Photo and video shoots for your real estate listings should be enjoyable! Here are six ways to help you and your seller have more fun, be less stressed, and get better results to boot!
- Hire a photography company that will replace the gray skies with BLUE skies – for no extra charge! There’s nothing more stressful in real estate marketing than when your seller has prepped the home – staged, cleaned, landscaped, sent the kids and the pets off to Grandma’s… and then the clouds roll in. No worries! We won’t cancel. We’ll still shoot and get great results, because we shoot HDR and will add in the blue skies for free (and you won’t be able to tell we didn’t shoot on a sunny day!).
- Make a (loose) shot list. It doesn’t have to be set in stone, but if you have a list of shots you know you want, you’ll be unlikely to forget scenes and features. When you schedule, ask how many photos and included and how much for extra shots. (We recommend 8 to 10 images per every 1,000 sf of house.) Then, make a list of rooms you’d like to shoot (and any you’d like to skip), and note how many angles you want of each room. At the shoot, our photographer will make recommendations, too. But thinking it through, and managing your seller’s expectations, will help ensure an organized shoot.
- Think about whether it will be best to have your sellers present or not present for the shoot. Every situation is different. In some cases, the sellers will contribute a lot to the shoot -and they may enjoy the process. In some cases, it may be less stressful for them (and you!) for them to go have a nice lunch and come back when you’re done. You know your customers best.
- Get to the shoot early for last minute preparations. If you follow our “Preparing Your Home for Professional Photos” checklist, you’ll note there are a few “last minute” items. If you get there early, you can do last-minute tidying, flip on all the lights, turn off fans, park a few houses down the street… you’ll be ready for the photographer and have as much time as possible for the fun parts (like watching the drone buzz around outside! :).
- If possible, plan for pets and kids to be away from the house for the shoot. We know occasionally a cute dog in real estate photos goes viral… but more often, having dogs scratching at the kitchen door to get in while you are trying to shoot a video is stressful… and our photographers have stories about formidable cats that would NOT move off of a bed and ended up in the photos… which is not ideal!
- Finally… relax, have fun, keep a sense of humor. Our photographers are trained to be organized and confidently serve as the leader at the shoot. Consider their advice, and express what you want to see… and have fun! We always get great results!
Picture It Sold Photography is a local team of five photographers and a support staff in our Jupiter office. We shoot HDR photos, videos, aerials, and 3D tours for MLS listings in Palm Beach, Broward, Martin, and St Lucie Counties.