Over the last year there has been a salesperson from Visual Tours going to all the local real estate offices and offering their services.  They label it as a ‘virtual tour‘, but it is only a slideshow.  There have been a few in-house systems created as well (Howard Hanna). Many of the realtors jumped on board with them due to the low fees, of which I will not compete against.   They either took the photos themselves or had an assistant take them.  Needless to say, the quality of images were poor.  Low or no lighting, no flash, fingers in the shot, blinds/curtains closed and the list goes on.  The exterior photos had sunspots, were blurred or were not framed.

I’ve mentioned to the realtors that the first impression…meaning the photos/virtual tours that you put on your listing page….are what captures the prospective buyer’s attention.  Many people will lose interest quickly with a poor representation.   If I see a listing online that has low quality images, I will sometimes drive to the location and take a few high quality shots of the exterior that I can get without stepping on the property.  Those images are emailed to the realtor so they can see the difference in quality.  However, I watermark the photos with my website address so they can’t be used.   This will get the realtor to call you to provide services.

Try this and see if your phone rings!

Rob Lenthe
Internet and Mobile Marketing