The Good, the Bad & The Ugly – It’s dark in here! Week 11
December 7, 2009 by Jeff
Filed under Marketing, Photography
It’s Fall, we’re back on Standard Time, and it gets dark earlier. Some agents must think their properties show best in the dark (and some listings probably do!), but this week The Good, The Bad & The Ugly focuses on really dark MLS photos, and finishes by showing how good nighttime photography can make a listing dazzle.
Wall of Shame Sample
What do I take from this photo? That the car has reflective material on it -which is more than I can say for the house. What was this agent thinking – not only by taking this picture in the dark, but then seeing it, and THEN uploading it to their MLS! This was taken in Chicago. Or Boston. Or Philly. Who can tell? I can, it’s from Long Island, NY. Who said watermarks were useless!
Click here to see more dark Wall of Shame examples.
Wall of Fame Sample
Sunrise and sunset light offer the most dramatic light of the day, and the photographer who can plan effectively can really make their listings shine (no pun intended – well, maybe). Here’s a great example:
Click here to see more dark Wall of Fame examples.
Let us know if the comments what you think. Also sign up to receive these posts via email on the top right of this page. Be the first on your block to gasp in shock and awe when we post these gems.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly, Week 9
November 24, 2009 by Jeff
Filed under Marketing, Photography
Happy Thanksgiving to all. Be thankful your listings aren’t featured in this week’s The Good, The Bad & The Ugly – Bad MLS photos.
Let’s start off with this South Beach stunner.
Oh, wait. It’s not in South Beach. But what about that pink sky? I’d say it’s possible to have such a sky in California, where this $409,000 listing is from, but I’ve never seen sky partially color a white garage door like this. This agent needs some Photoshop skills, stat!
Click here to view more Wall of Shame entries.
Let’s see some lakefront property in the Land of 1,000 Lakes:
Note how you can see both inside and outside details clearly? That is the mark of great professional photography and some great editing skills.
Click here to view more Wall of Fame entries.
As always, vote for your (least) favorite entries from this week in the comments section!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly – Bedroom Edition
November 19, 2009 by Jeff
Filed under Marketing, Photography
This week from VHT: the GBU focuses on bedrooms. While a picture is worth 1000 words, in these cases they would all be bad words, so I apologize in advance.
Note the cropped bed at least shows the Garfield comforter, which fortunately matches the carpet. I don’t even know what those green glowing dots are on the floor. And I don’t want to.
Click here to see more Wall of Shame entries.
Now for a bedroom we’d all like to retire to, a room with a view!
Click here to see more Wall of Fame entries.
Let us know what you think in the comments!
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Bad MLS photos are getting more notice
November 6, 2009 by Jeff
Filed under Marketing, Photography
Bad MLS photos are gaining in popularity – at least in terms of being called out as bad. Mary Umberger recently wrote an Inman News column about an agent/collector of bad MLS photos on their Active Rain blog (Mary’s article is for Inman subscribers only, but here’s the Active Rain blog Mary discusses).
Our readers know we’ve been touting bad MLS photography over the last few months, along with some very high quality photography, to help educate agents on the difference between “reference” photos (taken just to recall some details) versus “marketing” photos, those which are intended to engage, move, and motivate prospective buyers to take further action. Those actions can be clicking through to your property details page, calling you, or emailing you. Hopefully it stops them from dismissing your listing and stating, “Next”! Many times “reference” photos get uploaded to satisfy the MLS requirements but are then included when this listing is shotgun-syndicated across the web and become “marketing” photos.
As we’ve said before, you only get one chance to make a good first impression, and in this market, that lasts a fraction of a second for buyers who are trying to filter out homes they DON’T want to investigate further when viewing search results screens on major real estate sites.
Don’t know what we mean? Take a look at this Wall of Shame entry – remember these photos are to help sell homes. What does this photo say about the property?
I'm guessing this tells buyers to check the yard and watch where they walk before inspecting the land!
Click here to view more Wall of Shame entries.
I bet you could use a palate cleanser right about now, so here’s a Wall of Fame entry from this week:
This Minnesota home was photographed by taking advantage of perspective and use of foliage in the foreground to frame the home.
Click here to view more Wall of Fame entries.
Let us know in the comments if you have more candidates for the Walls of Fame/Shame. We’d love to feature them here!
Halloween Edition – Scary Bad MLS photos!
October 30, 2009 by Jeff
Filed under Marketing, Photography
Just in time for Halloween, VHT released 20 of the scariest MLS photos culled from MLS’s across the country. This special edition shows no Wall of Fame entries to focus on showing a great collection of BAD photography.
Agents, you only get one chance to make a good first impression! Don’t blow it by letting these images scare away potential buyers – even if it is Halloween!
For everyone else, enjoy some of these samples from this week’s The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly – Halloween Edition!
I can envision the copy for this, “enjoy the spacious, open feeling you get…” Oh. Wait. Nevermind.
This property is “driveway ready.”
While not used in the making of the film “The Sixth Sense”, this picture makes me want to say, “I see dead people.”
Well, that’s it for this week. Click here to view more of these horrific photographs. Hopefully none of them are yours, and if they are, consider photography lessons or hiring a pro to shoot your listings!
As always, let us know if you’re aware of any candidates for the Wall of Fame or Wall of Shame.
See you next week, and have a great Halloween weekend. Hopefully you won’t be knocking on the doors of the homes featured here!
More Ugly Fun from VHT – Bad MLS photos – Kitchen Edition
October 16, 2009 by Jeff
Filed under Marketing, Photography
Rachel at VHT continues to impress by finding some hideous kitchen photos from active listings around the country for this week’s The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. Some readers had assumed only low-end listings were being used to make a point. Not true, and now listing prices are provided alongside these Hall of Shame entrants to prove that “ugly” knows no limits.
On to my favorite new member of the Hall of Shame:
How much do you think this Maryland home is listed for? $249,000? Nope. $349,000? Nope.
$499,900!! But it includes the UFO out back and someone to close the door!
Let me get that bad taste out of your mouth with this entry from this week’s Hall of Fame, a stunner from Wisconsin (listed for $675,000 by Nicholls and Kindberg of Coldwell Banker):
Have a good weekend!
The Good, Bad and Ugly MLS Photos
October 8, 2009 by Jeff
Filed under Marketing, Photography
Visual marketing firm VHT recently started a series of blog posts showcasing some very poor MLS photos from around the country for a Wall of Shame, and also features some beautiful photography from their Wall of Fame.
Here’s a sample from the Wall of Shame:
VHT's Wall of Shame sample - sitting at the kitchen table paying bills is way too important a task to stop, get up, and let the agent take a crappy photo of our home without us in it!
Here’s a sample from the Wall of Fame:
Agent for the above listing is Takuma Kondo of Keller Williams in Las Vegas, Nevada.
PropertyPreviews users can learn a lot from observing these photos and incorporating both what not to do, and what to do when photographing a listing. If you’re consistently coming up with results like these Wall of Shame candidates, hire a professional! The cost of the service will be less than the damage to your professionalism.
So far there have been three editions, and here are links to them all:
First Edition | Second Edition | Third Edition
If you’ve any candidates for the Walls of Shame and Fame, let us know if the comments!
Is Video the Answer?
September 3, 2009 by Nick
Filed under Marketing, Technology
I just finished reading an article on how using video to market properties can increase lead generation for properties. Some of the results are quite fascinating.
According to an article by For Rent Media Solutions, taken from Adpropertyguru.com, video marketing has been shown to increase leads for property managers by “an average of 30 percent and as much as 309 percent in some markets.”
One might attribute the staggering increase to advances in mobile media, allowing more and more people to gain access to such content, as video, right from the palm of their hand.
Check out the rest of the article here:
http://propertyadguru.com/2009/09/using-video-increases-leads/
We’ve been busy at PropertyPreviews, and we wanted to let you know you know can reach an even larger audience to promote your listings through our newest media partners, Enormo and Vast. They join other media partners that include Google, YouTube, Zillow, Trulia, Condo.com, Oodle (which includes Walmart.com, Military.com, MySpace classified, and now Comcast Classifieds), Comcast Video On Demand, and others. If your listing is in a market that may attract international buyers, Enormo may be a good option for you to promote your listing. Why? Enormo is the world’s largest international real estate website, displaying over 10 million listings (sale and rent) in more than 80 countries. Enormo currently has user traffic of 4.5 million visits a month from potential homebuyers, tenants and investors worldwide. Vast.com is a free classified site, attracting millions of viewers to its classified sites. Your listings will also appear on Overstock.com, at no additional charge, when you use Vast.com. We hope you’ll take advantage of these distribution options to help promote your listings. To do so, get started here. Good luck! Because some of you make it very hard for buyers to do so! You want prospective buyers to contact you after seeing your PropertyPreviews video, right? Make it easier for them by adding your telephone contact information in the Phone Book section of your profile. We do NOT recommend ONLY putting it in the property details for a few reasons: 1. Other Sites Can’t See It. When we syndicate listings to other sites, they want to display your telephone number(s) and if they are not in the Phone Book, it harder for prospects to find you. A blank will be where they expect your phone number. 2. Potential MLS Issues. You may violate your local MLS rules by “branding” your listing with your name and or telephone number within the property details. If you use the Phone Book, we automatically suppress information that may get you in trouble with your MLS. 3. ePostcard Issues. Your PropertyPreviews ePostcard webpage won’t show your telephone number where buyers expect to see it, and that only hurts you and your sellers. You drive traffic to this page, so have complete contact info on it for buyers to reach you. Go ahead and update your Phone Book, and your ePostcard will be updated immediately, as will all sites that received the link to your ePostcard. Other sites may take a day or two for the new data to be refreshed. Going forward, all your new videos will have the correct information with no further action on your part. You can always change, update or add telephone numbers to your Phone Book. To take full advantage of your PropertyPreviews video, and the power of the marketing we can do for you, please use the Phone Book features in your profile to make it easier for prospects to contact you!PropertyPreviews.com adds Enormo, Vast to Listings Distribution Set
Why Aren’t Buyers Calling From My Video??