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We will be putting our house on the market this year and I was wondering how others viewed the photos of a house on the real estate agents website.
I have been looking at houses for sale for over a year and am surprised at some of the pictures. It looks like some of the agents take the pictures with a cell phone. They have no experience in lighting or how to make the photo enhance the features of a house.
Don't get me started on the photos that have curling irons, bleach bottle and clutter all over the house in the photos. Can they not put this stuff away before the pictures are taken?
Maybe I am picky but an immaculate house with no clutter seems to sell faster to me. Our last house had a contract within a week and closed within a month and it was not a sellers market.
So are great photos important when trying to sell a house and would you allow an agent to take cell phone photos?
Welll....
When working with buyers, some of the best deals are the houses with crummy photos.
Less competition.
So, yes, good photos are important.
It is easy to blame the agent for crud and clutter. But, some sellers just are not able, or are not willing, to straighten a house, and it is still the agent's job to get it sold.
But, we don't want every listing.
I just turned down a listing where I would not be able to take interior photos due to squalor throughout the house, and the seller thought it was fine.
Some of the lousy photos probably were taken by the homeowner. Yes, they are a turnoff, though not necessarily a Skip Over This Listing thing. We looked (in person) at a house with poor photos and thought it was much nicer than the photos would have indicated.
My sister is a real estate agent. She's started to have professional photos taken of properties she lists, and she commented to me recently that those with professional photos are garnering more inquiries, and are getting offers rather quickly (compared to those that don't have professional photos).
For properties that sit on acreage or are waterfront, she'll include aerial photos from a drone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeJaquish
It is easy to blame the agent for crud and clutter. But, some sellers just are not able, or are not willing, to straighten a house, and it is still the agent's job to get it sold.
I just looked at some pictures the other day where every picture showed everything from about 3/4 of the way from the top of the walls down. It was so frustrating. I could actually feel myself trying to peer upwards. It's amazing that someone would take pics like that and post them and think it's ok.
When we sold our house in NY we made sure the house was immaculate, NOTHING out anywhere...and our agent hired a professional photographer. The pictures came out great. They did a little staging with what we had, but nothing crazy.
I tend to think that - even if it's subliminal - that kind of attention to detail makes the buyer think highly of a house. If someone can't be bothered to clean up for photos, and then for showings, it makes you wonder how well they've taken care of the house.
Our agent used a professional photographer when we sold our house, and it got multiple offers during the height of the recession. Of course it was de-cluttered and staged, but even the nicest rooms can look small and dark in a badly taken/timed photo. There were a of crappy looking, dismal listings out there, and yet - when you'd drive by them, the house would look way better than its pictures would have you think.
The vast majority of buyers look at pictures online when determining which houses to go look at in person. Having the best pictures possible is just common sense.
We will be putting our house on the market this year and I was wondering how others viewed the photos of a house on the real estate agents website.
I have been looking at houses for sale for over a year and am surprised at some of the pictures. It looks like some of the agents take the pictures with a cell phone. They have no experience in lighting or how to make the photo enhance the features of a house.
Don't get me started on the photos that have curling irons, bleach bottle and clutter all over the house in the photos. Can they not put this stuff away before the pictures are taken?
Maybe I am picky but an immaculate house with no clutter seems to sell faster to me. Our last house had a contract within a week and closed within a month and it was not a sellers market.
So are great photos important when trying to sell a house and would you allow an agent to take cell phone photos?
When we wanted to sell our home, we hired one of the top Realtors in our area, and paid attention to his recommendations. He absolutely recommended decluttering and paying for professional photos. We did what he said and our house had several offers within three days of listing.
When we wanted to sell our home, we hired one of the top Realtors in our area, and paid attention to his recommendations. He absolutely recommended decluttering and paying for professional photos. We did what he said and our house had several offers within three days of listing.
We listened to our agents and did everything they recommended. One of them was very vocal and picky but we felt like they were the experts to sell the house fast.
Good photos will attract more attention from people browsing. Quality of photos would only be a footnote for buyers who are diligent in keeping up with their homework and legwork.
Don't always blame the clutter on the seller. Yes, they put it there, but it could be they were not expecting the pictures to be used for the listing.
When we sold our last house I was meticulous it getting in cleaned, packed, and prepped. The agent happened to come over in the middle of me loading things into my vehicle for a Goodwill drop-off. I fully knew there were a couple of boxes on the kitchen counters and a laundry basket near the stairs. I was aware they were coming that day, but he had said it was only to measure the rooms. When he pulled out his camera I stopped him and said let me move these things so they aren't in the photos. He assured me these were not the photos for the listing, and it was fine. Guess what photos he used for the listing? There was a professional 360 tour, but I was furious. It would have taken me 30 seconds to move the boxes and basket.
Last edited by rrah; 05-10-2017 at 12:58 PM..
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