If you’re selling a house these days, it’s all about the real estate photography. You have put in serious work getting your flip ready for market so that pictures reflect your sweat equity. In a recent study, researchers found that almost half of all home buyers in the last year have purchased homes with professionally real estate photography. In fact, this research showed that these types of properties sold 32 percent faster than those without professional photographs.
Online images play a significant role in the house hunting process. After all, more than half of home buyers find their homes online with help from high-quality photos. The better it looks in photos, the more likely a potential buyer will be to come take a look at your home! It’s easy to understand why great pictures are key. Even if you list with a realtor, be sure your agent knows how take good photos that show the home in its best light. Here’s what you need to know!
Set The Stage
Before you start snapping photos, get the background picture-perfect. Get to scrubbing! Start by getting your home sparkling clean before photographing it for social media posts. It’s time to get your hands dirty! Get out the rubber gloves, because this deep clean is going to require some elbow grease. Scrub away at that grime in our sinks and tubs. Wipe down every window inside and outside of our buildings while you’re at it too. You’ll likely have a lot of dust and debris leftover from the contract work if you just completed the flip.
But it’s not just the inside. Pressure wash your patio, trim back overgrown plants, and sweep the porch steps! Once both interior AND exterior of your home are shining, it’s time to move on to step two: staging! It may sound unnecessary, but home staging can actually increase the dollar amount of your offers by at least 5%. Your goal should be to make the property look neutral, so it’s easy for potential buyers to picture themselves living there. Avoid an empty look though; instead focus on creating small vignettes that give buyers ideas about how they could use the space.
Real Estate Photography 101: A Quick Crash-Course
When you’re ready to actually start snapping photos, maximize your use of natural light. Here’s a little hack we’ve learned: remove the screens from those freshly scrubbed windows so as much light in as possible. Schedule your photoshoot during the brightest time of day. This is usually midday, when shadows are minimal and there’s lots of natural light coming from behind the camera onto the front side of property. However this will depend on what season it is.
A wide-angle lens will capture the entire room’s ambiance while portraying it realistically. Avoid panoramic shots, as these don’t provide enough detail and make photos seem small. Hold the camera at a chest-level, this height helps potential buyers easily place themselves in pictures. Inside, open all the doors between rooms. This optimizes a spacious look and will help viewers understand how the home’s layout works. Avoid any shots that feature a big object in the foreground, such as an armchair, this can make your house feel a little claustrophobic.
When photographing the outside of your house, stand at an angle to its walls. This technique will help give a more accurate representation of what it looks like and show depth as well. The more photos the merrier! You’ll likely end up with dozens of photos after going around the house – try to edit it down to around 25 solid pictures.
Smartphone Real Estate Photography
You don’t necessarily need a DSLR Camera to make professional real estate photography work thanks to today’s smartphone technology. Your iPhone or other smartphone can do the job! Several manufacturers have added wide-angle lenses to smartphones already, so if you’ve upgraded your phone in the last 3-4 years you’re pretty much set! If not, wide-angle lens adapters are inexpensive and will help get those cinematic shots. Be sure to rely on natural light and turn off flash.
Nowadays, more and more people are optimizing online visual content to be enjoyed both in portrait and in landscape view. Be sure to snap photos in both of these orientations. Social media posts can use portrait orientation – most people browsing Facebook or Instagram are likely on their phone, so make the photo look good for them! If the home is listed on the MLS or Zillow, use the landscape orientation for those, as most people will likely access those websites from a desktop computer.
Our final piece of advice: avoid heavy filters at all costs. You really want the home to come off as natural and neutral as possible. There are plenty of smartphone photo editing apps that have built in filers that are honestly…gaudy. We recommend the use of just simple editing – and all that can be done in the default photo app that came on your phone. Adjust brightness, contrast, exposure, and if you feel up to it, adjusting white and color balance can really help the photo shine.
Florida Property Warehouse is here to help you find your next property! Our licensed agents are local market experts who will connect you with off-market investment properties that match your individual goals.