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Why Agents Should Use Professional Real Estate Photographers

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Why Agents Should Use Professional Real Estate Photographers

 

In 2018, 44% of people looking to buy a home first looked online. This means home buyers have access to photographs and listing information about properties from the comfort of their own homes. As one of the first steps in their search, countless houses will be disregarded because of amateur or unappealing photographs.

As a real estate agent, it is your job to market properties in a way that achieves the highest sales price in a time frame that works for your clients. For most clients, this means selling the home as quickly as possible.

Your reputation as a real estate agent rests on the experiences of your clients and your portfolio of sold homes. One of the best things you can do to help improve both of these factors is hiring professional real estate photographers for your listings.

Are you wondering why it is worth it to pay for professional real estate photography? Let us take a look at everything you need to know.

It Pays For Itself and Then Some

When it comes to real estate marketing, you might be wondering whether it is worth hiring a professional real estate photographer or if you should save some money and take photos of the house that you are listing yourself.

According to a study by Redfin that looked at 22 different markets, professionally photographed homes consistently sold for more than asking. The additional amount paid for these homes ranges from $3,400 and $11,200.

These homes also sold more quickly than those with amateur photographs. For homes in the $400,000 price range, the study found that on average houses sold 21 days after with professional real estate photography.

For this reason, there is really no question as to whether or not it is worth it to hire a professional photographer for real estate pictures. Not only will it pay for itself with a higher sales price, but the sale will likely also be quicker. The return on investment is therefore very favorable, and worth it in just about every instance.

It Saves You Time

If you are considering shooting and editing real estate photographs on your own, it is likely going to take more time than you expect. When you hire a professional, you can use your time to focus on other aspects of the listing or some of your other clients.

On top of that, as mentioned earlier, hiring a professional will help your listings sell more quickly. This means that you will have more time to take on more clients, helping you boost your annual earnings.

You can leave the details to companies like Hommati who specialize in services like this for real estate agents. 

Hiring a Professional Real Estate Photographer Means Faster Sales and Higher Prices

Not only will hiring a professional real estate photographer to be worth it from a return on investment standpoint, but it will also help your business as an agent thrive and grow. You will be able to take home more commission from each sale and take on more clients each year when you know how to sell for higher prices more quickly.

It Makes Your Portfolio Look Awesome

A major part of realtor marketing is displaying to potential clients your previous sales. Imagine how beautiful and professional your portfolio will look when you hire a professional real estate photographer. On the flip side, if your photographs are amateur, then you will likely find that you are losing clients to other local agents with more professional and compelling photographs.

It Evokes an Emotional Reaction

While many people talk about buying a home from a practical and financial standpoint, there is no getting around the fact that it is also an emotional consideration. This means that you want to make a stellar first impression with potential buyers. Most buyers these days will first encounter homes for sale online, and you want the images they see to compel them to pick up the phone and schedule a showing right away.

An experienced real estate photographer can make any home looks spectacular. This means that more people will set up showings and enter the first stages of considering buying the house. If you are using amateur photographs, you are likely losing potential buyers in the initial online search process.

Displaying a house through photographs is not just a functional step in the process. The moment a prospective buyer sees a home, they are forming an impression that inescapably impacts their home-buying decision.

Real Estate Photographers Speed Up the Listing Process

You have a lot on your plate when you are getting a house ready for listing. When you outsource the photography part of the equation to a professional, it means that the whole process can go more quickly. The last thing you need is to be learning how to edit photographs at the last minute when it is time to put a house up on the MLS.

The Best Real Estate Pictures Help You Stand Out Online

Professional photography is an extremely powerful real estate marketing tool. The photographs that you use are more than just images of a particular property that is for sale. They are also a direct representation of your brand.

Many people who are looking to purchase a home also have a house they are planning on selling. When you have higher quality, professional real estate photographs, you might just find that you start getting a lot more clients. After all, people will want to hire an agent who can represent their property in as good of a light as the homes that they are attracted to.

The world of real estate evolves as technology does. It is important to not be stuck in the past as an agent. Check out these nine essential tools that you need to be using for your business to be as successful as possible.

They Help Build Your Brand

When you find real estate photographers whom you enjoy working with, it can help to create brand consistency. This is something that is very effective at demonstrating your experience and abilities to potential clients.

People want to know what they are getting when they hire a real estate agent. When you have brand consistency, you will find that people are much more comfortable signing on for your service as they know exactly what they are going to get.

Increasingly, millennials are purchasing homes. This means that it is essential to learn how to connect with this generation to help your business thrive. You can learn more here about what millennials are looking for in a real estate agent.

Real Estate Photography Is About More Than a Great Camera

Some real estate agents might think that they could save money overall by purchasing a great camera. Or, maybe they think that their state-of-the-art smartphone camera will do the trick.

However, there is a lot more to great real estate photography than the camera. It begins with an understanding of visual storytelling and composition. There are a lot of things to take into consideration when shooting, including:

  • Achieving the best lighting by choosing the best time of day to shoot
  • Skipping rooms that will not help to market a property
  • Choosing angles to shoot from that help to highlight the best features of a room
  • Boosting appeal by making on the fly changes to a room
  • Using the right camera settings in order to create the highest quality photographs
  • Enhancing flow by choosing the order in which they shoot rooms

Creating professional-looking real estate photographs is a skill set. The skillset takes time to acquire. It will be difficult for you to achieve successful results on your own without professional training. Companies like Hommati have professionals who have the skills and knowledge to create tours with lasting impressions.

Professional Real Estate Photographers: They're Worth It!

When you are selling a home for a client, it is your job to provide guidance, assistance, marketing, and selling the property for the best price and in the best timeframe. One of the most essential aspects of your marketing efforts are the photographs listed online of the home. By hiring professional real estate photographers, you not only save yourself time and hassle, but you also can help increase how quickly the house sells as well as the sale price.

Particularly in the time of the coronavirus, people want to be able to get as much information about a property remotely as possible. Not only do professional photographs help to portray the property in the best light, but they also help potential buyers get the best possible sense of the property.

If you are looking for more valuable resources as a real estate agent in this day and age, be sure to check out the rest of our blog.