This  post was to appear yesterday, but was pre-empted. I am presenting it today. Sorry for the delay.

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Two years ago I got a bug in my bonnet because it didn’t seem like I was seeing enough pictures for new listings.  A couple of months prior, one of our local Multiple Listings Services, FMLS, had raised the number of pictures that could be attached to the listing from 8 to 12.  Now it is 24…

It was shocking to look at the numbers…  I went back and looked at all of the listings that had posted in the prior 30 days to see how many had pictures and virtual tours.  It was stunning.

The VAST majority of buyers start their search online, and they want pictures.  They don’t want one picture… they want as many as they can get.  They want virtual tours with 50 pictures.

To post a listing without pictures is bordering on derelict… even if the property is ugly.  That’s right… even if the property is ugly.  There are some buyers that WANT ugly properties (at the right price)… and the ones that don’t aren’t going to forget that the property is scary/ugly.  And they aren’t going to be thrilled that they wasted their time looking at it.

I think I need to pull out these posts a little more often…  Survey of New Listings, January 2009

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