Rick's Pocono Mountain Blog

In our market, some agents don't even take the outside view.  They just load the photo that the MLS has on file that was taken by the MLS photographers at some earlier point in time, perhaps when the house had a different outside look.

I can't agree with you more Rick!

I am astonished with agents that have $1 mil+ homes and only have one picture! Not that it should be acceptable for a home of any listing price - but one would think taking multiple pictures would be a natural "given".   

Fortunately for us, there are some lazy agents out there. Unfortunately these agents have a glib tongue or are willing to work for nothing and seem to talk their way into more than their share of listings, listings that we would love to represent in their entirety to the buying public. And then there are those who don't have the ability to take a good picture inside a home. I always hire my shots done, because I am one of those.

I often use the one picture/bad picture comparison to my standard n a CMA presentation. Often it works.

Rick ~ One of my pet peevs for sure.  I think sometimes they don't even go to the home itself.  You can get a outside shot of the home from the county tax website here.  It drives me crazy. I have to overlook the NON Professionalism and pay attention to what I am doing.  But, I would love to call the owner and tell them to go look on line at their home.

Why list it if you are not going to do the job right.  Even on my worse listings I take at least 4-6

I usually have 20-35 pics per house.  I can't believe that people do not take the time do advertise the hosues the way they should be...  And Sellers allow it...

We have many homes in the $1M+ range with just one picture in our MLS.  It makes you want to call the Seller and let them know what a disservice the agent is doing representing their property.

We have many homes in the $1M+ range with just one picture in our MLS.  It makes you want to call the Seller and let them know what a disservice the agent is doing representing their property.

The house across the street from me was listed (overpriced and with an agent from the next county), and there was one exterior photo, it looked like it was taken from the street, probably from his car!  I tried to get the listing before he listed with the other agent, but the other agent gave him a discounted commission!  Funny now, that 2 years later, the house is still sitting there, vacant - some discount he got!

One of my biggest pet peeves. Plus you'd be surprised at how many million-dollar homes get only 1 photo ... from some the of biggest companies in the business.

I agree with you, Rick, that it is appalling sometimes the quality of photos taken for MLS listings.  Around here in the higher price ranges though ($1 million plus), it is not unusual to find a homeowner who doesn't want photos of the inside of their home shown all over the internet/MLS.  Our local board requires at least one photo for every MLS listing, and so that's what the agent does. -- Tanya in Montreal

Preaching to the choir, Rick. However, it is the most frustrating thing to not see pictures on listings...and it does not matter what type of listing it is, it should have more than one type of photo.

Another thing, a good argument for having multiple photos....  on Realtor.com, the consumer can sort by the number of photos.  A lot of people willl filter out those with only one photo, it may as well not be on the market.

I ask the same question, particularly when the description describes all of its amenities and talks about how wonderful the place is.  But there are homes that would scare people off if inside photos were shown.

And why do people hire those agents?!?  BTW - I spend a lot more than 15-20 minutes taking pictures, especially in smaller homes where they can't live in a 'staged' environment.  Things get moved for the shot, then put back. It takes about an hour.

We do not have million dollar homes here but pictures are important nonetheless. I may take a picture of the front of the house when I take the listing and choose to wait until another day to take the interiors.  This way the sellers have a chance to put away the clutter, rearrange the furniture if need be, and get the fridge cleared of magnets etc. One of MY biggest pet peeves is agents who take pics of interior clutter or their camera does not take wide angle so the shot is of a corner of the room. Does posting no pics have the same effect on marketing as bad pics?

Yes sir Rick, right on!!

My agents are told the maximum number of pictures for the MLS is their minimum.

A picture is worth a thousand words....and thousands of dollars too.

The ones that really amaze me are the cell phone photos, most of which are poort quality.

Dominick

The best 1 pic listing I ever saw came from the agents cell phone, while sitting in her car! You can see part of the steering wheel & mirror!!

I don't know how they survive, and yet many thrive with only 1 or Zero photos. 

But, now I use it to my advantage & as soon as that listing expires I print out a copy & mail it/drop off to the seller with my expired listing material with all of the BOO BOOs highlighted in yellow, INCLUDING THE NUMBER OF PHOTOS.

To all the asset managers out there, with a lazy agent & no photos of your "assets", give me a call I will happily do a better job for you!

 

I can't agree with you more. That is when I want to mail the seller and say LOOK!! they are not doing right by you - but of course I don't.

When I see a home with no inside pictures I figure either the inside is just too bad to take pictures of or the Listing Agent wants to get both sides.

We are allowed up to 12 pictures on our MLS, and I normally try to use everyone of them.

Happens here too.  Or else they walk around the outside of the house and take 10 pictures of the outside and none of the inside!  I'm extremely leary of a listing without interior pics because there's usually something very wrong with it.

They are set in their ways and thinking that they've done business like this for the past 25 years, & have sold houses, so they don't need to change.

When I listed my home just over 4 years ago, the agent didn't take the photo. The photographer for their brokerage would be given the address. He/she drove to the house, never knocked on my door (I was home), and proceeded to take an exterior shot from the street while my garage door was open. When I saw the photo, I pitched a fit. Made them re-take it. I also couldn't understand why lots of listings had many photos & mine only had one. I complained about it several times & my listing agent finally told me that it would cost him $600 to be able to put up 6 photos. How was I to know any better? I was not working in the field at the time (home stager now). I was selling at the time the market was still pretty strong, so lucky for me, someone who drove by loved my house and asked for a showing & bought it. I'm sure that did nothing to convince my broker that he needed to do business any differently.

Our MLS allows 15 photos, and our office requires that agents put up at least 10. When dealing with raw land, for example, sometimes you just can't come up with more than 10 different views! But houses? Wow...just one photo is a huge mistake, IMO. I know that sometimes (especially with rentals) the interior is not in great condition, but try to get it cleaned up to take at least a few inside shots.

Guaranty that many pictures and a virtual tour will spark interest. No picture (which I see often) and only one lousy picture of the front is not going to attract anyone to see it. the more exposure the better...the better the description....all the more.

Rick -  Having just one picture or none at all makes me suspicious about the condition of the house or the laziness of the agent. Our MLS people used to take one picture free of charge for agents when digital cameras were a fairly new concept. All the agent had to do was call and ask. Still there were many blank listings.

 

Perhaps they do not take the pictures at all.  Maybe when they have the sign guy drop off the sign they also have him snap a picture with the cell phone.

So many times I see photos of furniture not the room. I then wonder what the agent is selling- the house or the bed? A few months ago a friend and fellow Broker from Northern California was visiting. He told me about all the listings he had. We were playing around with Realtor.com and I looked up his listings. I laughed because everyone of his photos were tilted! When I explained how this was a reflection on the quality of his work he promised to be more careful in his picture taking. He had never noticed that he was tilting his camera and his assistant never bothered to tell him as she uploaded them.

Rick,

I totally agree with you and share your frustration.  I am amazed when I see a listing who has been active for more than a month and only shows one photo on the MLS.   It makes sense to enter as many different photos of the property as allowed by the MLS (and to take even more photos for a visual tour and/or to display online to better market the property). 

Now, wait...I always thought only a few pics of a high priced listing was for security reasons?

Couldn't agree more with all these comments! So frequently I am going through listings and cannot believe the quality, or lack thereof, of the photos, or that photos are missing of the "great waterfront view". I also cannot believe that a quality agent would allow photos of the home in complete disarray to be published. I require my sellers (and landlords) to unclutter, tidy up, move furniture for the best showing, etc. before I take the photos. And I have even not listed the home until it is ready for showing. It is up to us, the agents, to tell the seller what has to be done to get their property ready for the market. Those that don't want to cooperate can list with someone else. I am here to sell homes, not just to list them! I have found that sellers who cooperate on this point, are much more cooperative on everything else involved with the transaction.

Many REO listings around here will only have 1 exterior photo.  I guess those listing agents don't think it's worth their time to take a few more.

This is definitely one of my pet peeves - it is very frustrating and bewildering how these agents can get away with shoddy or non existent pictures!  I often wish we could call up the seller and say "well I would like to send your listing along to my buyer but they are out of state and want more pictures before flying in and meeting with me!"  

I take lots of photos of each room and outside and at different angles - so when I get them back to office I can see them on the computer and pick the best ones.  

I have blogged numerous times on this subject. It drive me nuts. In some areas (Florida) the MRIS enacts a penalty or fine for listings with no photos. I think we should have the same!

On the other hand when I go on a listing presentation, and I explain to the seller how their expired listing was on the market with only a few photos, which puts it at the bottom of the search engines on sites such as realtor.com and zillow, I usually get the listing!

I use the lack of pictures and proper descriptions as a listing tool to separate myself from others and it works!

Ty

oooh...good rant material! don't get me started. I'm also loving the listings with NO picture, which is a violation of MLS rules. Come on, you are there anyway....take a few and save us all some time.

The lack of pictures is a sure sign of a lazy listing agent, and someone who I don't want on the other side of my transaction.   Therefore, when my buyers inquire if there are any more photos, I respond, "The home must be in poor shape if they are hiding the details."  It works everytime!

It amazes me how lazy agents can be. There is a local Realtor here who doesn't even get out of the car. He takes one photo of each listing and you can see his car window/mirror in each photo.

I have seen agents use the single photo from the tax assessor...  this totally blows my mind.  Don't most Sellers check Realtor.com, etc?  In my office, we do not load directly to the MLS ourselves.  So I always check my own listing.

I suggest writing a more construct blog on the importance of taking pictures and how they benefit a listing.  You seem to be venting.

Aaron, next time I will try to be more 'construct'. Yes it may have been venting because it was an impulsive blog. I thought I gave enough constructive advice when I mentioned a picture being worth a thousand words. Thanks for the comment!

I totally agree. The lack of adequate photos and photos of poor quality, is one of my pet peeves. Vent away! We all feel your pain!

Our MLS members must be exceptional. It is rare to find listings that don't have multiple pictures, and for the most part they are of fine quality.