Why do you need a professional real estate photographer?
It’s a fair question, given that a real estate agent or a homeowner could save themselves a few hundred dollars by taking the photos themselves. It wasn’t too long ago that DIY real estate photos were widely accepted, but if you have a house to sell now then you can no longer get away with doing the photography yourself.
What’s changed in recent years?
It basically comes down to the exposure (no pun intended) that today’s buyers have had to high-quality photos online. They’re used to scrolling through their Facebook newsfeed and seeing great images and video, they look at their favorite Instagrammers and their YouTubers, and all they see are great photos and videos of food, kittens, people and houses.
[soliloquy id=”641″]In other words, buyers today are now much better educated on image quality than they used to be. So when they go to their local website to see what homes are currently for sale in their area they want to be impressed. They don’t bother clicking on the poorly presented home, or the bad photo, unless they are looking for a bargain. Instead, the buyers will quickly scroll through the images, and just like a Tinder user, they’ll ‘swipe right’ on the houses that get their attention, and they’ll ‘swipe left’ on the homes that look bland.
In fact, there’s an app called Doorsteps Swipe that works just like this, where homes are swiped right or left based on that main photo:
So when you put your home on the market today it’s so important that you make a really positive first impression. In fact, according to a study by Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, it takes less than 50 milliseconds to form a first impression, and that’s going to be largely dictated by the visual elements the viewer sees, not the written elements since they don’t have time to read that much in just a fraction of a second.
That first impression used to come from an actual visit to the home, but these days it’s the photos, the 3D tour where the buyer can move around the entire home, and the video tour.
Your photos have to look amazing, and it’s not just about hiring any professional photographer. For example, you wouldn’t want to hire a local wedding photographer, or a news journalist. As we’ve mentioned in another blog post, “Why you need the right photographer for the job“, there’s no guarantee at all that someone who specializes in one type of photography is going to excel at photographing real estate.
Instead, you want to look for a photographer that is a real estate photography specialist. They might cost a little more than an inexperienced photographer, but the benefits for you to have more buyers asking about your home will make it all worthwhile.