I’m sure many of you are familiar with the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words.” In the realm of real estate, I like to tell my clients one additional statement: “a picture is worth money to a buyer…and eventually you!”While the value of a photo is different to each and every person, there is no doubt in my mind that professionally taken photos of a home greatly influence the traffic, attention, and monetary outcome when selling a home. With technology at our fingertips, we must come to the realization that most buyers determine which houses they want to see and don’t want to see before they even look up from their smart phone.

In the 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers published by Realtor.org, they determined that “among buyers who used the Internet during their home search, 87 percent of buyers found photos…very useful.” Let that sink in – 87% of buyers found photos very useful. In a nutshell, you must make the best possible FIRST impression when you come across any potential buyer (and that first impression is typically via the internet).

To help you prepare for the next time you list your home, here are four points to help you make the most of your photos.

Hire a professional – while most families (and agents) have a great camera as well as a smart-phone that can take 1,000 megapixel photos, nothing can quite replicate the product from a hired professional that does this every day. Trust me, in the end this will be a small investment compared to your return.
A great camera makes a big mess look even bigger – unless you want to replicate mainstream media (and want to spend lots of money), I guarantee that the photographer will not photoshop things out such as a pile of laundry, a ceiling fan bulb that’s burned out, a crack in the wall, mold in the shower, tall grass, and much (much) more. Ask your agent for a checklist of things to do in preparation for the day photos will be taken – this will help greatly!
Don’t try to cover things up – nobody likes to stop by a house to find that it was either 1) very misrepresented in the photos or 2) that photos of certain areas/rooms were purposefully left out because they didn’t want to show something. Trust me, buyers are much more likely to put in an offer if they don’t run into surprises when they take time out of their schedule to look at your home.
Staging matters – just as we discussed in point two, a great camera will make great things look great and bad things look…well, bad. Whether you decide to hire a professional stager or not, it is important to go through a quick checklist (provided by your agent) of things to do that will help “stage” your home. There are many quick and simple things you can do that will help reduce the clutter and improve the appearance of your home to a potential buyer.

Remember, more than 8 out of 10 buyers collect information online prior to even seeing the house in person – be sure to do all you can to make the best first impression!

If you would like a free Consultation Session or if you have any questions, feel free to contact me via email at jason@visionsrealty.com. You can also reach me on my cell at 817-269-0988.

Disclaimer: Jason Reynolds does not provide legal, tax, or investment advice. All information herein is general in nature and should not be considered legal, tax, or investment advice. Consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific situation. Nothing contained herein should be relied upon as a promise or representation as to the future. Recipients should conduct their own investigations and analysis of any real estate transaction that they are involved in. No warranty is given concerning the suitability of this information for any application.