Great Photos Can Increase the Perceived Value of Real Estate

Alaska realtors do many things to try to sell their properties for the highest price. They clean up the lawn to increase curb appeal. Stage the home to make it look attractive. Have necessary repairs done.

But there’s one specific element that can dramatically increase what buyers are willing to pay for a home. It’s how the photos look.

Okay, yes, we’re a real estate photography business. Of course we’d say that. But it’s not just us...

Statistics on the Importance of Real Estate Photography 

How important are high-quality photos to selling homes?Half of all home buyers find their home online. And this matters, because...

• When buyers look online, they spend 60% of their time looking at listing photos. In contrast, only 20% of their time is spent looking at the description of the home.

• Even the types of images can matter. For example, homes with aerial photography on their listing (aka, images taken by drones) sell 68% faster than homes without.

So good pictures are important. But how do they impact the price buyers are willing to pay?

• If a home has high-quality photos on their listing, it can get 47% more per square foot than a home without high-quality photos. 

• Other research says you can sell a home for up to $19,000 more if you decide to use professional real estate photography. 

In short, not only will a home sell faster with professional photos, but your listing will also drum up more competition and ultimately sell for a better price. 

Why? Because high-quality photos suggest a high-quality home. 

At DMD, we use drones, videos, virtual staging, and more to give buyers a better idea of what it’s really like to walk through each room. 

Members of our team can help real estate listings in Fairbanks, Anchorage, Eagle River, Palmer, and Wasilla sell fast and for a higher listing price. Reach out to us through our online booking form today. 

Behind the Scenes: Post-Processing Real Estate Photography

Unless you have the kind of relationship with your real estate photographer that we do with many of our clients, post-processing for your listing photos may still be a mystery to you. 

What is it that keeps your gallery files from being zipped and shipped over the morning after your photoshoot.

We know that you know it’s worth it. But we also want you to know why. 

Today’s post offers a behind the scenes glimpse of that magic happening to your images in the time between shoot and upload.

Balancing Light Temperatures

The number of windows in a room, the home’s location, and even time of day can affect lighting throughout a home. Think about using a flash versus none or the difference between the lightbulbs you have in various lamps and fixtures at home.

Unfortunately, for buyers scrolling through your listing photos, stark differences can be quite distracting. So, real estate photographers “balance light temperatures” across the gallery. 

This means they edit lighting in order to bring the entire gallery to a light, bright, and airy middle ground. They do this by reducing ultra bright highlights, lifting shadows, and saturating blacks, among other things. 

Color Correcting in Tandem

In tandem with balancing light temperatures, your editor is adjusting color saturation and playing with hue and tint, too. This is how we enhance the green trees and warm exterior evening lighting, for instance.

Or, while brightening a kitchen shot, you could kick up the contrast and increase saturation on a countertop close-up, to make the natural grey veining through gorgeous white marble really pop.  

Note, however, that it is always our goal (and responsibility) to accurately represent a space. Because eventually, a buyer is going to see the real thing. Best to keep it enhanced - not unreal.

Final Touches on Staging

Often, photographers send a preparation checklist ahead of their appointment to ensure everything is in place. Still, even the best planning won’t escape uncontrollable factors like weather and staging mishaps.

Luckily, we live in an age where we can make these kinds of corrections digitally: 

• Crop images for best framing

• Remove distracting objects

• Add minor details (fire in the fireplace, flowers in a vase) 

• Replace cloudy skies with a clear day

Vertical correction can straighten the strange curving or odd distortion that sometimes results from an awkward angle taken for “full effect.”   

In the rare case where zero staging has taken place, we can also virtually stage to provide depth and perspective in each room.

Your Gallery’s End User Experience

Once you’ve got the gallery’s overall look and feel where you want it, the last order of business is to ensure visual integrity from photographer’s files to listing upload.

We always resize listing photos to real estate site specs. Any distortion in your gallery images can have you overlooked in a heartbeat. Making sure every photo is uniform and fully viewable to the end user is a must.

To learn more about what DMD does behind the scenes of our post-processing of real estate gallery photos, feel free to call or contact us through the site!

Four Tips for Getting the Real Estate Photos You Want

Research shows photography can decrease your home’s time on the market by more than half. But in this competitive real estate market, you have to go above and beyond a standard set of photos to command the attention (and price) you want.

Here are five tips for getting the real estate photos you want for the greatest impact among potential homebuyers.

Stage for Dreaming, Not Home Décor Shopping

Looking at photos of an empty room makes it difficult for buyers to visualize the space. Appropriately furnishing can identify its purpose, provide scale, and show lighting in the room.

Staging can also effectively emphasize custom elements such as light fixtures, built-ins, and other design features in the home.

The key is remembering to avoid clutter and personal touches. It is difficult for buyers to dream if they become distracted by your personal style and décor.

Hire a Professional Photographer

Digital-savvy millennial homebuyers want stunning visuals – especially when they’re being asked to pay top dollar for a new home.

Professional real estate photographers are experienced in specific types of equipment, photo angles, best lighting practices, and editing your digital images in order to capture the most impressive pictures of your home.

Also, true industry professionals can offer virtual tours and drone imaging services, as well as accurately recommend when they are best-suited for showcasing your home (which isn’t always the case).

Don’t Forget Your Curb Appeal

Believe it or not, part of captivating the kind of buyers you want through a digital home listing includes curb appeal.  

Millennial homebuyers, currently the fastest-growing segment today, are just as interested in the outdoor aesthetic as they are the indoor one.

Listings that don’t begin with the front yard and end with the back have the potential for leaving your listing passed over in the blink of an eye.

Diversify Your Visual Media

There are three primary options for diversifying the presentation of your home for maximum impact. Discuss them with your real estate agent and photographer.

Floor Plans

Behind photographs and detailed information, the National Association of Realtors reports floor plans are the third-most important visual to include in real estate listings. It’s easy to add them, too.

3D Virtual Tours

The amount of home purchases being made sight-unseen has jumped to 45% according to Redfin. One primary reason? 3D-tour technology. It can be especially effective here in Alaska due to our proportion of out-of-state buyers.

Drone Shots

Drone photos are great for hard-to-reach angles that could wow potential buyers, as well as showing proximity to walkable community amenities. The option is usually a must for large, high-end properties and listings with acreage.

Do you have additional questions about snapping the perfect real estate photos?

Contact us! At DMD Real Estate Photography, we have been taking fantastic photos of local real estate since 2009.