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Who are we?
Edmonton photographer, Jeff Noren, specializes in business photography. This includes real estate (interior and exterior) and location photography (restaurants and hotels). Jeff works with clients in Edmonton and surrounding area to create stunning high-quality professional photographs. Jeff is known for his prompt, polite and professional service.
Archive for the ‘Portfolio’ Category
Why Hire a Property Photographer?
February 3rd, 2010
One question I often get from new clients is “why should I hire you, I have a digital camera, I can take the listing pictures myself.”
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| Photograph by a Professional Photographer | Photograph taken by a Realtor |
There is no doubt in my mind that this is true ~true in the same way that I can sell my own home. The question is, how successful will either of us be? I’ll admit that I know some home owners who have sold their own home, and some realtors who take amazing photographs – in both cases they are exceptions to the rule.
We all build expertise and gain experience in our occupations. When I need a website built, I will go to an expert the same way I go to the dentist, and accountant. I expect these people to have the most up-to-date knowledge, technology and experience
Property photography is more than owning a good camera. Do you know how to ensure the lighting is inviting, capture the entire room versus bits of it? Can you edit the photography so the garbage can is removed from the driveway? Are your photographs optimized for print, web, and MLS? If you’ve answered no to any of these questions, then you should hire a real estate photographer. They can ensure that your property puts its best face forward.
There have been many recent articles on buyer trends – did you know that 80% of new home buyers look on the Internet before they ever contact a realtor? This means two things, one if you have poor photographs they will not look twice at your property and secondly it damages your reputation.
Buyers are becoming more and more technically savvy and judging you and your property in 8 seconds or less. How many potential buyers are you losing? A recent study quoted potentially hundreds of buyers will turn a property down based on visual presentation online.
That brings me to an interesting point. I’m often hired to take photographs of spectacular properties – I’m talking $750,000 to over 3 million. These properties are relatively easy to shot as they are generally incredibly well kept – they have great lighting, views, the landscaping is immaculate, etc.
When it comes to homes under $350,000 Realtors will spend less on marketing and the first thing to go are the professional pictures. I’ve been told that the marketing dollars are wasted. I beg to differ – generally there are more homes under $350,000 than the high end homes.
So I will ask – “what should one do when there is a lot of competition within a market?” Posed that way, Realtors will tell you that they need a competitive edge. That would be my point – it is even more important to spend a few dollars on properties that have a lot of competition and have that home shine.
Professional photographs are just one of the many tools in the Realtors marketing tool box. Watch for my next article on where virtual tours are going…..
Thanks for taking interest in this article. If you have any questions, contact me.
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Virtual Tours vs Video
February 3rd, 2010
Virtual tours have been all the rage in real estate for the past few years. I’ll admit I’ve done them, but I have not been overly impressed with the results. Why you may ask?
Well truth be known, virtual tours distort the property. They are taken at a static 360 degrees, “stitched” together and then we use a program to simulate motion. I’m not sure about you, but I often don’t stand in the middle of a room and spin in a circle.
There really is no need to do a virtual tour if you have video capability. Videos are much more impressive as you can walk the client through the property – it is almost as good as going to the property in person.
Technology expertise, or the ability to hire the expertise, should always be in the Realtors tool box. It is incredibly important to stay on top of the trends so you will always have the competitive edge.
Video’s can be placed directly on your website – but hosted on free platforms like U-Tube. Did you know that U-Tube has over 1 billion visitors a day? While I realize that Realtors generally market close to home –it makes sense to widen your net, especially in today’s market. By using video you can market to potentially millions of people at no extra cost to your business. In addition, video increases your search engine optimization – which means your video listing can be placed in front of the buyers eyes in Google, MSN, Yahoo and Bing. In layman’s terms your property will rank on the first page of the major search engines for people looking for property in the Edmonton area.
Another major issue is that most virtual tours depend on Flash players. If your potential clients are viewing the site with their Iphone, Ipod or Ipad – all they are going to see is a blue cube. You may think that it’s not a big deal ~ however the Apple user population is expanding at 6.5 million a quarter. Do you think you may have clients or potential clients using an I-touch? I think you do.
Mobile browsing has had a major impact on the technology that Realtors should be using in 2010 – move away from Flash, move away from virtual tours – embrace video it will do nothing but good for your realty business.
It is terribly important to ensure that you have movie quality video equipment. As with still pictures, video is a reflection of you. If the video is shoddy – people will think you are shoddy. For a few bucks, get your real estate photographer to shoot your video – they already have the expertise and equipment to do so.
If you have any questions on this article, feel free to contact me.
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