One of the most critical elements for preparing any
effective real estate marketing effort is pictures. Home buyers want to ‘shop around’ using the pictures they’ve
seen, even if they have seen the actual house; and many buyers won’t even
consider looking at a house if there are not any ‘pre-view’ pictures
available. Attractive pictures
will help get a “SOLD” sign on the home quicker, make the client happy, and put
a commission in the agent’s pocket.
Here are five quick tips for getting attractive pictures to
include in your marketing campaign to get that home sold.
1)
Get a decent digital camera. You’re in a profession with high dollar stakes involved, and
the images you use should reflect that.
You do not need to invest thousands of dollars in a high-end SLR camera;
however, your camera phone just doesn’t cut it to take professional-grade
photographs. Purchase a decent
camera that takes shots with at least 5.1 megapixel capability, with storage
cards for easy ‘reloading.’
2)
Take a lot of pictures.
And I mean a lot. Hundreds
if necessary. Try them with and
without the flash. Take pictures
from a variety of angles, even if it means just moving a few inches over. There’s no additional cost involved if
you bought the right camera in choosing which pictures to use, so give yourself
plenty to choose from.
3)
Only take outside pictures on a sunny day. Outdoor shots should be bright and
cheerful, not with the sky dark and gloomy. Wait a few days, the weather will change, and you can do the
outside shots at any time of the day – but make sure you do so when the sun
will be behind you, and make sure your shadow isn’t showing in the pictures!
4)
Use your flash unit sparingly, if possible. The glare that can come off of surfaces
you hadn’t even thought of can ruin a shot. Be sure to take shots in rooms with lots of windows and
mirrors on angles so the bounce-back from the flash doesn’t show up.
5)
Buy a decent image editing program. This software is available at anywhere from $99 to thousands
of dollars, but you do not need to have the high end software for your
purpose. You can create contact
sheets with even the lower end software and involve the client in choosing
which pictures you will use.

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