Do photos sell homes?

Yes, to an extent they do.

Let me first say, I’m not a professional photographer. Not even close. But I know how to find and use a professional when it’s needed…like, say, when someone’s most precious and largest investment (yes, even today) is at stake. It’s really not okay to use bad photos to promote a listing. By all means, it’s not okay to omit photos altogether from your most prominent marketing sources. It’s up to like 95% of people now that go to the Internet to search for their next home. Photos, or lack thereof, absolutely determines if buyers want to even consider a showing or the home altogether. When the competition is using professional photos, guess which one will get buyer’s attention. Great photos are not necessary they are crucial.

Whether you are a buyer, seller, looky loo, or you don’t care one bit about real estate right now, I’d like for you to play along and fill up the comments with your opinions on this one.

One shot for a first impression

With all the inventory available in any given price range, people are not going to waste time. Case in point, I recently pulled up a group of homes for my husband to view. I was driving at the computer. He’s a busy business man and just doesn’t have time to waste. Each home got 1/2 a second to grab his attention. If it didn’t capture him right away, “Next” was the immediate response. I tried to plead the case of some of the homes out there, with,” Oh but it says it has this or that. I know you can’t tell it, but…” “No, I don’t like it,” was his response. He passed on some true gems, but that’s because they were not showcased as gems. It wasn’t the home’s fault, much of the time. It was the photography. If there weren’t interior photos at all, forget it. He didn’t even give it the 1/2 a second look. Guess which ones he immediately liked and spent quite a bit of time investigating what was written about the home and additional photos…the ones with professional photos that truly showcased the home for what it was. I had seen some of them in person. Some weren’t any better than the houses he passed on, but they sure looked better online. They looked lighter, brighter, cozier, more spacious, warmer, homier, even cleaner! Let me say that again, they looked lighter, brighter, cozier, more spacious, warmer, homier and cleaner! That sounds like a deal breaking differentiator in two similar, competing properties to me.

My husband is not any different than the majority of buyers out there. You see, people decide which homes they want to see in person and ultimately buy based on their limited view inside them online. There were some great homes I would not be able to drag my husband to go see because he passed on them online, and it was over. For some of the homes, his perception was inaccurate. He realized it too, but he values his time more. Once buyers make a decision on whether they want to see your home in person or not, it’s usually final. When there are so many options that “appear” to be better, why would they waste time when they “know” (or think they know) they already do not like it?

The risk, you think, is that too many photos give buyers more to dismiss it from the list. Maybe so, maybe not. However, wouldn’t you rather have fewer showings if the showings are actually made up of qualified and highly interested buyers? I would think…yes?

Examples of home photos…and better ones

So let’s look at some examples. This first example is not “too bad”, but let’s assume you’ve already got a large list of great looking homes in the $1 million range to see and you want just 1 more added to the list. Which one would you pick comparing one picture to the other?

Would you believe the home on the left is actually the more expensive one by about $70,000? When you look through listings and their photos, it would be easy to miss that “chef’s dream of a stove” in the photo on the left in a quick flip through the photos. The first thing and almost the only thing I notice in the photo on the left is the island. My eyes notice three things right off the bat in the picture on the right: the stove, the spaciousness of the kitchen, and the beautiful, shiny floors.

For me, the kitchen on the left seems small and cramped with an island consuming the small space that is there. When I looked at the measurements of the kitchen, the one on the left is actually 20×20 and the one on the right is 12×16. The way the photos were taken, it definitely looks to me like the more spacious kitchen is the one on the right! In the photos on the right, I see the hardwoods and am impressed. I can also see into another room and notice how open the kitchen is. I almost want to cook in that kitchen, even though I never want to cook. The glare and lighting on the left picture makes me think it’s a little less warm and little bit darker than the other one, even with the dramatically lighter colored cabinets. It looks much smaller than it really is, and is not doing a great job at highlighting the room’s best features appropriately…the island is even getting a little bit of the shaft because of the angle and glare. Now because I saw the floors in one, I am more aware of floors in general…and maybe even obsessed with floors now. I hadn’t thought of the floors in the kitchen…oh my! So, I might not like the floor in the left kitchen. They might be gorgeous, but my first instinct is not to expect the best because I haven’t seen the best representation of this room.

Let’s take another look. It’s the bedroom this time. Same deal - two similarly priced $1 million range homes. Which one looks like a safe haven? Your ideal private and luxurious sanctuary?

I can’t even see anything about the room on the right because it’s so dark in there. So it makes me wonder…is it always that dark? Are there even lights in there? How tall are those ceilings anyway? Is it big enough to fit my bed and furniture? Is the carpet ugly? Wow, the windows are almost floor to ceiling…then why in the world is it so dark in there, again? It says it has a great view to the beautiful outdoors…really? Eh…never mind. Next! Do you know what I wonder about the room on the left? Nothing “initially”…other than being hopeful and curious about the master bath. I see enough of that room to know I like it and will find out more when I see it in person…which I’m excited about, by the way. That’s just me. How about you?

Weigh In

• What roles do photos play for you, if you are a buyer?
• What kind of photos will your Realtor use if you are a seller?
• Will your Realtor pay the extra $ to feature more photos of your property on the most trafficked website for home searches, Realtor.com?
• Will they include as many photos as are allowed in the MLS?
• Will they feature additional pictures anywhere they can? Will they use a professional?
• Will the home you sell or the home that meets your buying requirements be captured adequately to show its benefits, how much sunlight actually does come in the home, how beautiful some features actually are, what that view truly looks like, what great condition it is in, how clean it really is, or the spaciousness of it?
• As a buyer, how frustrating is it to look for homes that you can’t get a good feel for online?

It could all be the difference between a sale or not. It’s that important. It’s a vital part of the overall marketing plan that your Realtor implements. That’s why you should make sure your Realtor is hiring a professional to give your home the exposure it deserves. What are your thoughts?

What others had to say

These quotes were taken from various sources where buyers specifically talked about the use of photos in searching for a home:

“I like to SEE what i’m looking at before I go and look.. I dont have time to waste and if I see no pics, I skipped right over to the ones that have pics. And in a market FULL of choices, you dont want to give someone any reason to skip over your listing to another because there are no pictures. Horrible pictures (like a pic of furniture without really seeing the room) is just as bad!!”

“No or few pictures mean instant pass for me.”

“I NEED pictures, the more the better! I won’t even consider a property unless I have pictures, due to the fact I am searching for a new place long-distance!”

“Not only do I want to know the size of the living room, but I want to see photos of it for placement of windows, doors. I also want to see photos of the kitchen to see if it’s going to need replacement and that I have no interest in wood cabinets. For some reason, a lot of realtors think we want to see photos of beds. Photos are good but virtualtour is better. You can tell when an agent is really lazy when they take the one front view of the house through the car window.”

“I have also been scouring RE sites for some time now, hoping to learn more and get a grasp of what I can realistically hope to afford when the time comes (soon I hope). In my mind, when I see a listing that shows clear, well-taken inside and outside photos I tend to linger longer and pay more attention…often adding it to my list of “maybes”. But if a listing has only fuzzy, dark photos or only pictures of the yard and gardens I wonder “What’s wrong inside?”, and if all they show in photos is one or two rooms inside, I think “The yard must be a stye or a very bad neighborhood”.”

“Everyone has different requirements and taste in houses and I wouldn’t waste any time on a house that had no photos.”

“If they want to draw the most buyers they should have plenty of photos. When we were looking for a house i would not look at anything without photos. My time is valuable, I am not willing to spend the time driving to a home that turns out to be a dump.”

“Listings need pictures and full information- if they don’t have them you have either a problem or a lazy agent. When people sell properties they should first look for the agents who advertise well - with nice listings.”