Why You MUST Have Professional Photos On A Real Estate Listing

I feel like I shouldn’t have to be writing this article in 2016. At this point, we’ve all seen the horror stories of sites like the terrible photos on www.badmlsphotos.com or even featured on Ellen’s “Really Real Estate Photos” segment. But unfortunately, I run into new listings here in San Diego EVERY WEEK that feature terrible photos.

With at least 88% of home searches beginning online, beautiful photography HAS to be at the forefront of your listing. In an era of HD You only get one chance at a first impression.

Wether you’re hiring an experience agent to help sell your home, or you’re going the FSBO route, here are 3 reasons why you need to hire a photographer:

1) Lighting- This ends up being the BIGGEST difference that I notice between professional photos and amateur photos. Professional photographers know how to capitalize on lighting situations.

2) Wide Angle Lens- Every real estate agent’s best friend is the wide angle lens. Professional cameras with a wide angle lens has the ability to fit MORE of the house into each shot.

3) Post Production- It’s not good enough anymore to just shoot your pictures and just load them directly onto your listing. Nowadays, great photographers also know the power of photoshop for touch ups. Post production is also a great way to clean up photos that happened to be taken during bad lighting times.

*Don’t cross the line into changing material things about the house, but cleaning up scuff marks on the walls is ok.

With professional photographers offering listing packages as low as $99, there really is not an excuse to not have the work done. It’s a decision that could potentially cost a home seller thousands in the long run.

This question was originally brought up on an episode of my Ask A Realtor web series: