Online photos have been the best way to show your potential tenants your rental property, and with how competitive the market has become in the recent years, yours must look the most amazing as possible among everyone else's. This is the case especially in Alaska with the large amount of people moving in and out of the state. While looking for their next home, prospective tenants are looking for the most eye-catching, clearest, realistic, and all the photography-what-have-you’s. And so it goes, that getting professional help is the only way to go.
The numbers may vary from different markets and localities, but the trend shows that a lot of sales agents are using professional photographers to shoot a home. Anchorage and its neighboring cities are not behind on this trend with more and more rental properties hiring professional photographers to showcase their openings. It’s pretty much logical in this day and age. But believe it or not, there are still those who were left in the past wave of technology, perhaps in the early 2000s, posting low-definition photos using their phones from the worst angles with harshest lighting, and are even hoping to for top dollars and a high number of leads for such bad advertising.
It no longer works that way in 2021.
Poor photos attract less inquiries, which may result to a downward pressure on the monthly rent. Renters are the same with buyers when looking at homes online, they are both drawn to properties that look refreshing, enticing, and overall, amazing.
As mentioned in this article from Washington Post:
“We are a visual society,” said Sharron Jones, a real estate agent with Weichert Realtors. “Go to successful retail stores like Nordstrom or Target and look at photos for ads, commercials or merchandising displays in stores. All of them are designed to show their products at their best. Likewise, a seller should show their property at its best.”
Lighting and Colors May Not be Your Friends
It may be easy to imagine that great photos can be achieved with just a touch of a button on your phone with the technology that we have, but it’s actually more difficult than it looks. For example, Alaska may have harsh weather sometimes and this leads to poor lighting that automatic settings cannot mitigate such as in smartphones.
With less adjustments and ease, it is easy to take photo of a window that is excessively bright, or interiors that are very dark being shot from the wrong angle. Well, there are smartphones that can balance exposures, indoor and outdoor lighting, but more often than not, you may get strange colors that does not fit the general look or presentation of the room or the view.
Sometimes, the issue could be the light coming into the room during the shooting. FYI, tungsten light can make a view look orange-y, and other colors may make it seem green or blue, which could be totally different from how it looks in reality.
Alaska has one of the most majestic skies and scenic natural backgrounds; bad angles and poor lighting won’t do them justice. Good thing there are trusted and time-tested professional photographers in the state, such as DMD Real Estate Photography, whose expertise has served successful agents and realtors in the area.
Professional Photographers Know Their Thing
First and foremost, a photographer studied lighting and has taken more pictures than you, thus, they have mastered the craft by virtue of experience. They have the right skills and the best tools and gears to overcome every lighting issue to make sure that every room and view will look their best in photographs. The goal is not to create a false picture and lure potential tenants into the wrong expectations, but instead, a realistic view of the parts of the home that’s going to invite the right tenants who are looking for a home with styles that are being featured.
Here’s what our clients has to say about professional photography:
“I always choose DMD Real Estate Photography for my real estate marketing photos because the photographers are all professional, they understand proper lighting, the photos are top quality, and I receive the photos quickly after each shoot!”
— Jeff Davis, Real Estate Brokers of Alaska
It’s More Than Just Photography
The last several years has gifted us with photoshop. Something which may be a struggle to use for most people. Aside from editing for the best lighting, Professional Real Estate Photographers can also add objects in a photo digitally, such as furniture.
If there is that ugly fixture hanging around that you can’t get rid of, then voila, problem solved. Or if the room is empty, you can also fill it with necessary furniture to add to the flare. As you know, some people may find it hard to imagine what can fit the space, but your photographer would be able to add the appropriate furniture in the room at lesser expense; especially the heavy lifting that comes with it.
Looking at the Bigger Picture, Looking at the Future
As a real estate agent, it is important to think about your business in the long run. Every photo that you use and upload to advertise a property will definitely send a message about you as an agent.
Think about future landlords’ assumptions about you as an agent by the level of professionalism that you show in the photos that you use.
It’s all about the impression. Are you presenting homes in the best possible way? Enough for your current and future clients to think you are handling listings with care and professionalism, going the extra mile, enough to be hired the first time, and to be hired again.
Real Estate Photographers care about their clients, especially to keep them for the long run. While your business grows, it is also good to keep one provider for ease of transactions and faster workarounds. Once you have a property available, you can just call the previous one you worked with, who, of course, provided the best photos for your buck. And this is where some real estate photographers, such as DMD Real Estate Photography, excel in; keeping a good relationship with clients through great service and professionalism.
In the end, what we mean here is to look at your business as a whole, and not just go for the cheapest ways to get a property listed online; look at the bigger picture. From one amazing photograph to scrolling to the next, clients’ confidence in you will build up. And from that first photo posted, perhaps a view of the façade with an amazing sky on the back, balanced with the best daylight, hiring a professional real estate photographer is definitely the most logical choice.