DIY vs. Professional Photographer:
Is Your Property a Money Maker?
44% of recent buyers started their home search online. 87% found photos very useful in their home search. (Source)
DIY vs. Professional Real Estate Photographer
When you’re advertising your listing you’re additionally creating a billboard for yourself and telling other potential clients how you would treat their property. Amongst all of the details necessary to consider, such as the wording in the property description, the way you visually present the property with photos, video, or virtual tours, etc., demand the most attention.
Although there are many debates as to the accuracy of sites like Zillow, 94% of millennials are starting their home search online. And yet, many real estate agents fail to invest wisely in professional methods of making sure their listings stand out. Choosing whether DIY vs. Professional Real Estate Photography is right for you is something you must evaluate for your brand.
As a real estate agent, the problem at hand is that you’re not guaranteed to sell the property no matter what you do or how much you invest into the listing. With that in mind, it’s easy to cut corners and do things yourself when possible. Is taking your listing photos yourself a costly mistake?
Why a Professional Real Estate Photographer?
Of course if real estate photography were to be a free service, most real estate agents would use a professional to take the photos. Not only does it save time, but the end results are going to be vastly better than they can do themselves.
Specialized Equipment
Professional photographers invest thousands of dollars into purchasing the necessary equipment to do their jobs. It is not only a camera, but lenses themselves can cost more than the camera. Add in tripods, lights, remote triggers, computer software, etc., and you’ve easily spent more than $5K. Add in the time it takes to properly use these tools and then add in the time to learn to edit.
Expertise
Knowledge on a particular subject comes with time in the field and research. You can have all the right equipment and still not know what you’re doing. Between composition and editing, it takes a lot of trial and error to know what to highlight in a photo. Professionals, by working with many real estate agents and finding out their likes and dislikes, are able to improve their images at a rate that you couldn’t if it’s not your sole job.
Editing
Professional real estate photographers know that this is almost more important than what you capture in-camera. Photos don’t come out of a camera ready to deliver, especially for interiors. For a typical property, you have bright windows, dark rooms, and a mixture of different colors from different light sources. Editing not only becomes about balancing all of the different light levels and colors, but about vertical and distortion corrections, adjusting tonality, and in some cases reframing the composition.
Why Should you Do It Yourself?
Cost
The only disadvantage of using a professional real estate photographer is that you have to sacrifice some of the money you make. And for a real estate agent, this usually means you’re coming out of pocket now, and gettin paid later. And who knows when that will be. But what remains is that you have to look at professional photography as an investment that could help you sell the property faster and for more money. Many Real estate agents, in case the property is taken off the market before the sale, charge the property owner for the photos in addition to any termination fees, to minimize their losses.
Hiring a professional usually costs $100 up to a few hundred dollars. It’s not really a matter of the more you pay, the better the photos, because each photographer is different. What you pay for when taking your own photos is your time and the end quality of your photos.
Fast Results
Some professionals can take up to 48 hours to turnaround professional photos. When you’retaking your own photos, you can prioritize this task and have your listing live in MLS within a few hours. There’s no scheduling and waiting for a photographer to arrive, leave, and send the photos. If you’re using a cell phone, you can have your images uploaded to the listing before the amount of time it takes for a photographer to make it home.
Full Control
Because there is no monetary cost to you, you are not limited to a number of photographs. Youcan take the exact photos you want, show what you want, and is often an attractive point for those who like to be in control.
Image Ownership
The market of real estate photography doesn’t really allow for professional photographers tocharge a lot of money for their work. The cost of transferring ownership of your work comes at a great cost compared to a limited use license to use the photos. Professional real estate photographers typically retain the full rights of their photos and allow you to use them under varying circumstances. When you take your own photos, you own them and you can do with them as you please.
Why Not DIY?
Poor Quality
Unless you’ve had some previous photography training, the probability of the photos looking great is sub-par. There is no avoiding this unless you’re serious about learning and investing in the craft. They may be acceptable, but adding them into a sea of professional photos will have people looking for better. Unprofessional photos usually make a property look worse than what it really is, and vice versa for professional photos. Part of being a real estate agent is also what goes into branding yourself, and your focus on this, will take you a lot further in the business.
Is Your Property a Money Maker?
The reality is real estate photography can make a big difference in how someone will view your property. Choosing the right professional photographer also makes a difference. Unfortunately, the bottom line comes down to how your prepare that property for photos. Rearranging furniture for space, putting on a fresh coat of paint, or replacing light fixtures are just some of the things you can do for appeal. Some properties that are well taken care of, may be due for a little tidying. If you don’t know where to start, our home prep checklist will get you going in the right direction before you consult with your photographer.
Conclusion
Unless you have experience with professional photography, its best to go with one, and specifically a real estate photographer for your property shots. Portrait or wedding photographers are great, but usually lack the knowledge and artistry involved with shooting property. Real estate photography is just a cost of doing business, just like your other marketing efforts, or the fees you pay to your broker.
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