I personally own two Canon 5D MK III’s costing approximately $5,000.00 each. I had a good friend who once said that if he had a camera like mine, he could take pictures as I do. I gave him one of my cameras and we both shot the same subject. When all was said and done, it’s not the camera but rather the operator. Another example was while I was shooting an event, someone had complimented me on my work and the host said, “If I could afford a camera like that I could produce the same quality of work”. Upon leaving this function, I thanked the host and said, “The food was great, wish I had a stove like yours.”

If you are in the real estate business you have probably tried several strategies in order to become more successful. Some work, some don’t, either way, it’s an exhausting process having to go through the hit and miss stages.

There is one strategy that is gaining more wallop each day, and that is professional photography. Right now photography is becoming something more than art, there is an increasing number of people who are using it in order to create a center of attention and thus, more customers and clients. This increasing demand for professional photos is developing with the Internet, and since there are many people who spend a lot of time in front of their computer, they will inevitably search for your service online. The best way to lure a potential customer/client to your site is to persuade them with its content; visual effects have always fascinated people. Therefore it is no surprise that more and more real estate brokerages are hiring professional photographers to produce images that stand out from the rest for their websites.

It has been proven the last few years over 90% of home buyers and investors searched the Internet to find that perfect home or rental property. This means that they have carefully selected those neighborhoods that looked the best, leaving everything else behind. Since inventory is tight, fierce competition will come into play. If you are a REALTOR®, then you already know that the struggle is real and that you need to do everything in order to attract and stand out with the consumer. The more people who see your homes, the more chances you will have to lease or sell that property.
In a world where almost everyone is using MLS, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Google+ and a multitude of real estate marketing sites and where most have iPhones, iPads, Androids and a multitude of other devices that can go online, it is no wonder that they are searching for houses online.

Thinking about your competition, you will always need to be a few steps ahead, and being that a large number of REALTORS® do not use a professional photographer, that leaves quite a bit of room for you to take the attention from their poorly composed, out of focus, poorly lit and lackluster photos. We live in times when it is hard to attract the customer/clients’ attention and normally less than 15-30 seconds may be all the time you have to roll them into looking at your listing. This is why the visual impact is so important. It makes them inquisitive, especially after seeing high quality, intriguing images.

Do you take the same photos as a professional photographer? Are you able to produce high-quality photos emphasizing on the lighting and composition of the subject? The answer is probably no, except of course in the case where you are a professional photographer such as I am, but those situations are rare. Property Management companies in San Antonio generally doesn’t have a professional photographer on staff. Pyramis Company is fortunate enough to have a Professional Photographer on staff.

This is a very important conclusion and if you decide to execute this line of attack, you will need to make a few budget changes. But if you are a businessperson you already know that a smart investment will produce a good return.
To build a powerful brand and be appreciated by your customers/clients, you will need to be more attuned to detail and what our customers/clients are demanding. People trust excellence & superiority, and when they are searching online for their dream home or investment property, they want to see high-quality photos with lush looking landscaping, properly lit interiors and possibly shot at that twilight hour using high dynamic range (HDR) hi-lighting the investment. Your listing will sell itself when people see that your REALTOR® hired a professional to help in the marketing of their home. Once you establish a relationship with your customers/clients based on trust, you will see great reviews, which combined with excellent photos will help you become a well-known REALTOR® who created a powerful brand, hence becoming a prominent REALTOR® in your area.

Some of you now are now quite possibly thinking about buying a professional grade camera. If that is you, then you’re not really understanding this message, since even more important than the camera are the images. If you are a great REALTOR®, you will hire a professional photographer.