Thursday Three Hundred: Little Forest Hills Home Would Shine With Better Photos
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This is a real tragedy, people. What you’re about to see should never, ever happen.
Brace yourself. Here is an adorable home in Shamrock Shores inside Little Forest Hills, with three bedrooms and two baths, and photos that would send homebuyers running.
Candy talked about this on KLIF this past weekend. Basically, if your Realtor isn’t taking professional photos of your home, then you need a new agent. I agree 100 percent, and nothing shows this to be true more than 8822 Redondo — a three-bedroom, two-bath home with 1,386 square feet priced at $369,000.
Now, there are several fantastic, well-trained real estate photographers in Dallas. Karen Eubank did a wonderful series profiling some of our favorites. If you need a refresher, check out the series right this second.
OK, so basically this home is brand new to the market and in a very hot area, and I’m sure it will sell thanks to the location and updates, and the Realtor marketing this property will undoubtedly save a few bucks on overhead by taking her own photos, but honestly, if I were a homebuyer looking to score a move-in ready home in a market like this one, I would not put this house on my shortlist. Why? Because my time is limited, I need to tour only the homes I would consider putting in an offer, and I am going to make a lot of snap decisions based on what I see in online listing photos.
Now, I know that this living room is cute, and I like the moulding and trim, and the windows and lighting upgrades. But thanks to the odd angles and bad flash photography, I am missing the real charm of this home. I can’t tell if these floors are in good shape, and what does the other side of the dining room look like?
Now, the kitchen … I bet it is cute in person, and I like the finishes the sellers chose. But all of those fabulous details are impossible to see thanks to the under-exposed photos and weird angle where we only see the sink and the backsplash. What’s up with that? I really want these photos to sell this adorable home, but they are such a turn-off for me.
There’s no picture of the master bedroom, and all we get to really see of the master bath is this weird angle and a full-on shot of the vanity. A wide-angle lens would allow buyers to see the scale and layout of the bathroom.
And the backyard, much like the front, was photographed during a time of day when the sun was directly overhead and cast shadows over the home and its landscaping. That means that, without a well-placed flash and a wide-angle lens, I see nothing. Nada. Of course, it’s better than a turned-up toilet seat and catching yourself in the mirror …
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Sometimes in this fast paced market, we put our own photos up while we are waiting on the
photographer – because it is taking a week to get one out. Just a thought.
I totally agree, Pam. But still, if you’re going to take your own photos for listings, perhaps use a good camera? An entry-level DSLR and some online courses are worth it. I really feel like with all of the free photography help on the internet, there’s no excuse for listing photos like this. I want every home to look its best!
House flippers jump with joy when they see a house presented like this, as they know that they can probably buy it for well under the market value ( as others are turned off ) put a very few dollars into to staging it and getting knockout photos and then sell it for a very handsome profit in less than a week.
One seeking a modeling or acting job probably would not use a driver’s license photo in his/her job search.
There is a ton of money ( non-taxable usually ) that is left on the table simply by not presenting a property at its best. Staging, professional photography, paint and touching up landscaping can bring in a ton of extra money on a home sale.
Watch some of the house flipping shows on the cable networks to see the emphasis they put on having the curb appeal and all of the house sparkling to see the importance of properly presenting a house for sale.
You do a disservice to this seller when you criticize the photographs of his home. His is an active listing. If someone enters his address in Google your article will pop up. Will this help or hinder his marketing efforts?
Well, I actually think it helps because nowhere in the article did I criticize the home (because it’s adorable!). But we’ve talked about this here, and Candy’s spoken at length about photos and how critical they are in our digital-first culture, on the radio and at functions. We’re still truly confounded when Realtors don’t take advantage of the vast pool of professional knowledge that is at their fingertips.
That said, I hope this home gets a bazillion offers despite the amateur photography.
What about the possibility that people who choose to live in LFH don’t tend to be the sort of folks who need expensive pics. They choose LFH and then wait for the right home to open up. At least the folks who buy the older homes. Once we settled on LFH as “our neighborhood” we never looked in another neighborhood. And we knew it was our neighborhood in less than 5 minutes of driving around. Didn’t care about molding or counter-tops. Just wanted a structurally sound house at the right price. Living in LFH was all that mattered.
For what it is worth: My wife had not seen the inside of the house we bought when I made an offer on it. She was ok with that and she did see it later that night. But at that time houses were moving very quickly.