The answer is YES! Here are five reasons that real estate agents and sellers should use professional photography when listing their homes for sale.
1. To home buyers, photographs are the most important feature in an online listing.
According to the National Association of Realtors' 2012 Profile of Buyers, photos are the most important feature that buyers want to see in an online property listing. Photos need to reflect the home's features and true character - and draw a buyer in.
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| Source: National Association of Realtors |
If buyers say that photos are critically important in online listings, how many are searching for homes online? The vast majority of them. There are many statistics that back this up:
* 92% of home buyers use the Internet to search for a home (National Association of Realtors).
* Over half of home buyers started their home search online online (National Association of Realtors)
* 43% of recent home buyers FIRST found the home they purchased online (National Association of Realtors)
3. Buyers can "fall in love" with a home through an online sales listing.
This is an interesting point related to human psychology. Not only are most buyers looking closely at photos in online listings, they can develop attractions to certain homes and want to see them.
Nearly 80% of home buyers find their home "crush" online, according to the Wall Street Journal's article: "Why We Fall in Love - With Houses." From there, "about one-third decide to then decide to go see the house in person."
Of course, there are many factors that come into play regarding the decision to see a home, including location and asking price. But the last thing you want is for your home to be passed up by a willing and able buyer because a comparable home looks more attractive in photos.
Nearly 80% of home buyers find their home "crush" online, according to the Wall Street Journal's article: "Why We Fall in Love - With Houses." From there, "about one-third decide to then decide to go see the house in person."
Of course, there are many factors that come into play regarding the decision to see a home, including location and asking price. But the last thing you want is for your home to be passed up by a willing and able buyer because a comparable home looks more attractive in photos.
4. Homes with professional photography sell faster - and are more likely to sell.
"Because online searching and browsing is such a critical part of the home-buying process, it follows that a better-photographed home will sell faster because more people are enticed to visit the home and people know what they are getting before they even set foot in the home."
Here is another graph that tells a similar story. Homes photographed with DSLR (digital single lens reflex) are more likely to sell within six months than homes photographed with a point and shoot camera.
5. Homes shot with professional photography sell for more money!
Perhaps one of the strongest arguments for spending a small amount on professional photography at the front end of the listing is the fact that final sales price is more likely to be higher at the closing table.
Based on RedFin data, the Wall Street Journal reports that "listings with nicer photos gain anywhere between $934 and $116,076–as measured by the difference between asking and final price–over listings using photos from point-and-click cameras."
.jpg "Graph from Wall Street Journal, based on Graph by RedFin Research Center")
Hopefully this list will be helpful to real estate listing agents and home sellers who are considering hiring a professional photographer. I could go on about the benefits that my customers have realized, from time saved to more showings to impressing their clients and interested buyers. Sounds like good material for another blog post in the near future.
