Take a few pictures and they will come is an outdated view of real estate marketing. If you don’t show off a home with professional-quality photography, the odds are against you when it comes to getting the best offer and selling it quickly (http://retipster.com/ignore-professional-photography-real-estate-investing/). Just recently, I came across a video by a real estate professional that I would like to share with Knoxville agents. Pete Lorimer is a listing agent in Los Angeles, California. As the top agent in his brokerage for several years, he knows a thing or two about what it takes to sell homes. Check out Pete’s short video with straight talk for realtors where he outlines his reasons for saying, “You absolutely must, must, MUST have professional photographs taken in a house.” Pete asserts that your buyers will “swipe away” any homes shown using DIY photographs but will shortlist properties shot by professionals.

In my career as a real estate marketing photographer, I’ve been called numerous times to re-photograph listings that were not done by professionals. In those cases, I hear the same stories: the old pictures don't show off the house, agents and sellers became frustrated, and the listing became stale. These issues can be avoided when you use a pro from the start.

“You absolutely must, must, MUST have professional photographs taken in a house …”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1oti7sF_1s

This point has also been made before by:  North Carolina real estate agent Leigh Brown in this video

Looking for information about a home to buy isn’t hard. Internet searches give buyers a lot of information in seconds. However, home-buying information has become a clutter of data simply dropped onto the Internet. As a realtor, what can you do make your listings grab home buyers’ attention? The answer: make sure you show your property online before your buyers walk through the door.

More than 89% of home buyers use computers and mobile devices to begin their new home search. The Internet is central to the home-buying process, which makes real estate photography the main component to attract buyers. Good professional photography makes it easy to decide to visit that property both online and in person.  

Professional real estate photography brings more attention to your listings. A professionally photographed home will sell faster, and it will sell at a higher price. The National Association of Realtors (NAR, www.realtor.com) found that the listings with professional photography generate an average of 140% more Internet interest than similar homes with pictures created with point-and-shoot cameras and cell phone photography. NAR also says that only about half of all real estate properties include photographs by professional photographers.

Every year Knoxville real estate agents deal with more competition from new agents entering the profession. The real estate game is not easy to win. Our technological world not only demands consumer convenience, but also demands a professional Internet presence. Successful Knoxville realtors meet the expectations of a typical online shopping experience—just like buying from an online store.

The business of real estate is more about getting clients than about selling properties. Real estate agents who enhance their marketing by using a photographer who specializes in real estate marketing will have a leading edge. High-quality pictures separate agents who are in the game from those who are on the sidelines. The payoff is bringing clients to you.

Mike O’Neill Photography provides pictures that add to the “wow factor” of your listings online and in print. Mike is a real estate marketing specialist who delivers beautiful images of your buyer’s next home.

The Best Real Estate Marketing Strategy - 5 Rules for Exponential Growth

Many times real estate photographers will have to solve on-the-job problems and sometimes the answers aren’t always easy.  Larry Lohrman, the blog owner of “Photography for Real Estate”, a blog post for discussions about real estate photography, recently got this question from one of his readers:

Professional photographer, John, a wedding and portraiture photographer asked:

“I upgraded my camera from a D-90 to a D7100 and I still get this reddish brown color cast in a lot of interiors. I have tried adjusting color balance to the flash mode or sunlight mode instead of A (auto mode) with little success…. I have tried raising the color temperature manually and that sometimes helped in certain rooms, but not too often. It seems the auto mode works the best then I adjust the color balance in photoshop as needed but this a lot of extra time… Do you know of anything I can do to get more accurate exposures on interiors?”

Real estate photographers, including those just starting in the business and also the experienced ones, have to deal with many problems while photographing a property. Knoxville real estate agents are not always aware of the obstacles that their professional real estate photographer has to deal with on the job. Every day their job is to help make a house look good while at the same time dealing with houses not being ready for photographs, rainy days, overly bright windows and last minute cancellations, as well as technical issues like white balance, fill flash, color cast, verticals, and more.

In recent years photography has become the most important aspect of any real estate marketing campaign, selling a Knoxville, TN home is just like selling any product, It's important agents understand as much as possible what really goes into the photography of their listings, and as equally important too it's important for the photographer to know his business and to know his or her product. In the photography business, being a Knoxville real estate photographer is much more than just taking photographs, they have to be a marketing person too.

Larry's response to the question:

1. “Color balance: Interiors photographers have to deal with color balance issues more than other photographic situations because of many temperatures of light sources in rooms. Different light bulbs can have different color temperatures. The reddish brown can be old incandescent. John was shooting JPG so when the color balance came out of the camera off he had a hard time changing it. The best way to deal with color problems is to shoot RAW. Shooting RAW makes your life much easier in post-processing. Lightroom is designed to deal with RAW files quickly and easily! You can make color adjustments to a RAW file that you just cannot do to a JPG!

2. Using flash in interiors: John was shooting with his flash on his camera resulting in a very flat looking lighting. It is much better to keep your flash off your camera when shooting interiors, the results have flat looking light when the flash is on the same axis as the lens. Put it on a light stand, that doesn’t slow you down that much.

3. Verticals and barrel distortion: John wasn’t correcting verticals or removing barrel distortion. When shooting weddings and portraits neither make much difference but in interiors they become a big deal. Learning to use Lightroom is the fastest and easiest way to correct verticals and remove barrel distortion.”

These problems are minor and not so hard to work out, the more experienced the photographer the better they’ll be at handling any situation.  Knoxville has many really good experienced photographers, and the Knoxville housing market is one of the stronger markets. if your a Knoxville real estate professional, probably what’s best to take away from this blog is to choose the experienced photographer, they will provide you with better service and better photography, you’ll end up selling your listings quicker and you'll make more money.

Mike ONeill is an experienced real estate photographer.    www.mikeoneillphotography.com                                                                                   Contact us today for a promotional discount to try our services.                                     

We all know how 1st impressions work; they grab our attention and when it comes to marketing one of your real estate listings here in Knoxville, TN, its pretty much the most important thing in the world -- to you the agent.  In 2015, over 92% of prospective homebuyers started their home search looking on line, and if you don't have the quality images that prospective homebuyers are looking for you might be out of luck, and those prospective homebuyers go looking for another agent who can grab their attention.  Spending a little money, having professional photography done on that little cozy shack can sell that property quicker and make you a little more money.  Read on...

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They say a picture is worth a thousand words – but when it comes to selling a home, the right picture could be worth much more. According to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 92% of prospective homebuyers use the Internet to look for new homes, with 42% beginning their home search online. The same study found that 87% of homebuyers rated photos as very useful in their online home search – even surpassing detailed property information (84%).

It is no secret that buyers value the ability to view images and video of a property before deciding if it is worth visiting in person, and technology has made it much easier to do so. It has also enabled buyers who are out of state to narrow their home search and even, in some cases, to make a decision if they are unable to physically visit the property before moving.

Technology has also made it cheaper and easier to take photographs and publish them online. However, just because it is possible to take, edit and upload a photo from a smart phone does not make it ideal. Anyone can do that. It is the quality of the photos that can help differentiate a real estate agent’s listing.

Professional photographers should have the equipment – like cameras, lenses, light kits, etc. – needed to provide sharp, high resolution images of a property. They may also have unique accessories or tools, like drones or video equipment that can help a listing stand out from the crowd. But it takes more than nice equipment to take a great picture. Professional photographers also understand how to use lighting and angles to their advantage. And those who specialize in real estate photography know how to use their skills and equipment to show off the best features of a home in the best way possible.

While hiring a professional real estate photographer comes at a price, real estate agents might consider it an investment. One doesn’t have to search long to find testimonials from agents who report selling homes faster or for a greater price per square foot as a result of hiring a professional real estate photographer. Investing in high quality photography not only has the potential to impact how fast, and for how much, a home sells, but also demonstrates the level of service an agent provides to his or her clients – which could prove beneficial for securing referrals and other future business.