Real Estate Buyers And The Internet

Thumbs Up For Real Estate Internet Marketing

“California Real Estate Buyers Now Find Real Estate Listings And Their Real Estate Agent Through The Internet”

So says CAR, the California Association of Realtors. This is most likely due to the prevalence of smart phones with cameras. While it may seem like a good thing to post our smart phone photos of our real estate listings all over the internet, the quality of the property photo often suffer. No matter how high-quality a smart phone camera is, it will not measure up to a professional-grade camera. Also, my fellow real estate agents and I are not professional photographers, so we do not possess the skills needed to stage photos in the best way possible.

Make Sure Your Real Estate Listing is Ready

Even if you and your Real Estate Seller don’t want to start breaking the bank for cosmetic changes, there are many little things you can do to ensure your Real Estate Listing is camera-ready. It can be as simple as making sure drawers and cabinets are closed in the kitchen, toilet seats are down in the bathrooms, and bedding is completely smoothed out in the bedrooms. These might seem like insignificant details, but trust me: they make all the difference in front of the camera lens.

I believe the real estate industry needs an overhaul in how we go about posting pictures of our listings. Perhaps we realtors need to work under stricter guidelines. The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) which houses the real estate listings has many rules about data accuracy, and realtors can be fined if those rules are broken and you misrepresent your property. However, no rules or fines currently exist regarding photography, and MLS will just accept whatever people upload. This is frustrating because pictures can be even more misleading than the accompanying text, yet there is no penalty.

Using Instagram for Real Estate Listings

Instagram, a photography application for smart phones, poses yet another issue for real estate agents. While Instagram may seem like a useful tool in which to get your listings out to many people at once – and spruced up with an attractive “filter” on top of it – it is a limited platform. Smart phone pictures can only capture a small part of the room, and usually not at a flattering angle. Plus, putting your listing on social media might cheapen the property to begin with. It no longer becomes as special or exclusive as it can be if promoted on the proper platforms.

I believe that our industry should hold ourselves to a higher standard in terms of real estate photography. It might take a few extra steps, but in the end our efforts will be well worth it. We should use modern technology to help us raise the bar and attract those motivated real estate buyers to our listings.

Be aware that any clients names have been changed to protect their privacy. Furthermore, Paula Pagano does not accept any liability for the content of any Blogs and this Website or for any actions you take or resultant consequences of actions taken based on the information provided in this communication. Any advice is my opinion after being a 35 year experienced real estate agent in San Francisco.