Estate agents & photography

[moustachebandit]

Are there any estate agents on here?

I am interested to know your views on using professional photography for your property particulars etc. I do a lot of work with estate agents and I have noticed that on the whole the photography they use when promoting properties is frankly dire (Out of focus, low resolution, poorly framed, no image correction, to dark, random subject matter, taken on a mobile rather than a SLR, house on a weird angle etc - usual happy snapper stuff).

Decent photography make a massive difference when presenting a property; so I am interested to know the reasons behind not using a professional photographer.


Is it solely a cost issue?

Do you you see any value in it?

Is it a convenience factor - why get someone to take the photos when the agent can do it at the sale time as the valuation? Just another thing to manage?

Is there a price point where you feel that using a professional photographer would be something you would consider?

Anything else that I havent thought of?


I am in the position to help a friend out with some photographic work and try to sell in a service to the agencies I work with, but before I approach them I wanted to get some ideas of what a typical agents concern might be when it comes to using a service like this - just so I can present a strong case.

Thanks for the time.

[moustachebandit]

Saltyjohnson, Rangerover, FrankAbagnale- out of interest what is the average price point for the properties you sell? Just trying to establish whether its something that the agents I deal with would entertain or whether its worth me approaching agents that deal with the upper end property wise.

As a side note - if you didn't pay a professional photographer and had the photos done in house. Would you ever consider paying to have image correction done on the photos you had taken? Straightening images up, removing the pinch / bloat from using wide angle lenses, lightening pictures, adding warm glow to the interior shots, cutting in blue skies, making the grass greener etc?

Edited by moustachebandit on Wednesday 25th January 11:38

[moustachebandit]

Glad to see that agents & home owners understand the importance of good photography.

I am literally amazed at the sort of imagery some estate agents think is acceptable. Sadly in a few instances they also seem completely blind to the issue and dont see how decent photography can help their business or shift properties. I have sold a number of properties and in every instance I took the photos and gave them to the agent as the one they initially took wouldn't have been out of place on the pages of Gumtree!

Here is a question for the home owners who have taken their own photography or possibly sold a home on something like Purple bricks / Tepilo etc - would you pay a nominal charge to have you images "enhanced" so bright sunny skies added in, rooms lightened etc?