are included that will raise the SEO on the listing and website organic searches. Sellers tend to write lyrical descriptions on things that are important to them, and that's important, too, but, for example, a seller may write about their "cozy" kitchen, where an agent may accurately describe it as more open, knowing that the public is looking for open floor plans. Plus, most MLS descriptions are limited in the number of characters that you can input -- we have 540 characters to work with on our main one, here. CHARACTERS, not words! We go into Zillow, Realtor.com and Trulia afterwards syndication to beef up the detail in the descriptions for the public. (A question to ask your agent, btw :-)
Also, seller-provided photos often tend to focus on furniture arrangements, not space. It's hard to step back from the space that you live in and are intimately familiar with. Unless you have good photography skills, you may just want to insist on your agent providing professional photography.
One of the reasons I listed my last home myself is that I wanted complete control over the marketing, which includes the highest possible quality of online listing photos.
I don't know about other areas of the country, but here in New England the online photo displays of homes are usually mediocre at best (even for high-end homes) and sometimes even appalling. Like closeup photos of a corner of an empty room (sometimes more than once!), shots of ceiling fixtures, shots of kitchens with stuff all over the counters, shots of a closet door, etc, when all potential buyers want to see is the width and breadth of the rooms and other truly important aspects. Not to mention that sometimes the shots are so out of focus it looks like the listing agent just doesn't care. Don't realtors get training in photography and online presentation??
I had to laugh when I read you comments. When I first saw the title of the thread the first thing that came to mind was the useless photos of the "corner of an empty room"....which of course is one of the things you mention.
I have no idea what relevance a picture of the corner of an empty room would offer, but aparantly to some it's a huge and important deal that draws in potential buyers....lol.
I much prefer shots that show entire rooms, as best you can anyway, to show me the breadth and scale of the home. The only thing I can garner from the corner room shot is that the room in question is at least 5' x 5' in size
While it's sometimes interesting to see pictures of light fixtures, what do you think is about the easiest thing to change in a new home ? Yup....light fixtures. I have no idea why light fixtures would typically warrant a separate picture. Take a picture of each room from a suitable vantage point that shows as much of the room as possible, and that would typically also include the light fixture in question.
Before hiring a realtor, we've always looked at listings done by them before ever calling them for a market analysis. If I read awkward verbiage and/or see meaningless or poorly thought out pictures, I'd not even consider them. To each their own, but I'm not hiring you !
A friend of mine is casually looking for a new home. I was recently looking for some listings to send her way. I was amazed at the difference in quality of listings. Some were very well written, descriptive and featured a dozen or more crisp, clear pictures that gave you a sense of the home in question. Others featured hazy, fuzzy, out of focus pictures, or pictures with bad lighting etc... Some of my favorites were the pictures that didn't have the correct aspect ratio. You know....the ones where the front door is 8 feet wide but 4 feet tall......lol
If this is your business, your way of making a living, I'd certainly think you'd want to present your new listing in as professional a way as possible. This is after all, what your buyer is paying you for !
Realtors come in all shapes, sizes and skill levels. However it's not my job as a home seller to hire someone who's not taking their job seriously and won't present my property in a skilled and professional manner.
Why single out realtors, we live in the society of the cheap and the quick. Bad photos and artwork are to be had anywhere and everywhere on the internet.
Realtors are being singled out here because this section is entitled "Real Estate."
The first set is hysterical, LOL. I love the one of the dog taking a crap on the lawn, and the two ladies in the l.r. Just perfect!
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