This was taken from an article over at a Nationwide Real Estate Blog. It’s true that hiring a professional can make a big difference in the speed of sale and the price. Buyers are searching online everyday and they look for images that look great. So they value the home more right away and they also see the home the way it should be seen…instead of dark, uneven, slanted, distorted photos most Realtors take. Seller’s also respect and acknowledge when the Realtor hires a professional. The seller’s know the Realtor is going above and beyond most other Realtors, so you as the Realtor will get more referrals and if the price is too high..it will be easier to ask for a price reduction when you did everything right the first time.

1. Price  and location are the most important factors in selling a home. If  the home is priced too high or in a location no one wants to live in, awesome photos make little difference. Price is a key issue in todays down market. Home sellers having a hard time wrapping there mind around how much their home has dropped in value the last couple of years. Getting home sellers to price their home at market value is a big struggle for some agents.
2. Once a home is priced near market value and there are a bunch of other homes in the same price range and location, the importance of photography kicks in big time.
3. Now days 90% or more of home buyers use the Internet start their home search and they are faced with deciding which of all the hundreds of available homes they are going to go look at. Home searchers are faced with choosing which homes to physically go see and photographs play a major part. Any one can appreciate this by simply going to any real estate website and pretend they are looking for a home. As of right now if I go to zillow.com (zillow is not unlike most home search sites) and do a home search there are 163 homes within a couple of miles of where I live between $200k and $300k and I live in a small town (just below 350,000).
4. As I browse through these 163 homes the  initial selection must be by a handful of facts like year built, number of bedrooms and a small thumbnail photo of the front of the home. The importance of this thumbnail are unmistakable! A compelling thumbnail is like the bright flashy piece of metal on a fishing lure. It attracts home searchers attention to look at the listing details.
5. Once you click on the thumbnail to get more detail the importance of the photos increases. The text descriptions in listing details are legendary for their sparseness. One agent or home owner in a thousand will take the time to write good compelling marketing copy so photos pretty much take over the home searcher’s attention, even if the photos are awful. It is easy to see that good photos give the home seller a distinct advantage in the selection criteria. Even though Zillow allows an unlimited number of photos very few homes have over 20. I believe 15 to 20 photos gives a listing a clear advantage over one with less.
6. Why are “good” photos more effective than “bad” ones? Because at this time in history even a 65 year old person has grown up with TV and magazine advertising that uses strong compelling images. Even though most people can’t tell you what makes a strong image, they know one when they see it. Strong images work at an intuitive, emotional level. You don’t need to understand how the image works to see and feel it’s strength. Strong compelling image can be created for exteriors and interiors of homes just like other subjects!
7. The end result of this online search process is getting on the home searcher’s short list of homes they want to see in person. A home will never sell if no one physically comes to see it and it’s easy to see from the steps above that photos play a key role in getting home searchers to come look at a home and thus selling it.

So to summarize, when homes are priced near market value, photos become a key factor that causes home searchers to come look at a home. A home can’t sell if no one physically looks at it. Even though it’s not easy to prove scientifically because market conditions vary even with in the same zip code, it’s easy to see by stepping through the home searching process illustrated above that strong marketing photos will have a significant effect on selling a home faster. Every home seller client we’ve met had understands the power of marketing photos immediately.

(credit from http://photographyforrealestate.net/2010/08/08/why-good-photography-sells-homes-faster/)

With a large supply of homes currently for sale, a buyer will spend countless hours going through hundreds of online listings searching for homes that catch their attention. This ease of access to information is both a blessing and a curse to the real estate professional. While no one would make the argument that the internet has hampered real estate marketing, it has become increasingly difficult for agents to get their properties noticed.

When a user is browsing listings online, what is the marketing ingredient that will draw them to your listing above all others? Pictures! Buyers love pictures, the more the better. However, while a great picture will set your listing apart from the others, a bad picture will turn away potential buyers.

Sellers are also becoming increasingly demanding as to how their properties are marketed. When listing agents are competing for a home, why not offer the seller more than the standard pictures taken by most agents? Taking the time to hire a professional photographer will make you stand out from the competition. I guarantee that your seller will appreciate your efforts to do more to sell their home.

While most people think that taking pictures of real estate is very easy, it actually requires more equipment, more skill, and more time than other forms of photography. Today’s point and shoot digital cameras, while good, will just not do the job of real estate photography.

As an agent, why waste your valuable time traveling to take images of your properties only to have those images do the opposite of what you would hope to accomplish? Pictures are the most important ingredient to any successful real estate marketing campaign, so why not ensure that you are getting the best? To really put your best foot forward, hire a professional and get the images you need today. As a Realtor your job isn’t to take pictures, it is to SELL the property and get more listings.

Here are some examples of what most Realtor’s present and what you could be doing!

• If  there are special features to your home that might not obvious please let me know so I can include them.

• Contain pets in the garage or out of sight.

• Remove all vehicles from driveways and do not park directly in front of the house.

• Move garbage cans out of sight so they cannot be seen from the street.

• Remove all garden tools including hoses and sprinklers.

• Mow and rake the yard.

• Sweep driveways, sidewalks and patios.

• Clear off counter tops in kitchen and bathroom areas.

• Remove photos, notes and papers from the refrigerator.

• Turn on all interior lights.  I’ll turn them off as I finish my work.

• Turn off ceiling fans and televisions.

• De-clutter rooms which may be excessively furnished.  They do not photograph well.

• Make all beds and tidy bedrooms.  Hang clothes or put them away.

• Remove piles of newspaper and magazines.

• Tuck trash cans out of view in a closet or cupboard.

• Let me know if your home contains valuable works of art that you’d prefer not to advertise.   I can edit the photos to make these items unrecognizable.

Don’t hesitate to call if you have any questions.    Good preparation before your shoot will be rewarded with the best possible photographs.