Amazing, isn't it? People have been buying and selling homes for many hundreds of years, if not longer.
When I got into the business 16 years ago, there was no internet for looking at photos of homes.
For the consumer to get their fix of home shopping without driving around with an agent, and actually looking at the homes, said individual needed to find a newspaper, and get their hands dirty.
Literally.
Surprisingly, despite not having the internet, and the ubiquity of online photos now, homes still sold.
So what's changed? Not only has the technology changed, but so has the consumer.
One Realtors' association survey found that when it comes to web based search features that buyers consider to be 'very useful', 83 percent cited pictures and 81 percent cited detailed property information.
A recent Realtor.
com study demonstrated that homes for sale that offer multiple photos are viewed 299% more than those with none or just one photo.
Purchasers want photos, and they want a lot of them.
What are we seeing here? To sell a home in today's internet search environment we need to have a ton of photos available.
Not just any photos...
good photos.
Many purchasers are of the opinion that the other details of the home are irrelevant if they don't like the look of the house.
Don't believe me? Google people's feedback regarding pictures of home listings.
Even when people are looking for fixer-uppers, they want pictures.
In an interesting twist, the house being ugly won't 'not sell' the house.
Not taking pictures of the ugly house will.
I can also tell you that I don't work with many clients that are interested in going to look at homes that didn't have photos at all online.
They're quite vociferous about it, actually.
Purchaser: "Oh, Jeff, that's the home that didn't have any photos.
" Jeff: But we're here, in front of the house, right now...
we can actually go in and see it.
Purchaser: "But Jeff, I don't know if I want to see a house if I couldn't look at the pictures first.
" Silly, right? I have that conversation waaaaaaay more often than you'd think.
So, are you selling your home? Do you want to make some money on the sale? You do have a camera, right? You're going to see the photos your Realtor uploaded.
Do you like them all? Aren't you, as the seller, a default member of 'Team Sell This House For Big Bucks'? Whip out your camera, and take some photos too.
Your agent is going to do the best they can do.
They may hire a photographer to come take some photos as well.
Don't stand casually on the sidelines demanding results.
You too have bought a home before.
You know what you like to see in your photos, and you know your house better than anyone.
Go take some pictures.
Help 'your team' sell your home for big money.
Who's in a better position than you are to take great shots of your own house? I take all my own photos of all my listings, but I love it when my clients tell me they want to send me their gardens in bloom, or the pool when it's open, or the street view at night when all the light inside is pouring outside.
You want for your home to be seen by more people.
More people will look at a home that has more photos.
It's that simple.
You would look at a listing that had 3 photos before a listing that had 1.
A listing with 30 photos before one that had 5.
With beautiful photos of the home that your buyer is looking for right now, with a thousand photos, your buyer will love your home before they even walk into it.
Okay...
Okay...
Maybe you can squeak by with under a thousand.
A thousand pictures should only be taken of bunnies on camping vacations...
or newborn babies...
or even babies with bunnies...