Since the mid-1990s to 2010, it was okay for real estate agents in Orange County and surrounding Southern California counties to just take a few photos from a low priced disposable camera and upload them to the MLS listing. Nowadays, this is not acceptable because of the internet.
Approximately 90% of buyers browse online to search for homes which means high-quality listing photos are essential. Listing photos influence the sale of your Orange County home for a few reasons! It can impact how many days on the market for your Orange County, or if your home will sell for your asking price, Yep, even in a hot seller’s market.
In a worst case scenario, your OC home may not sell at all if priced too high and if the listing has a few shoddy photos. That may make the listing expire. Bad photos don’t bring in as many purchase offers.
Contrary to popular belief, there are plenty of agents that are not using high-quality professional photos for your home. It may be better to not work with agents who don’t offer this as part of their marketing plan to get you the highest and best offer.
Quality Listing Photos
Based on research from the National Association of Realtors, 89% of buyers who searched for homes online stated photos as the most helpful feature on the home listing sites they went to. Can a bad or low quality photo be helpful?
Not really, so your listing photos have to be high quality and practical. Smart phone camera pics aren’t going to cut it. Hire and use a professional photographer to take the photos, then you stand the best chance to receive many offers that are near or above your asking price.
Regardless if the home price is $500,000 for a condo or townhome in Mission Viejo or a $2 million home with ocean views in Laguna, sellers who use DLSR listing photos have greater odds to sell their homes within six months than those who didn’t use high-quality photography.
The statistics back it up too. A recent study found that roughly two-thirds of homes priced from $400,000-$500,000 were sold in less than six months with DLSR photos, but less than fifty percent of homes in the same price range using point-and-shoot photos sold within that six-month period.
Furthermore, with advancements in digital photography equipment and the increase of stylish online platforms, virtual tours have turned out to be more significant as a marketing method. In other words, virtual tours enable realtors to serve their clients better. Digital images are ideal for a quick, professional presentation of a home’s highlights and virtual tours are excellent to search for homes when you live far away.
Faster Sales with High Quality Photography
In many instances, professionally photographed homes tend to be sold quicker and at a better price. Because a lot of prospects start their home search on the internet, this has become a vital aspect of the home buying process.
Attractive looking photos get buyers attention to put in an offer or visit the home because they have a very good understanding of what the home provides. This is in contrast to blurry or badly lit smart phone pictures that many real estate agents may still be using, compared with the real estate agents at HomeFinderOC.
It’s pretty clear and evident that listing photos affect the sale of your Orange County home, and professional looking sharp photos have the best impact. The required sharpness is accomplished through the aid of a good camera with a good lens and proper lighting. Sellers must make this request to reap the benefits!
It doesn’t matter if you are taking photos of the kitchen, guest bedroom, garage, or back yard, the sharpest photos get the best results. A recent real estate study backs up the claim that homes with the sharpest photos (in the top 10%) sold at or above the list price 44 times out of 100.
And homes with that had photos with ordinary sharpness sold at or above list price just 13 times out of 100. That’s a big gap! Are you sure you don’t want high-quality photography for your home listing photos?