How Real Estate Photography is becoming an essential component of any healthy real estate marketing campaign?

Exceptional real estate photography is an essential component of any healthy real estate marketing campaign. After all, high-quality photos help to sell homes faster and at higher prices. They attract more buyers and keep them engaged for longer periods of time. And top-notch photography helps you to build your brand.

Think about it. Photography runs through nearly every aspect of your marketing arsenal. Consider the most popular tools used by agents. Which of the following do you rely on regularly?

  • Social media
  • Email marketing
  • Direct mail
  • Listing videos
  • Print ads
  • 3D tours

It is likely that you wield most if not all of these weapons in your marketing campaigns. What do they each have in common? Photography. Elevate the quality level of your photography and you automatically raise the bar for your entire marketing effort.

The potential for quality photography has risen in recent years with advances in digital technology. Even the iPhone in your pocket is a powerful photographic device when wielded properly. Likewise, a host of creative applications within real estate photography has made it possible to appeal to a wide audience.

Whether you choose to take your own pictures or contract with a professional real estate photography service, remember that the quality of your product across all of these trending topics will be a hallmark of your business and a key to your success.

11 Important Real Estate Photography Trends in 2021 and Why They Matter

  1. Online searches. Nearly all home buyers today begin their home searches online, and most of them find photos to be highly useful. In fact, stunning imagery is the number one feature that grabs and holds their attention. Not only do quality photographs attract potential buyers, they keep them on the page longer, especially if there is an ample supply.
  2. Social media. In today’s market, the influence of social media cannot be overlooked. Forbes suggests that social media is “the biggest factor in the new real estate market.” And why not? Many buyers will search on social media for homes that match their preferences, using hashtags to help them find all the little niches in which they are interested.
  3. Mobile devices. Nearly three-quarters of buyers use a mobile device – a cell phone or tablet – to search for properties online. That fact makes it important to ensure that your photographs are mobile-friendly, that they are optimized for the technology.
  4. Professional photography. In a hurried world, where there are far more responsibilities than hours in a day, many real estate agents are turning to professional photography services. That way, an agent can focus on cultivating leads and building relationships rather than on trying to figure out which photographs to get right and then spending hours editing for print and digital publication.
  5. Editing services. Of course, there are plenty of agents who prefer to take their own photos. Some are quite skilled. But snapping the pictures is not the end of the job. For a photoshoot to be successful – and professional – a considerable amount of time with tedious editing is still necessary. So, for those agents who have a knack for a camera, subletting that process to a professional photo editing service is a solid option.
  6. Virtual staging. Putting together a photoshoot begins long before the lens cap is removed from the camera. Time spent cleaning up the clutter, setting up a living room, or preparing a kitchen for photography gives the lens something worth capturing. Even better, home staging can put a set of images over the top. But time and budget do not always allow for staging. That is where virtual staging comes in handy, where an image of a relatively empty room can be digitally rearranged to appear fully furnished.
  7. Image enhancement. Sometimes a shoot does not go entirely according to plan. A stray sock is left on the floor. A mark goes undetected until it is too late. Or the sun simply refuses to come out when it is time to take the pictures. Image enhancements can allow images to be altered after the fact to accomplish anything from removing a scuff mark to creating a blue sky in the background to augment the view through a window.
  8. Twilight photography. Another emerging trend in real estate is giving some listings a boost. Photos shot during the “golden hour” (also known as Twilight photography) shortly after sunrise or just before sunset can yield stunning images of outdoor spaces, waterfront views, landscapes, city skylines, and more.
  9. Drones. Videography from a bird’s eye view can capture the imagination of home buyers as much as any marketing tool. More and more agents are finding that they can not only use drone footage to feature a property but also to highlight area attractions, update buyers on the progress of their new construction project, check out the condition of the roof, and other property details that are not accessible from the ground.
  10. Walk-through videos. People love a good story. It is no wonder that three hundred hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute and five billion videos are viewed every day! Real estate videos allow an agent to tell a story while highlighting a home – or the route to the neighborhood elementary school, coffee shop, or other attraction.
  11. 3D virtual tours. Agents are learning that homes sell faster and often at higher prices when their listings come with 3D tours. Although the technology has been trending upward for years, services like Matterport have become the new open house in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Statistics

Good visuals like photos play a big role in the work of photographers, real estate agents, and even home buyers. If you’re still wondering about the power of images, here are real estate photography figures you should know.

Google searches about the process of buying a home soared 950%. Coincidentally, a report by the National Association of Real Estate Agents shows that 87% of homebuyers on the internet found images to be among the most useful features of listing websites when looking for new homes they might like.

This is why viewers spend 60% of the time checking images and only 20% on the description. Moreover, 80.2% believe the front photo is the most important picture in the shoot.

Here are more figures that show the importance of professional real estate photography to a seller or realtor.

  • 72.2% of realtors agree that high-quality photography helps them win more listings.
  • Houses with aerial footage and photographs sell 68% faster than those without visuals. People who outsource photography work earn twice as much commission compared to others. However, only 35% of agents employ professional photographers.

Effects of Photography on Selling Strategies

Photos tell a thousand words, and a professional photographer can take quality images. Selling properties faster requires you to provide accurate depictions of a home or space, which is why 69.8% who use professional photography believe that doing so decreases days on the market.

About 61.3% of brokers believe high-quality photography is ‘crucial’, whereas 31.0% think it is ‘important in selling homes.

However, only 15% of homes use high-quality photography, and half of over $1 million properties use poor-quality photographs. If you want to be among the buyers, sellers, and photographers who can beat the competition, use high-quality listing photos to improve credibility and grow clientele.

According to IMOTO, 88.0% of realtors agree that professional photos help increase showings and online listing views. Additionally, the majority of realtors believe interior videos are most likely to win listings.

Varun Markanday

BDM | Offshore Business/Software Solution Consultant | Branding | Driving Sustainable Growth | Mobile & Web Apps

All stories by: Varun Markanday