According to the National Association of Realtors, 95% of buyers searched for their dream home on the internet. Real estate listing photos are often the first chance to capture a potential buyer’s attention.  When a real estate agent inputs a property or residence into the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) we say it is "on the market."   The MLS links to over 250 plus third party feeds, such as Zillow, Realtor.com and Trulia. These internet online marketing sites are the first go to source for the majority of real estate buyers.  If your house doesn’t look good online, there’s a very slim chance that a buyer will come to see it in person.  Photos have power!

A good real estate photo keeps the viewer’s attention, first creating a mood and leading the potential buyer into a home comfortably. Buyers want to take a virtual tour when they look at the listing photos online. During online window shopping time, buyers are envisioning themselves and their things in the prospective for sale home. A series of photos should tell a story and help to lead the buyer/viewer from room to room, explaining the flow and layout of the house.  Property photos should highlight the special features, represent the property in a realistic factual manner, and not over exaggerate or mislead in any way. 

Just as the building foundation of every home is the strength of the structure - the horizontal lines of a real estate photo give viewers a sense of strength. Horizontal lines in a photo give a perception of calm and correctness of the subject.  According to Mark Galer, (Blog 21/01/2017), “Vertical lines can express strength and power.” The lack of a good feeling or sense of instability is perceived immediately by the viewer when either horizontal or vertical lines in the photo are askew or distorted.  A professional photographer can correct lens distortion during post processing editing techniques in order to correct crooked lines.  

This is just one of the many difference between professional listing photos and amateur photos. The most obvious difference is that the professional photos will look outstanding online. “Amazing real estate listing photos actually do have a major effect on your home sale, so don’t you think that blurry iPhone photos will cut it.” Alexa Collins, 2018.  Bad real estate photos will do more harm than no photos at all.  The attached gallery shows examples of real photos of homes for sale.  These are publicly posted photos of random listings from Zillow and realtor.com. *  I just couldn't make this up.  

I invite you to visit my BEFORE and AFTER GALLERY, for some fun examples of the difference between amature photos and professional ones. 
As always, I welcome your comments and would like to hear your thoughts and experiences. I am passionate about this topic, it is well worth chatting about.  Please comment here or contact me:  [email protected].

Pam

*You can find these homes for sale mostly in the Lancaster and Lititz, PA area, and I refer you to the listing agents directly for specific information on them. None of these photos are of listings for sale or sold by myself or by Realty World.  This is not an attempt to represent, sell, solicit or to list any of the properties shown here.  This is a random sampling of real estate photos extracted from third party public internet sites with MLS agreements.