Comments on: Austin MLS Now Allows 25 Photos – Too Many?

By: Will.I.Am

Will.I.Am — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 14:13:05 +0000

Carbon footprint from digital photos? Are all realtors as stupid as you are? Good god.

By: Steve Crossland

Steve Crossland — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:53:58 +0000

Followup: I’ve changed my mind about the photos. Having entered several listings now with the new photo quota, we’re not having any trouble finding 25 photos to use, and it’s actually turned out to be helpful to be able to show 3 different angles for the kitchen, for example.

So, I think my initial reluctance to accept this was a bit premature.

Steve

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:28:55 +0000

I believe buyers look at pictures to eliminate properties as I do, not add them as prospects. Pictures often times do a disservice to a property. Agents “use to” previewed properties for their buyers. Now, that appears to be passé by most in the industry. More is less!

By: arz

arz — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:01:54 +0000

Steve,

Think of it this way: train your eyes to look for things to shoot. Sometimes a good photograph will go a long way and believe it or not, some minor things may in fact attract attention. If you know what to shoot and make them pretty, that literally set yourself apart from other agents.

It’s like selling your whatever things on craigslist. The ones with better pictures tend to sell much faster than the ones without or with crappy photos. The number of photos are relatively less important, though if you show them more, they feel like getting more thorough information.

By: Sam Chapman

Sam Chapman — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:40:25 +0000

I agree with you at a lower price point, but at a higher price point and for large homes, I think more photos will be useful. Granted that most of these have virtual tours, but some take a while to load and go through.

By: Larry

Larry — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:37:32 +0000

I just want to note that the limit changed. It is not mandatory to have 25 photos. For this perspective, it is good to increase the limit.
If somebody wants to place 14 or 15 photos, they can now. If you think 10 photos are enough, so be it.
I completely agree that quality should be more important. Some pictures are so bad that even a child could do better.
If used properly, more than 12 photos may help sell the property. But I am afraid it is not going to happen. The number of bad pictures will increase. On the other hand, it increases the chances to have some good pictures among them.
Overall, I think it is good to increase the limit.

By: Michael @ The Stage Coach

Michael @ The Stage Coach — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:45:10 +0000

One more point:
I was working on a presentation for a client this morning, and I came across a listing that breaks one of my cardinal rules: This particular listing had photos of the childrens’ rooms online. With 25x photos, people will post these secondary rooms just to fill spots.
Now, I know my wife and I are a little crazy when it comes to our daughters, but I recommend to every home seller: Do not allow photos of your kids’ rooms online and do not keep pictures/personalized items of your kids visible during the sale of your house.
Michael @ The Stage Coach

By: Michael @ The Stage Coach

Michael @ The Stage Coach — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:04:07 +0000

Hi, Steve:
I agree – if you look at a lot of listings like I do, you see a lot of crappy pictures. And 25 is way too many. I would rather them double the resolution than double the quantity. As corny as it sounds, Quality, not Quantity, is what they need. Frankly, as a Home Stager, I am pressed to get 25 shots when doing Before & Staged pictures.
12 pics at 1600×1200 or even 5mpx (2592 x 1944) would be much more valuable. I come across listings all the time (from one particular real estate company, generally) that posts photos at 1mpx or less always with some kooky whitee frame around them. I can take better pics with my cell phone!
And to address your comment about duplicating pictures, it’s quite obvious when I see a listing with 20 photos on ( your favorite ) Zillow, that they are duplicated. IMHO, that’s a bad move as to me it says, “There’s not enough good things about this house to fill all of the slots, so I’m just going to upload what I have.” But I’m hyper-critical by nature.
Looking forward to others’ replies!
Michael @ The Stage Coach