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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How many times can it be said tha people are visual. Of course I saw a listing yesterday where the main phonto was of the front of the house but half of the photo was the huge truck in the driveway!
Christopher & Stephanie- Good Morning! You hit on one of my pet peeves, agents failing to utilize their best presentation on MLS to market their home. I would not assume something is wrong with thehome, it is often the agent who just flat out was lazy or better yet does not know how to upload photos, does not have digital camera. It simply amazes me. Also I have found that homes with reduced commission or fee for service do not do this simple task as well. Shame on them, a service is a service and the object is to sell a home which equates to commission. I certainly would re-think the marketing outreach on these properties. I work expired properties and sometimes I enclose a copy of the past listing with comments like .. I noticed your home has expired. I have some great ideas on how to better expose and market your home. Enough said, the owners never even knew what their home on MLS looked like. Good luck!
It is amazing that agents with listing like this....just don't care!
Most buyers will not even look at something online that has no photos. There are crummy people in every business. Real Estate certainly has a bunch of them.
Gary - At least that listing had a photo ! That is another topic. If an agent is going to take the time to get photos of a listing, it is important to take the best shots possible to capture the angles and the main features.
Connie - Great points. You are right that it may be wrong to assume that a property may be in bad condition due to there being no photos, that it is probably just the agent being lazy. But that is what the consumer thinks most of the time. Is great that you work expired listings that way by sending the old MLS sheet. I have also found that many times that sellers do not even know that there listing did not have any photos.
I right there with you. Tony and Libby Kelly posted this listing this morning and are spot on for what to do with a good listing. If I am going to put together a short list of prospective properties, then do not waste my time if there are not photos attached...and preferably a lot of them
Thank
Bo
Jim - It is amazing, isn't it ? I find it hard to believe.
Bill - The good news is that it certainly makes the agents that are doing the work that much better. If it were not for bad agents, the industry would be that much more competitive. That is one silver lining for us : )
Thank you - my thoughts exactly. The more good pictures - the better. Of course, if you are going to have your 'thumb' in front of the lens - you might want to skip adding that photo.
Chris and Stephanie..You hit the nail on the head! That is one of my Pet peeves...It is just a sign of a very lazy listing agent!!!...Thank you
for an excellent blog
You have just hit one of my pet peeves. What really gets to me are that there are some prominent agents here in the area who do this to their listings also. Oh, by the way, these agents are no longer actively selling real estate. They are off to become politicians and selling seminars and workshops capitalizing on real estate agents.
YES! Presentation is EVERYTHING! Especially when it comes to online marketing. As my mother would say "If you are going to do something, do it right...never half way do anything because it will reflect poorly on you."
I feel bad for sellers who don't realize until after the fact that their previous listing agent didn't put photos of their home on line. They basically wasted 6 months of market time. This is equivalent to a doctor committing malpractice as far as I'm concerned. We always send our listings to our clients for a review prior to going live. Thanks for the post.
dan
Bo - I hear you ! I checked out the link and sure enough, there were a lot of photos. The more photos the better. We have a lot of photos for each listing we enhance on www.thesomersteam.com as well as providing the maximum of 12 that our MLS allows.
Hannah - You are welcome ! It seems like we covered something that is a pet peeve of a lot of people. I understand why.
Loreena - That is an interesting comment. Sounds like those agents are being a bit hypocritcal. I guess sometimes people can get away with it for a time if there sellers do not realize it. Sometimes it is not easy to go back out and get photos but it is a critical task that simply needs to be done ! Sometimes I will see a listing get re-listed and the agent will use the exact same photos as the prior agent. I am not sure but I think that is allowed as once it is on the MLS, it is now public ?
Chris - It just amazes me when I don't find a picture and I usually past it up. My thought is if the agent can't take the time to add photos than I will not show the listing.
Maria - I understand ... think about how many showings can be lost from that. I was just amazed when I did a search for a buyer the other day just how many listings did not have any photos ! I was shocked !
I search the MLS often and this is my biggest pet peeve. "Photo not available" (WHY--what are you hiding?) or one exterior shots. I wouldn't go to look at them and more importantly, I wouldn't work with a realtor who posted nothing or very litte. It's alread an indication of the type of service they provide.
I too am amazed at lack of photos, or almost as bad the poor quality of photos. As I just wrote in my blog, it is imperative for sellers to work with the realtor to ensure their home's photos are the best and properly set up on MLS and realtor's website.
Considering the photos work in their favour as well as their clients, whaaaz up?
Carole - Great point in that the risk for a Realtor for not submitting photos (especially for a great listing ! ) is that many folks may just pass on their service.
Sharon - LOL, I totally agree !
Good "no" reminders!