Real Estate Buyers And The Internet - paulapagano.com
Posted by Paula Pagano on Feb 11, 2015 in Real Estate Buyers, Real Estate Listings, Real Estate Sellers, Real Estate Staging
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.
Miles on Feb 25, 2015	Reply	
Paula Pagano is a real estate agent who knows that getting professional, high resolution photos for her listings is essential.