Front Photos are Great at Night!

Beautiful Property I Shot tonight

Make sure and Click Here to visit the virtual Tour

If I don’t post much this week its because I’m working on the BIGGEST virtual tour I’ve ever shot – this is the home of a Country Music Legend whom I’m not allowed to mention – but I can’t WAIT to show off interior photos – - – Manchester, TN

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Beautiful Retirement property listed by Adeline Bush of Crye-leike Realtors in Lebanon TN

Click to View/Download

I’ve decided to have my team bring a PRICE SHEET along with them to tours from now on to make sure that both the Agent, and Homeowner know what they are getting for their hard-earned money!  YES it’s rough, NO it’s NOT pretty, but it works and will SURELY be revised into a more visually pleasing, and sense-making example.

So you have a home for sale . . . you might be an agent, or you might be the homeowner – but chances are you’ve found this post by searching for more information about Real Estate Photography! The team here has been photographing Real Estate properties since 2002 and we’ve learned leaps and bounds about how to better showcase your property over the years.

A Premium Nightshot Example

As you probably already know, most potential home-buyers begin their search online – sites like Realtor.com, Homes.com, Realtracs.com have all become the primary sources of real estate leads in this modern internet age.  This brings me to the overwhelming question, Why on earth would an agent list a home online with only 2-3 poor quality photos!? I just can’t seem to figure out why more emphasis is not placed on photography and internet presentation.  I feel SO strongly about this that I’ve considered getting into the real estate business STRICTLY because I know I would do more than the average agent when it comes to properly presenting a property!

A Professionally Shot Living Room - Using 2 Strobes

Many agents go out and spend $300-$500 on a camera that they THINK will make them better photographers – and while camera choice is important, please, PLEASE understand that the difficulty of photographing homes and gardens etc is the LIGHTING SITUATIONS – our new cameras are only SO smart and they also only have ONE little teeny-tiny flash!! Can you expect that little flash to properly illuminate a GIANT living room all by itself?? I thought not.

When we shoot Real Estate – we come prepared with up to FOUR large 1600 watt strobes to illuminate the darkest and largest spaces – our Wide-Angle lenses help us maximize available space and our PANORAMIC spins give the viewer a feel for the FLOW and SPACE.

Prices

Every home is unique, and some homes are more difficult to shoot than others, but as a general guideline, here’s what we offer and recommend:

Homes between 1500 and 2000 Sq Ft
3 Spins + 15-25 Still Photographs ~ $80.00

2000 – 3200 Sq Ft
5-8 Spins + 30-40 Stills
External Light Sources (Pro Light Kit) ~ $130 – $170

3200 + Sq Ft
10-12 Spins + Unlimited Stills
External Light Sources
Youtube Video ~ $160 – $275

OTHER OPTIONS

DVD Video Disk – $50 for creation, $2 per disk (most agents only need 20 discs or so)
Custom Flier Creation – $100 (full color, front and back)

Front View of Home

Click here to view the Virtual Tour of this property

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Thanks so much for allowing my work to find you! I’m trying my best to demonstrate my skill as an artist through Photography and Web Site Design – both of which I’m very passionate about. No sales pitches here – I love what I do and that’s why I’ve been doing it for 6 years now FULL TIME. Please forgive the website as I’m constantly updating, redesigning and rearranging it – whats most important to ME is what YOU have to say – so get in touch with me, follow me, and let me know what I can do for you – coffee is on me.

There are lots of studies by independents, websites that cater to real estate and by real estate related organizations that show results proving that having more and better quality photographs help greatly in the sale of homes online. And when I say online, I’d like to point out that a survey that was done in late 2007 showed that almost 80% of the home sold in 2006, people started their search for those home online. It is now 2009 and I am sure that number has increased. With the number of households with a computer and internet access, eventually everyone will be searching for their new home on the internet.

The results show that having more and better photography can increase the interest and number of offers on a home, increase the value (and final sales price) of a home and decrease the time on the market. With all this evidence, why would any professional Realtor not want to use a professional photographer to assist him/her in the selling of a home.

One example in a recent survey stated that a home that was valued at $410,000 sold for $460,000 with professional photography. That is a $50,000 increase. Now if we say that you only get a 2% commission, that is $500 more commission. You paid $250 for photography and you made $250 more by using a pro. Not really an incentive, right? Wrong! Yes, you may have only made $250 more, but look at all the other benefits.

1 – You did not have to spend the time and expense of putting yourself in the “photography business” to save yourself money.

2 – You listing sold faster, now you have more time to concentrate on other listings and sales.

3 – You client made more money and are much happier with you and your service.

4 – When you are selling yourself to the next client (listing or sale) you can boast about your success and how by using a professional it added value to the home and to the sale.

5 – You look smarter and therefore like a much better candidate then the next realtor because you have some added value to selling their home because you recognize the importance of using quality (and quantity) professional photography. You have a team of professionals that serve you.

So my question is “Why don’t Realtors use professional photographers?” More specifically, why don’t you use a professional photographer when you have that much to gain?

What will it take for Realtor to get the importance and magnitude of how professional photography can work for them. It is a tool not an expense. It is kinda like advertising, advertising does not cost, it PAYS. Professional Photography does not cost, it adds a lot to the overall sale of the home, the price of the sale, the amount of time the home is on the market, the satisfaction of the client and the reputation of the Realtor. Where else can you spend $250 and get this kind of improvement in your sale. Nowhere!