I’m not discounting the fact that the real estate market has changed significantly over the past couple years.  Not only are clients looking at homes online long before they ever contact a Realtor, but houses are staying on the market for a long time with location photography you can sell your listing quicker and easier.  Staging a home is as important to you as it is to your photographer.

It is difficult to put out the marketing dollar when you won’t see the return until the house sells.  However, it  behoves  the Realtor in this market to talk to their clients – many are willing to pay for advertising if it means their home will sell quicker – this is where staging comes in – it will show the home to its full potential.

Generally you find that there are 20% of realtors making 80% of the sales – these Realtors get it.  They want the most for their clients so they hire home stagers and get professional realty photographs done.  Why, because they leave the professionals to do what they are good at, while they go sell more homes.   Combining home staging with interior photography is a winning match.

For those Realtors that are still not sure if professional help is worthwhile, a marketing guru I know recently stated the obvious but often forgotten:

• A home is a product – PERIOD.
• Ensure the package is ATTRACTIVE.
• Make certain you are using the CORRECT MEDIA to promote your product.
• Market to the RIGHT  TARGET audience.

If you have any questions on this article, feel free to contact me.

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.

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.

As Realtors you are there for your client  - we know you have a  ”client first” philosophy – well we do as well; however, our client is you, the  Realtor.  We understand how hard you work for your clients – we put that same effort into working with you.

As a real estate photographer I have many qualities and skills to assist you.   Professional image, excellent rapport with clients, integrity, in-depth photography knowledge and digital photography enhancement are but a few.

That being said, we understand how important it is to start your marketing campaigns quickly.   Our digital package provides 11 pictures ready for print, web and MLS  within 24 hours of the shoot.

So when you decide that you’d like employ the services of a professional photographer in the Edmonton region please contact us.

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