If you want to follow along, here are parts I and II.
Once again, I took a meandering walk through the new listings in Lilburn for the last 30days. As I wandered through, I was particularly looking for quantity of pictures and virtual tours. The reason I was concentrating on those items was all about research that EVERY real estate agent should be familiar with regarding buyer behavior.
Buyers largely SKIP listings without adequate pictures.
Let’s mention a few basic items. Last year, FMLS changed the maximum number of pictures allowed from 8 to 12. They also allow an unbranded virtual tour to be attached. The pictures can all be captioned…
Many MLSs across the country allow more than 12 pictures… some as many as 50. But many local agents are used to only putting 8 pictures on a listing, despite being able to upload more than that for quite a while, now.
Here are the numbers for the last 97 listings:
- 14 had 0 pictures, 14.4%
- 11 had 1 picture, 11.3%
- 21 has 2-8 pictures , 21.6%
- 12 had 9-11 pictures, 12.4%
- 44 had 12 pictures , 45.4%
- 9 had virtual tours, 9.3%
The good news is that the number of listings with 12 pictures is up sharply. That bad news is that 53 properties from the last 30 days didn’t have 12 pictures. That isn’t that many. If an agent just shoots front, back, 3 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, 2 bathrooms, garage, dining room and something like a close up of the front door… that is 12 shots for a modest home. And most homes really need to have a couple pictures of several of the rooms.
The bad news is that the group that lost membership was the 9-11 pictures. As a percentage, the growth was t the bottom end of the spectrum. WAY too many agents aren’t publishing more than a picture or two.
What can you do?
If your home is currently listed, get a look at the listing in the MLS. If it doesn’t have enough pictures, talk with your agent to find out why.
If your home isn’t currently listed, make sure that you have an agent that is going to leverage available technologies to get your home sold faster.