Real Estate Marketing Ideas, Real Estate Photography Resources

Do I Need a Professional Photographer For My Listing?

By Lindsay Goebel Last Updated February 27, 2023 3 min read

Many real estate agents and brokers question the need to hire professional real estate photographers. Although you don’t need a real estate photographer, high-quality listing photos are key to selling a property fast. This is especially important as most home buyers rely on the real estate images they see online.

Hiring a real estate photographer guarantees the listing images you upload are professional and grab clients’ attention. Keep reading to learn why it’s so important to use professional real estate photography!

Why should I use a professional real estate photographer?

Even the most seasoned real estate agent likely doesn’t have the professional photography skills needed to make a property shine. And as buyers’ needs change, so does real estate marketing.

The change in real estate purchasing

While word of mouth, cold calls, and direct mailers are the foundation of real estate marketing, digital marketing connects more with current homebuyers.

By promoting your property online, you’ll ideally gain your next client quickly. However, to attract a potential client and generate leads, you need quality content. Online listing photos can make or break your real estate business, so sleek and professional photos are essential.

The reduced attention span of prospective buyers

In a span of eight seconds or less, a potential buyer will have seen your photos and skimmed your listing. If your listing photos don’t catch their attention, you’ll lose their interest immediately.

While smartphones can produce quality photos, they can’t compete against the work of a professional real estate photographer, who is trained to capture the attention of prospective buyers.

More importantly, after spending time staging your listing, why wouldn’t you want professional photos to match?

Professional real estate photographers nail perfect shots

Since buying a property is a huge decision for most, it’s only right for them to be picky and have keen eyes for detail.

Blurry, grainy, poor lighting, and awkward angles can push most buyers away from your listing. Professional photographers have an eye for what buyers want and ensure your images are crisp and bright with great angles.

Choose Virtuance for high-quality real estate images!

Professional photographers position themselves in clients’ shoes

Aside from the technicals, considering a client’s point of view is a real estate photographer’s greatest gift.

Professional real estate photographers know what sellers and buyers want. They also understand who your property is perfect for and will take photos that resonate with them. As an agent who uses professional photos, it can help tie together your listings and attract your ideal client.

How professional real estate photography can optimize and sell your listings faster

While knowing the why behind using a professional real estate photographer is important, results are likely what you’ll want to see when investing in a photographer. Here are some statistics:

  • 86% of buyers say images are the most important when searching for a property
  • 96% of buyers look at homes online
  • A photo captures a buyer’s attention for 20 seconds versus only 2 seconds without one
  • 90% of what a human brain takes in is visual
Here’s four easy ways to optimize your real estate listing photography

If you aren’t marketing to a buyer with optimized and consistent professional photography, you aren’t promoting your listing in a way that will sell. This, in turn, means you likely won’t win more listings in the future, generate more leads, or close more deals—all important steps in building a solid real estate business.

How to easily find professional real estate photographers

At this point, you now have several reasons you should work closely with professional real estate photographers. Although there’s an upfront cost, the return will outweigh the cost as you net more clients and close deals.

If you’re in search of professional real estate photographers to help you capture your property’s true essence, consider Virtuance! We provide online scheduling, a service team, and HDReal® images shot by professional photographers to ensure your listing shines and attracts 2x more attention.