Mom always said that you can't bake a Great Cake with margarine and old flour. It sure isn't any easier to sell a Great Home using low quality media. The photos and video that you take are going to be the first impression that many buyers get of your listing. Don't you want that first impression to be a good, long lasting one? One that they will think back on after a long day of house hunting with another agent? Cameras are a dime a dozen.
When you choose a Camera be sure you can get down to business and start taking photos right out of the box. If you have to take lessons or spend allot of time learning to use it, it may not be the right choice for you. As a real estate professional your time is valuable. Find a "One-Shot" camera that takes clear photos indoors. Outside photos are easy. Stores are lit up bright so photos taken in the store are very clear and bright. Once you get to the home, its another story. Florida homes are well shaded and are kept dark and cool especially throughout the summer. The same camera that took that wonderful photo in the store is now creating photos with a dim and tarnished look. The windows on the wall completely whited out. There is no view of the Sailboat Access Canal or Golf Course on the other side of the window, just an all white glowing window box. Its not the photo you had in mind when you shelled out $250 for that new fancy camera.
As soon as you buy a camera take it home and start taking some test shots of your home and see what they look like. Be sure to photograph a window to see if the exterior view of the landscape outside shown... Is there a whited out box where the window is? We are going to talk more about whited out windows in our next blog post... But first the camera...
DSLR or One-Shot?
Easy enough.. One-Shot wins without going into detail. A Real Estate professional has to be ready to run on the fly, work fast, and close quickly... not much time in there to learn Photography 101. You need a fast, high quality tool in your arsenal. For marketing thats an easy to use camera. A DSLR requires extensive training in Photography and most of you have an skill set for sell Real Estate and do not want to become professional photographers. So lets stick to the One-Shot and go from there.
There are many to choose from and all of them are pretty good cameras in their own right. However we are going to concentrate on one Camera that most Real Estate professionals should use and thats the Coolpix L820 (most of the coolpix model are pretty good). Its a 16 MegaPixels camera and it has a focal length of 4mm-120mm. This will give you a fairly wide angle and is great for closed areas like bathrooms and closets. Its has movie mode and records in High Definition Video thats ready to upload right to facebook or youtube. A very nice tool to have in your desk. The price is about $275. For that price you get the photos, video and allot of camera to grow into. Its a simple One-Shot and the term Point and Click applies.
Do you have to buy an expensive camera to sell real estate.. not really. Do you need to take video to close a deal... not really. Will you get top dollar for the home your listing and will you have a fast contract offer and closing... NOT REALLY!
You can always hire us. We have packages that start at $35 that include Photos, Video Streams, And Panoramas. But if you really want to do it yourself, our next blog entry will go over some great tips for taking quality real estate photos.
Next time... Window Exposure, Lighting and Time of Day to shoot...
Thanks again and have a great day!
Frank
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