Professional Brokers,
Consider your marketing presentation in an MLS listing. This is your connection to the mind, emotions, and eyes of a potential buyer. You’ve filled all the blanks that describe the technicals of a property. You’ve written a glowing paragraph to win them over emotionally. You’ve taken the requisite number of pictures with your phone or hired a photographer with a better camera. Your listing is live. The house is for sale. Anticipate a wave of activity.
Fast forward a month or so, to when you are reducing the price of your listing yet again, and analyze why this is necessary. The price is supported by recent comparables. The listing is filled with desirable, accurate information. There is nothing but favorable praise for the property in your description. Qualified buyers that should want to buy the house must have seen the listing?
“See the listing.” This is how they shop for a house. They look first with their eyes to “see” something of interest. The visual presentation in an MLS listing is all-important. It is the attractant, the bait, the lure to motivate a potential buyer to take the time to pursue additional information; the information in the blanks, your carefully crafted description, a personal showing.
Is the market changing? Is the price too high? Will lowering the price motivate buyers to seek additional information? It surely will. And you will likely sell the house; at a price that is below what it could have been. Consider the loss of commission to you and the loss of net proceeds to your client. (Consider reversing that and thinking of your client first.) Consider that with a better, “more attractive” visual presentation, a price reduction may not have been necessary. The better visual may have allowed a potential buyer to “see something" of interest to them. Without that attraction the buyers are passing-over your listing, not giving it the careful consideration it deserves.
Premium photography is characterized by appropriate composition, accurate color, and full illumination; pictures that tell an attractive story of a property. The need for professional quality equipment is paramount; camera, lens, and lighting. A quality camera and lens will facilitate technical excellence. However, lighting has the most influence over the color and illumination of an image.
Many scenes in a home are lit by light of varying color, intensity, and direction; incandescent, fluorescent, and LED bulbs, daylight from windows and skylights, dark areas with little light, etc. These are referred to as “ambient light”. While ambient light photography can provide a premium image in a light colored, well lit room, it goes lacking in many other situations; leaving strange colors, shadows, excessive reflections, or overly bright areas. By introducing flash lighting to a space, we gain control of color, intensity, and distribution of photographic light. This improves consistency in delivering a premium set of images; images that can be interpreted as an accurate representation of a property and tell a more attractive story.
With a price reduction of any magnitude, the loss of commission will likely be greater than the cost difference for premium photography. If a sale is delayed, the loss of net proceeds, carrying costs, and time to a client will likely be greater than what you would have paid for premium photography. Premium photography is an advantageous marketing connection to the discerning eyes of potential buyers.
Claim your marketing advantage by using a photographer that employs professional lighting techniques in their workflow. Consistent quality, the more attractive story, can help potential buyers to "see something of interest" and be motivated to pursue additional decision making information.
Sincerely,
Earl Lang