Professional Photography Is One Listing Expense I Do Not Want to Skip
Most buyers are going to see your house online before they see it in person.
Probably long before.
They may first encounter it while sitting at work, eating breakfast or scrolling through listings on their phone at 10:30 at night. Your house is going to appear on a screen beside a bunch of other houses competing for the same buyer's attention.
That's why professional listing photography is one expense I don't want to skip.
I'm Not Hiring a Photographer Because Your House Needs to Look Fake
Good listing photography isn't about making a house look like something it isn't.
I don't want windows replaced with mountain views that aren't there. I don't want rooms digitally stretched until a 10-by-10 bedroom looks like you could hold a small concert in it.
The goal is simpler.
I want accurate, well-lit photographs that show the house at its best.
A professional real estate photographer understands exposure, lighting, composition, lenses and how to photograph rooms that can be surprisingly difficult to capture well.
That's a different skill from owning a good camera.
Buyers Decide Which Houses Deserve More Attention
A buyer scrolling through listings isn't conducting a careful architectural review of every property.
They're filtering.
Price. Location. Bedrooms. Square footage. Lot. Style.
And photos.
If the first few photos aren't interesting enough to make someone keep looking, the rest of the listing may not get much attention.
That doesn't mean photographs sell the house by themselves. They don't.
But they can influence whether someone decides the house deserves an in-person showing.
That's an important job.
My Phone Has a Great Camera. I'm Still Hiring a Photographer.
Modern phones take remarkably good photographs.
I carry one myself.
That's not the point.
If I'm selling your house, I don't think “my phone takes pretty good pictures” is the standard we should be aiming for.
A professional photographer brings equipment, editing ability and, more importantly, experience photographing real estate. They know how to deal with bright windows and darker interiors. They understand which angles communicate the room properly. They know when a photograph is helping and when it's just adding another image to the carousel.
Could I take acceptable listing photos myself?
Possibly. At least as good as other listings with cell phone pictures.
That's still not the same question as whether I should.
More Photos Aren't Automatically Better
There's also no prize for reaching the maximum number of photos the listing system will accept.
I want enough photographs to give buyers a useful understanding of the property.
I don't need four photographs of the same bathroom from slightly different angles.
The photos should help tell the story of the house: exterior, important living spaces, kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, useful secondary spaces, yard and features that genuinely matter.
If something doesn't help a buyer understand the property, we don't necessarily need a picture of it.
Photography Doesn't Fix Preparation
There is an important catch.
A professional photographer can't solve everything.
If a room is cluttered, it's still cluttered.
If the kitchen counter is covered with appliances, paperwork and yesterday's mail, better lighting isn't going to make those things disappear.
If the front landscaping needs attention, the camera is going to document that too.
Photography works best after we've done the less glamorous work of preparing the property.
That might mean cleaning, decluttering, moving some furniture, touching up paint, handling deferred maintenance or simply removing enough stuff that buyers can see the house instead of the things inside it.
The photographer should be one part of the listing preparation, not a substitute for it.
I Want the Photos to Still Look Like Your House
There's a balance here.
Listing photography is marketing. Of course we're trying to present the property favorably.
But the online presentation still needs to resemble what buyers encounter when they arrive.
There's not much benefit in creating photographs so manipulated that buyers walk through the front door and immediately feel like they've been sold something different.
I'd rather have the reaction be:
**This looks as good as the pictures.**
Maybe better.
This Is Part of the Job
There are plenty of places to think carefully about spending money when preparing a house for sale.
Professional photography isn't one where I'm particularly interested in cutting corners.
The photographs become part of the MLS listing, flow out to the major real estate websites and often create a buyer's first impression of the property.
For most homes I list, I consider professional photography a basic part of bringing the property to market.
You shouldn't have to convince me to do it.
I should be the one making sure it gets done.