Selling your home is an expensive exercise; understandably, you’ll want to try to keep the costs down as much as possible. Some of the expenses you’ll incur in the process will be unavoidable, but you will come across extra services that are optional.

Having professional realtor photos, for example, may seem like an extravagance you can’t afford. However, not having professional photos taken may actually end up costing you more money in the long run.

Below, we talk about the importance of professional photography in real estate and how it can benefit you and your house sale.

Importance of Professional Photography in Real Estate

If you’ve ever heard the saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words, then you’re halfway to understanding how important real estate photography is.

What Is Real Estate Photography?

The primary goal of real estate photography is to sell houses. Here, a photographer will take a series of captivating photos in and around your home to show prospective buyers the best of what the property has to offer.

Real estate photographers will most likely use gear, such as wide-angle lenses and special lighting, to make the rooms and specific areas of your home look their best. Often, with years of photography and marketing experience behind them, they’ll understand how to frame and highlight various features of your home to help gather market interest.

Why Is Professional Photography Important?

There are many reasons why professional real estate photography is important to the sale of your home. The American National Association of Realtors conducted a survey in 2006 and found that over 80% of home buyers said they relied on online images to make decisions.

These days, around 88% of prospective buyers use the Internet to look for property, so having good photos of your home and property is essential.

As a realtor, having your own website is an essential marketing tool wherein you can showcase your properties and photographs. Head over to Propopen.com today to check their invaluable website builder that will help you capture and convert more leads.

Generate More Interest

Not only do professionals have the equipment to make your home look more appealing, but they also bring years of experience to the table. They know exactly what potential buyers are looking for or may be interested in.

Before taking a photograph of a room, they’ll consider which angles make the space more appealing. They may add lighting to smaller rooms to brighten them up and have wide-angle lenses that allow them to capture the entire room in just one shot.

The more viewings you have on your property, the more likely you are to sell it, so generating more interest in the first place is critical.

Sell Your Home Faster

Properties with high-quality photos actually sell faster than those that didn’t. From this, we can say that professional photography adds a higher perceived value to the property, minimizing the negotiation period and speeding up the entire sales process.

For instance, the Chicago-area homes that were professionally photographed spent an average of 89 days on the market against 123 days for other homes. That means professional realtor photos led to homes being sold 32% faster than others.

Another survey also found a stark difference in the sales times of properties with just one photo against those with 20 or more.

Sell Your Home For More

If your home falls into the $200,000 to $1 million range, then you can also expect to sell your home for more money. As we all know, first impressions are everything, and properties that had high-quality photography in this price range also sold for $3,000 to $11,000 more.

Consider how much extra money you could make by fronting some extra cash now for professional real estate photography.

How Can I Make My Real Estate Pictures Look Professional?

If you understand the importance of having professional real estate photos and want to give it a try yourself, check out our top tips below.

1. Get to Know the Property

If the house you’re taking pictures of is your own, you’ll already know its best features. However, if the property is new to you, you should examine it before the shoot to identify features that can be highlighted.

In this way, you can also make sure that the house is ready for shooting and fix anything that needs it fixing before the shoot.

2. Timing Is Everything

Ideally, you’ll have the opportunity to shoot the house during the daytime, but it’s also important to check the weather. The brighter the day, the better the photos will look, as you’ll have a lot of natural light to work with, which will add bright, saturated colors to the pictures.

If it’s cloudy, try to schedule another time for the shoot. Also, when taking a picture of the outside of the property, try to take it when the sun is directly behind the house.

3. Lighting

When you’re on the shoot, open all of the curtains and blinds to let as much light in as possible. You just can’t beat natural sunlight for creating beautiful and natural saturated shadows, making your photos as realistic as possible.

It would help if you also turned all of the lights in the house on, even when shooting the exterior. Having the lights on will add a sense of coziness to the photos. However, it will require some post-editing to correct the lighting temperature.

4. Invest in a Wide-Angle Lens

Wide-angle lenses enhance perspective, displaying a larger field of vision than our own. In some cases, they will enable you to take a single shot of a room instead of several, capturing more detail of the space. This can help you make the rooms look more comfortable and inviting.

Professional Real Estate Photography Matters

The importance of professional photography in real estate is ever-increasing in our digital world. If you want to sell your home faster and for more money, paying for professional photos is essential.

The pictures you use to market your home have the opportunity to create a stunning first impression on potential buyers. They can help generate more interest in your home and increase the overall perceived value.

Many people will even go one step further and pay for a videographer, too. A video allows your prospective buyers to take their first walk-through online, meaning the prospective buyers who visit are already one step closer to buying.

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