Marketing 001 - Where are the photos ?
I find it incredible that when I am searching the MLS for properties that the listing agent has omitted photos from their listing, not even an exterior photo ! When I am mailing out letters to expired listings, I see that many of them did not have a photo. Sometimes I get a call from a seller who had their property previously listed and they would not know why their house had not sold. I would pull it up and sometimes see that there were no photos. Often times, the seller had no idea that there were no photos. Further, this is even the case with higher priced listings too and new construction listings which I find simply amazing. Where there are not any photos, it is just like a blank canvas...
The bottom line folks is that showings for a listing will drop dramatically without any photos. How many times have you heard a consumer say one of the following ?
"I skip all the listings with no photos."
- "If there are not any photos, there must be something wrong with it !"
Yesterday, I emailed a buyer referral (relative of a past client) a list of properties. On my first search, over 100 properties came up. In order to reduce the amount of properties that I sent, what did I do ? I eliminated close to 20 properties that did not have any photos which I was shocked that there were that many of them. It was then that I had the idea of this blog post.
Suggestion to sellers- I would search your listing online. Type in your address on Google or pull up your listing on Realtor.com , Trulia or Zillow. Also, ask your Realtor to email you the MLS listing. If you see that your listing does not have any photos, I would contact your agent immediately.
Suggestion to agents- After you put a new listing in the MLS, email it to your client so they can see your wonderful description and expert photos that you took. Also, email links to the other sites that you have the property listed. I think the sellers really appreciate this. Of course, this may open you to the occasional phone call about a logistical mistake that is in the listing, but that it is okay. It shows that you are on top of your game by getting your client maximum property exposure by showing them where it is on the internet.
Just make sure you have photos of your own listings before you email them to your client !
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The Somers - Philadelphia Real Estate
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