These days, 95% of home buyers start the process by going online and searching through website listings. Of course, photos of the house are the first thing that jumps out at them, so the importance of having photographs taken by a professional cannot be understated.
In fact, in a recent survey, 73% of real estate brokers “felt passionate about the importance of using professional photography.” Homebuyers, too, are focused on the images they see on your website, social media, email or elsewhere, as 83% of home buyers rate photos of the properties as the most useful feature when shopping for a house.
According to comprehensive studies by the Wall Street Journal, home buyers spend about 60% of their total time researching a particular home just looking at the photos.
In fact, 83% of buyers surveyed said that great photos online were very important in their decision to purchase that home.
Listings with professional, high-quality photos see an incredible 4.7% higher offer price per square foot than those with lower quality, amateurish, or no photos at all.
MarketLeader.com reports that homes with professional photos sell for $19,000 than comparable homes without them on average.
In fact, professional-grade photos sell for 39% closer to the full listing price than those without.
Pro images will also help sell your clients’ homes 32% faster, with an average of 89 days on market compared to 123 DOM for homes without high-quality photos.
According to renowned national real estate website Redfin and others, homes with photos taken by experts get 118% more online views and 61% more buyer views and walk-throughs,
If you’re trying to grab a home buyers attention with just a text listing description, you have less than two seconds to “grab” them before they move on, but up to 20 seconds to engage and hold their interest with photos of the house.
Looking for more reason to have professional photos taken? The respect real estate resource Inman.com found that agents who regularly enlist the help of a skilled photographer for listing photos earn up to two times as much commission annually as those who don’t!
Despite the advantages (and additional income) using images by accomplished photographers bring, still only 35% of Realtors hire someone to take their listing photos. In fact, only 15% of all listings – about 1 in 7 – feature high-quality photos at all.
This will blow you away: Even approximately 50% of $1 million home sale listings don’t have professional photos!
However, data also points to a diminishing return for professional photos as the price of the home drops. For instance, there’s only a negligible benefit to high-quality photos for homes listed below $300,000 in most markets.
In fact, as we move up from $300k to listings in the $400,000 to $500,000 range, these homes sell 18% faster with high-quality photos taken by an accomplished pro.
With the obvious benefits to enlisting a professional photographer to take listing photos – especially on higher-end homes for sale, why aren’t more Realtors using this resource? In fact, some surveys estimate that only 32% of real estate agents market their listings with professional images.
If you’ve been in business longer than a week, then you realize just how fierce your competition is. In fact, there are about 2 million real estate licenses issued throughout the United States. Of course, not all of those licensees may be actively selling real estate, or in your area, but no matter how you slice it, that’s a lot of home sales professionals.
However, there were only about 5.5 million residential home sales in 2017, which comes to only 2.75 transactions per real estate licensee. Needless to say, there’s A LOT of competition for listings!
And my point is that utilizing a professional photographer on your team will only enhance your value to your clients (something to feature in your listing presentation, including using a lot of these statistics), separate yourself from the competition, and earn you more deals – and commissions.
It’s also a great way to transition into specializing in selling higher-end or luxury homes or in more affluent neighborhoods.
A professional photographer will do a lot more than just snap a few nice shots. They’ll maximize the space, knowing precisely which angles to employ, make sure the lighting is perfect, and allow the house to look its absolute best (or better!). They can edit extensively and resize photos, so they’re formatted correctly for web viewing, MLS posting, or email.
Most photographers also can help you set up marketing brochures and visuals, and many offer virtual tours via video.
In fact, 73% of homeowners report that they’re more likely to list their home with a Realtor who offers video marketing, yet only 12% of the real estate industry currently have YouTube accounts!
For those luxury or special listings, drone photography and videography can instantly springboard a listing to the top of online searches, too.
And don’t forget that a professional photographer can highlight the most important part of your brand – YOU! There’s no better and more effective way to convey professionalism, warmth, character, leadership, and even energy than with a new business photo shoot!