An article was recently posted at Inman called, “4 tips for taking gorgeous real estate listing photos with your phone: How to skilfully capture the character and details of a home without hiring a professional.”
The writer of the article makes some really good points, emphasizing that if you have a high-priced home that you want to sell then you need beautiful photos for your marketing campaign. Because without gorgeous pictures, “it won’t matter how unique your home is — or how much character it has — no one will know, and your phone won’t ring.”
That’s absolutely right.
He goes on to say how a professional photographer knows how to take the shots that will work best, and that’s exactly it.
But then we go off the path faster than you can say, “What’s the phone number for the best real estate photographer in town?” with this statement:
“… if hiring a photographer simply isn’t in your budget, you can still take great pictures with your phone.”
What?? If you have a high-priced home to sell, then you have the budget to spend on a professional photographer. And that’s pretty much the point made in the comments below that article at Inman. One guy from Colorado said:
“The sellers are about to pay you thousands of dollars to do your job, and part of that job is having the best photos possible, not making due on your cell phone.”
Another commenter questioned why a homeowner would choose to list their home with a real estate agent that takes their own photos on a phone.
To be fair, another real estate agent wrote in the comments that, basically, it’s not the choice of gear that is used that really matters, and she’s right with that. She also said that we should not assume that spending the money on a professional photographer will always yield good results. I assume she has had a negative experience with a poor quality photographer, and I know there are certainly a lot out there.
That’s the point we try and make here at BestRealEstatePhotographers.com – not all professional photographers are created equal. Some are better than others, and so a real estate agent should not think that hiring any photographer, even a cheap real estate photographer, will get the job done. In some cases I’m quite sure that a real estate agent who follows the suggestions in that article will get images that are just as good, if not better, than the work I see from some photographers.
So yes, hiring a professional does not guarantee a good result – to do that you need to hire the best, and that might mean spending a little bit extra on the photographer. But if you can get the home sold, blow your clients away with your professionalism as a real estate marketing consultant, and get more referrals and more listings, then that little extra spent on the best photographer is well worth it.
To find a top quality real estate photographer, head to the directory here and search for one in your area.