"What is he talking about now?"
That is likely the question after seeing the confusing title...
Over the last couple of years, I have done sporadic surveys of how many listings have the maximum number of pictures allowed by our local MLS... Currently the maximum is 20. It has been as low as 8, just a few years ago.
The opposite of 86.97% is 13.03%...
And 13.03% is how many of the listings that have come on the market in the last 7 days that have the maximum number of pictures. There are a few things to keep in mind...
- Placing these pictures is FREE... There is no "per picture" charge for the MLS. No pictures, 7 or 20, doesn't make a difference.
- The average listing gets MOST of the buyer traffic in the first week after being put on the MLS.
- Most of the traffic in ht e first week is in the first couple of days...
- Buyers have their initial contact with a home on the internet about 7 times more often than all other media combined...
So that means that 86.97% of the listings that have come on the market in Gwinnett County, GA, over the last 7 days have room for improvement in the number of pictures they have. In fact, only about 1 in 4 listings has more than 15 pictures.
The REALLY sad part is that almost 17% have no pictures at all. In fact, more than 1 in 4 listings have 1 or fewer pictures. The median is only 10 pictures. Half of the listings have 10 or more pictures, and half have 9 or less pictures.
Honestly, I'm actually MUCH more annoyed by the listings with 1-10 pictures than I am with the listings with no pictures. The listings where the agent has uploaded pictures are unlikely to get more... At least some of the ones without pictures WILL have pictures later in the week. Not all, but some. And homes that only have a few pictures are less likely to draw interest from buyers.
Just a few years ago...
I had a conversation with an agent that doesn't like to use pictures not that long ago. Her rationalization was that the listings without pictures made buyers curious. That might have been the case when homes were flying off the market and buyers weren't in control. But now, there are several times more listings. Buyers ARE in control. If they aren't grabbed by the listing, they move on. They want to know what the house is like BEFORE they take the time to visit.
Pictures, videos and virtual tours are tools that buyers use to filter the homes they are going to look at... There are some listings that WILL draw buyers in for a look without pictures. Those are listings that are pricve WAY under market.
Just to get statistical for a moment, this represents a sample of the 353 most recent listings.
If...
If you are looking to sell YOUR home, you NEED pictures in order to properly market it to its fullest potential. You NEED and agent that doesn't test the market to see how little she can do to sell your home... you need an agent that puts together a marketing campaign at the outset.
Call me.
Unless otherwise noted, all content of this blog is the property of Lane Bailey, ©2012 Lane Bailey.
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