Sell Your Home With Pictures

When you're looking at home listings and come across one without a picture what do you generally do? Skip it. How about if there's only one picture from the street an it's not very good? Skip it too. So here's my burning question: WHY ARE THE SO MANY LISTINGS OUT THERE WITH TERRIBLE PICTURES OR NO PICTURES AT ALL!!!

Okay. I'll try to be calm. This is something that has baffled me for long before I became a Realtor. Digital cameras are fairly cheap, and you don't have to be a photographer to get a good picture. There are huge reasons to show buyers as many great things about a house as you can- and you can always find something!

1. A listing with no pictures will generally be overlooked by buyers AND Realtors. If I do think one of my buyers may be interested, I'll start by seeing if I can find a picture of the home with WebPro. (Go to this website and Click the WebPro icon) This page is hosted by the TN Property Assessor and has pictures of about any property I've looked up. Of course, it won't normally be a good picture, but I can at least see what the home looks like.

2. A listing with low quality pictures makes the home look low quality. (or at least the Realtor- ha!) This would include pictures with bad lighting or pictures that were uploaded upside down or off 90 degrees. I remember a picture of a home that had a large luxury van parked on the street in front of it. All you could see was some of the roof peeking out above the van. Unbelievable!

As a Realtor, I don't want to waste my buyer's time by taking them to a home that is not anything near what they wanted. That means if the pictures are bad or missing I'll have to go preview the home before I pass it along to my buyers. All of this extra work means that the home will likely take longer to sell and will have less people interested in it.

3. A listing with few pictures tells the buyer that there aren't many good things to look at. I had a recent client point out that if there aren't pictures of the kitchen or bathrooms they assume the worst. Me too! I'll admit, the kitchen may not be a selling point in some cases. However, it's usually possible find something else to include. The multiple listing service (or MLS) allows 10 pictures and I can always find 10 things about a house to show off- even if it's the park or convenient restaurant down the street.

4. Internet users want to see more. I go beyond the 10 pictures with a virtual tour for every listing. Going this extra step will allow buyers to get a much better feel for what the home is like. I've found this especially good for out of town buyers who are thinking of moving into Nashville. Sometimes homes are even purchased sight unseen by people seeing the home through a virtual tour.

Great pictures are the basics to marketing a home. It's square one. If you're interested in getting your home sold through great pictures and a virtual tour (and much more, by the way) please contact me or request a Free Home Value Report.

-Peter

www.nashvillecityhomes.com
REALTOR. City Home Specialist.