The Importance of Quality Photography When Selling a Home

by: Dylan Snyder REALTOR® The Snyder Group at Keller Williams Realty

Are you considering selling your home? There are many small tasks to check off a to-do list. One of the most important things that homeowners can do to help themselves and market their home is to have professional-level photos of a property to list online.

Why are photos so important?

The majority of prospective home buyers go online and review listings before determining whether or not they would like to visit an available property. Therefore, quality photos create an initial idea in the buyer’s head and poor quality pictures can reduce potential traffic to a listed home. It does not pay to sacrifice quality when listing a home online.

What Makes a Good Listing Photo?

Today, first impressions begin online. Photos of a home must be taken with professional level equipment. A smartphone will not do. It has been found that photos of homes taken with a professional camera and then listed online receive an average of 61 percent more views. In addition, these properties benefit from a significantly higher asking price and are more likely to sell.

What should sellers desire in photos of their home for listing? Pictures must be high-resolution and properly lit. Snaps of homes on cloudy days or with dim lighting can make a home appear drearier and less inviting. Avoid giving DIY shots to an agent to upload for an MLS listing. Energy needs to be spent on staging the home and photos need to be taken when homes receive the best natural light. It's a big mistake to skip staging and take pictures of the home as-is, as most of your competition will be striving for that clean look. The home is a product for sale. Make sure to de-clutter and fully clean as if one was staging for an open house because, in a sense, you are.

Invest in having professional photos taken of the home and surrounding property as photos do help capture interest. They are also used when buyers create a mental shortlist of properties. Good pictures not only help with attracting initial interest but also assist in sustaining interest at pivotal times and can help potential buyers recall attractive features in a home when making a final decision. High quality photos are a priority for those working with an agent and others who want to sell a home themselves.

What Can Turn Off a Buyer?

Buyers are generally not attracted to photos with the following problems: low-quality or blurry photos, not marketing the lifestyle within a home, leaving clutter and personal items in a shot, and poorly-lit pictures. Quality photos are a way to provide a virtual tour of the home. A sufficient number of photos should be taken and listed to provide viewers with a good general idea of the layout and features of a home.

What is the Bottom Line?

Sellers interested in making the most out of the first few months of selling a property need to take steps to drive traffic to their location. Quality photos can attract more views and potential buyers. Multiple offers may come in which may drive up the offer price on a home. In addition, quality photos make help a home stand out in a competitive market and help sell a home faster.

In contrast, poorly lit photos and pictures of homes that fail to showcase important and desirable features of the home to the local market can serve to dampen traffic. This leads to fewer scheduled visits during that initial window of time when a home is newly listed. It may take longer to sell and cost a homeowner more to maintain a property while it lingers on the market.

While it's not the only thing sellers will have to do to get ready to sell, high-quality photography is an important step for any savvy homeowner that's looking to maximize their home's value, and decrease the time it takes to sell.