Almost all buyers in the real estate market conduct some of their shopping online, whether they’re FSBO’s, bank owned foreclosures on MLS, or garden variety properties listed by realtors. 

When buyers check out a potential investment they’re basically looking for something not to like – a reason not to make the investment.  Your average buyer isn’t going to see the diamond in the rough – they’re not going to be able to look past an ugly photo.  If you’re wholesaling to an investor (selling fast and cheap) this might not make much difference, but photos matter when you’re selling to John Q. Public. 

Some buyers will arbitrarily narrow their search by the number of photos included in the listing, and they’ll focus on those photos that are effective in showing the property in a flattering light.  And here’s the rub: taking a good looking photo really doesn’t take much more effort than taking an ugly one. 

So in the interest of banishing ugly photos, here’s a few tips.  Photos are courtesy of the local MLS – all are for small starter single family homes…

1)  Think about perspective.  I think this is the single most important thing – and it’s completely in the photographer’s control.  A good angle is your friend.  The kitchen on the left is from a tiny starter home – under 900 square feet.  But it feels big and bright because the photographer chose a flattering angle.  The second photo is from a larger house, but the photographer has opted to take a weird angle of the kitchen floor looking into the laundry room – giving it a claustrophobic feel. 
 

Again, the photo on the left is from the smaller, cheaper house.  The photo on the right is from the larger, more expensive house - in the same neighborhood.  Which photo is more likely to get the seller a showing? 

2)  Get the lighting right:  There’s no reason to make the room look like a dungeon.  Open all the windows, turn off the flash, put the camera on a tripod and set it on auto exposure.  The second photo does a much better job.    

3)  Keep your horizons level:  Pay attention to the lines of the photo.  Make sure they’re straight.  There’s no reason to publish a photo that looks like these two.  

4)  Keep it simple:  Get rid of the clutter.  This seller seems to be enamored with her display of Christmas wonderland trinkets.  But the buyer probably won’t be.  It would have just taken a couple of minutes to stash this stuff in the closet before snapping the photo. 

5)  Focus:  When you’re reviewing your photos on that little screen on the back of your camera sometimes it’s hard to tell when a photo is out of focus.  But it will be obvious once you upload it. 

It's also possible that the blur was caused by camera shake - meaning that the photographer was not able to hold the camera steady enough.  This often happens in low light situations w/ shutter speeds slower than 1/30th of a second.  And if you don't know what this means don't worry - I won't get into it - just go out and get a cheap $20 tripod and that will fix the problem. 

6)  Don’t stretch/squash the photo:  A distorted photo doesn’t look right.  And in this case it makes the ceilings look lower than they are. 
 

There’s more.  But this is a start.  And as my might have guessed, photography is a hobby of mine – so it’s possible that I care about this stuff more than most – but I think that getting the photos right is a relatively effortless way to make sure that your property puts its best foot forward online.