Where are the photos ? No wonder the listing expired !
Every week I comb through the numerous listings that have been expired or withdrawn. The bulk of the expired listings will be at the end of the month as most agents will go out to the end of any given month for their listing contract.
What I find amazing (and appalling) is that a high percentage of these listings do not have any photos ! Where are they ? I wonder if the seller even knows that their property was "marketed" for months without having any photos ? This morning, I saw more than a dozen listings expire without photos, many of which the listing price was greater than $300,000 ! Don't these agents and sellers know that often times both buyers agents and buyers will just skip any listing that does not have any photos ? The first thought that comes to mind is that "oh, there must be something wrong with it" ...
No wonder the listing expired !
If the agent was too lazy to even take photos of their client's property, I cannot imagine that they did much else to market the property. Or do anything for that matter to help get it sold other than keep their fingers crossed that a magical full price offer will somehow arrive to them out of the blue.
The good news for us and other agents is that eventually these listings will end up in the hands of a more capable listing agent. The bad news is that for the agents that lost the listing, they probably lost a client forever.
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Christopher and Stephanie, You have a lot of opportunities to list expireds. Good luck.
Sometimes, Christopher and Stephanie, it's not that there were never any pics...some agents delete their photos after the listing expires so that other agents aren't tempted to use them. We've seen this happen several times here.
Christopher and Stephanie in our MLS you are required to put a picture or you pay a fine. In my opinion it should be at least three outside pictures and five inside pictures. When all you see is one outside picture, more than likely the inside is terrible.
This drives me CRAZY; so many times I've requested pictures and a real VT not one that lands me on your home page...My buyers get so frustrated with the apathetic listing agent and then I hear the same response "no wonder it's been on the market so long!" I just can't understand why the listing agent dosen't take the time to do what they're contracted to do. AUGHHHHHHHHHH
Now on the other hand if a Buyer is an out of towner and there are only 8 pictures and I know the house is really of some interest I'll go and take them myself; this practice has lead me to some very dedicated repeat buyers and referrals!
It is amazing how many do not have pictures, or the pictures have snow in the front yard - IN JULY!
Gita- You are right! Expired listings are ripe for the picking.
Larry and Sheila- Perhaps that is true. That in and of itself is an interesting discussion.
Betty and John- We have no fine but that your MLS even has to inforce a fine is insane to us. When we see only one outside photo and the description says something like, "Must see to believe how beautiful this home is." That simply makes us scratch our head. One exterior pic or no pics at all (IMO) cuts the propability of showings in half.
Monica- That is a great practice indeed ! It is the comments like "no wonder it has been on the market for a long time" that will also lead to lowball offers from buyers. Sellers really need to understand how important it is to have an expert listing agent list their property, or at least one with marketing prowess.... or at least one that will have photos of their property !!!!
Hey Steph and Chris, wow that is pretty bad on their part. Many potential sales lost I imagine.
Or there are the photos that are out of focus, or have Uncle Joe sleeping in the recliner, or show the agent and the flashbulb in a mirror...the list goes on and on. You wonder at sellers that don't check to see how their house is being represented. Go get those expireds!
Joan - Gotta love those out-of-season photos ! That is another topic. That shows that the property has been on the market at least 6 months !!!
Laura - Absolutely ! Not just sales lost for those agents, but relationships for future business and referrals as well.
So true! So true... Makes you wonder why the agents is even an agent... lol
Great posting - this hits the mail right on the head. It is not just getting the listing, it is doing what it takes to get the property sold.
Robert Earl - Reston VA Real Estate Agent
Chris and Steph..It totally amazes me that agents are to lazy to take pictures of their listings.It is so easy.In today's world of Real Estate it is one of the first things you should do .Personally I wish we could put in more than 12 pictures in the MLS ,but I remember when we could only put in 6 .There is really no excuse it is part of our job as Real Estate professionals to take pictures of homes and a camera is one of our tools to market our listings..Great post
HELPFULHANNAH
I agree that agents who do not put any effort at all into their listings shouldn't scratch their heads when they lose the listing. Photos are so important as a lot of buyers won't even look at the write-up if there are no photos. I also agree with the comment that some agents delete their photos when they lose the listing, which is kind of spiteful. I actually did it once and then felt pretty petty about it. Never did it again.
Absolutely right. I will never forward a listing without a photo or with just one. I may put them in a special folder for a couple of days, but if there is no photo after then I trash them. Some people do put photos up a day or so later, but c'mon, you know you're getting the listing, go out and take photos BEFORE you put it on the MLS. You may already lose people in those first couple of days.
It mazes me that the sellers don't catch this sort of negligence. I have sellers find their listing on realtor.com and other outlets and critique the presentation, which keeps me on my toes. However, if an agent is this bad it is easy to get the listing once it expires.
Agents around here can not put listings on the MLS without at least 3 pictures ... that's when instead you get 3 outside pictures just at slightly different angles... it certainly isn't the market of years ago where you put up a listing, got 6 offers the first week and settled in a month. EVERYTHING counts today.
It's so basic, that it's hard to fathom a no picture listing. I get disgusted when there are BAD pictures of a listing!
Pictures and pricing, people. You can't sell a house with either of those components out of whack (or...missing?)