For those of you that are thinking of selling your home, not just in Eastman but anywhere, one huge issue is often over looked, PHOTOS!!!
Let me start by saying that the ultimate key to selling a home in this market is price. The right price will get it sold every time. After price what makes you home look good when buyers are looking on line? Photos. Everyday I look in MLS and see bad photos. It is amazing to me that sellers don’t complain more. Buyers won’t look at a home if the photos are bad. I see crooked photos, dark photos, blurry photos, what the hell is that photos and more.
In my office we have a large flat screen tv that we use as a computer monitor. I show potential buyers listings this way. Two out of every three listings, the buyers comment about the photos. Not all of them are bad but a few per property. All it takes is one bad photo for either the husband or wife to discard a property. There are a many times that I can not get them to over come a bad photo so that property will not be shown.
So, what is a seller to do? Before you list, look at the agents listings online. If the agent has their own web site you can go there and all of that agents listings will be right there. If there are bad photos then maybe you help choose the photos that agent is going to use. If that agent doesn’t have his own web site, you might want to think twice before you list with that person anyway.
ASK what kind of camera and lens do you use? If they use their phone or some kind of cheap point and shoot, you might want to think twice. ASK what kind of photo-shop program do you use? If they don’t you might want to think twice. It doesn’t take much to go into iPhoto and straighten and crop photos. This makes a huge difference in the appearance of a home.
All my photos are now shot with a Nikon D200 with a 10x24mm lens. It’s a really nice set up and takes great photos. There are no parabolic curves that a lot of lesser cameras give you. I put all my photos through iPhoto too. I crop and straighten, brighten or what ever needs to be done to make the house a beautiful home. I don’t change the colors of things or alter photos in any other way. ie: If there is a propane storage tank on the side of a house and it looks terrible I will either not get the tank in the photo, crop it out if I do get it in or just not use that photo. I will not photo-shop the tank out of the photo as that would not be a “true picture” of that property.