When it comes to listing your property, renters are attracted to what they see. Eye-catching photos encourage lookers to click on an image and learn more about your property.
Your rental homes can be the best on the block. Maybe you recently made some upgrades to wow a good tenant. However, if the photos don’t do a good job of showing your home or the new features, potential tenants will keep scrolling past your listing. Here are some tips for taking better listing photos.
Hire a Professional
Take all of the guesswork out of knowing how to shoot good photos. Hire a professional to do the work for you. Remember, listing photos are the first impression of your rental home. If the pictures are done with poor lighting and bad angles, home seekers will scroll by your listing.
Find a professional photographer who specializes in real estate photography. They’re fast, efficient and they’ll provide the best shots and angles to help your property rent itself online. The cost of hiring a professional is minimal compared to the loss of income you’ll experience the longer your property is unoccupied.
Use Good Lightning
- The best source of lighting for professional-looking photos is natural light. That’s great news if you shoot your own photos. You don’t need expensive lighting equipment.
- Choose a time during daylight hours when the sun doesn’t directly stream into windows. You might need to shoot photos at different times a day depending on when sunlight hits different rooms in the home.
- To avoid conflicting with the natural light, shoot without the overhead lighting on. This also helps cut down on glares and reflections in windows and mirrors.
- Natural light streaming through windows provides the best representation of color and atmosphere in each room. Sunlight is best for your exterior photos, too.
Skip the Cell Phone
Even in Portrait Mode, your phone isn’t the best quality for your listing photos. Sure, it’s quick and easy to stop by a property and snap a few photos using your phone’s camera, but it is often wasted effort. Invest in a good DSLR camera. Digital still cameras are so standard these days that a good camera won’t bust your budget. The quality of photos shot on a DSLR vs. a cell phone is worth the small investment. Don’t forget to grab a tripod to go with your camera. There are few worse rental photo blunders than catching the leasing agent or property owner in the reflection of a mirror or window. Set up your camera on the tripod at several points around the room. Start the timer for photos. Before the timer goes off, be sure you are out of the room and out of the shot.
It’s All About the Angles
When shooting rental photos, sometimes it’s all about the angle. Even an impressive room in a rental home can look terrible in a photo if shot at the wrong angle. Choosing the best photo angle in a room can help almost any room look appealing.
Whether it’s a bathroom or a large open family room, place the camera angle in a way to show off the best features of a room. Remember, your photos are intended to catch the eyes of people scrolling through other photos and listings. Catch their eye for the right reasons.
Be Honest
Your rental property photos should always be an accurate picture of your Manatee property. Nothing is worse for a potential renter to arrive for an in-person tour of a home they found online–only to find it looks nothing like the photos. You’ll quickly ruin your reputation as a good landlord if your photos make a property look much better than it really is.
If your property doesn’t photograph well, consider upgrades to the property instead of photo editing techniques to improve its look. Make property improvements, then re-shoot your listing photos.
Rental Property Photos Are an Art
If photography isn’t your thing, that’s okay. There is an art to capturing the best side of your rental property for listing photos. Focus on what you love about being a landlord and let the professionals handle listing photos and details. Choose a property management company that provides professional photography for every listing. Real Property Management Sarasota and Manatee includes professional photos as part of our property management listing services.
We handle all of the details. From making sure every detail and feature is listed with the home, to capturing all the best angles and showcasing your properties. We know that the more eyes we catch with your property photos, the faster we find the right tenant for your home.
Real Property Management Sarasota and Manatee serves rental property owners by providing full-service, residential property management, and leasing services. Contact us today for a free property preview.
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