The power of pictures – how your photos can make or break a real estate sale.

The role your property photos play in the selling of a house are easily overlooked. It seems like the photos that represent your listing might play a minor cosmetic role in your overall sales efforts. It is rather a fallacy to assume that it is more important how the house looks in real life. The way houses are found by buyers have changed drastically from just a few years ago. The internet empowers buyers to scout the market, to compare properties based on the virtual representation they find online, and to educate themselves about property values and past sales. One of the main reasons why savvy real estate professionals hire professional designers to decorate their listing is that they understand the power of the first impression. And the first impression does not always happen when the potential buyer sets foot over the threshold, but when a prospective new homeowner takes a look at the pictures of the house online. That split second impression will influence the decision for the buyer to pick up the phone and call their agent about the house. So the house needs to show its best; and so the pictures. We all have seen the blurry picture of an empty room corner, taken with a 90’s flip phone. Or the narrow iphone pictures that only show half a fridge and part of a cabinet while claiming this is a representation of the kitchen. Unless you are trying to sell partial appliances, those tunnel vision photos don’t do your listing any justice. Buyers are quick to rule out your dungeon property, just because the pictures were taken after dark. Not putting any photos of the interior in the listing when it hits the market first is not the best move either. Buyers don’t fall in love with the description of a house. They want to see it. They respond to visual aids. That’s why we mostly watch TV instead of listening to radio at home. “You only can sell what you can see” is an old real estate truth. The most important task is to get buyers in the door. They have to see value in the house before they even see it in person. If you don’t grab their attention right away they are off to the next house, the next listing or the next agent. The next choice is only one click away. The buyers agent might not even put your house on the list because it misses one of the narrow criteria the buyers have set. It may not be in the right school district, the size might be just a bit too big or too small, the target price range was different, or it has one bedroom less than they preferred. Buyers frequently add homes to the showing list if they like what they see. And often they find the house online first. Online shoppers have the attention span of a fruit fly. If they don’t see what they are looking for within a few seconds they might be gone for good. And sellers and listing agents don’t even realize it.

Will buyers like it? The decision is made in an blink of an eye.

If you want to learn more about how staging and professional quality photography impact the sale of your listing contact us at www.idesigntosell.com