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Do I need professional Photos

Do professional photos really make a difference?

Whether you are in the real estate business or in the process of selling your home, you have probably come across the challenge of creating an online presence for your property. Now, we will all agree that the presentation of the home is important but there is also a huge temptation to cut corners and save a few bucks in the process. We get it. When it comes to photography, you might wonder if hiring a professional is really worth the effort and expense, thinking a few snaps from a smartphone might just do the trick. Well, we polled some of our top-notch agents and our very own staff photographer, Kate Devlin, to see if going with a pro is really worthwhile. The response was a resounding yes for a multitude of reasons.

Making the First Impression

We all know that in business and in life, making a good first impression matters. This applies to homes as well. Almost all homebuyers begin their search online and, with hundreds of homes on the market, they may only view your property for a matter of seconds. If you want to grab their attention in this short time span, a series of professional photos is definitely the way to go. Our very own, Mike McCann, swears by professional photography.  He states, “Professional photos are the first impression one gets when viewing homes. As we all know first impressions are lasting ones. Nothing is more important in this day and age of the internet than using professional photos to market and represent a property. It will increase the actual activity on the home dramatically, help sell the property and create desire and appeal to the buyers and their friends or family who view it.” In Fact, Kate Devlin states that her greatest success has been “shooting homes that have been on the market with amateur photos that have gotten offers within days after the new photos have been posted!” Clearly, the first impression matters.

Experience

Kate Devlin, received a BFA in 2 Dimensional Fine Art from Moore College of Art & Design. She spent years studying different realms of photography and has extensive experience photographing homes all over Philadelphia. She knows all of the quirks of the trade and is skilled in presenting a property in a manner that adds rather than subtracts from its appeal. Though she was very resistant to flaunting her expertise or pointing out the flaws she sees in amateur photos from RE agents, she did craftily state, “I wouldn’t try to fudge my way through writing up a real estate transaction,” adding a subtle, matter-of-fact smirk.  McCann team agent, Lauren Acker, wholeheartedly agreed with Devlin’s gentle subtext, adding that “professionals produce quality, beautiful photos that show the house in its best light and would be very difficult for a nonprofessional to obtain. Especially in Philly homes which are often more difficult to shoot because of their narrow layout.” Simply knowing how to take a quality and professional photo, not to mention all of the work pros put in before and after each shot, leads to an appealing presentation of your property that showcases its beauty. If you want your property to stand out from the rest, we recommend using someone with experience in making them look their absolute best!

Check out some of Kate’s Splits of amateur vs. her pro pics!

Staging

Kate Devlin offered us a little insight on the basics of what can make or break a real estate photo. One of her biggest concerns was an utter lack of staging, causing homes to look cluttered, dirty or out-of-date. She explained that “homeowners who care and a home that is ready to be shot make all the difference” and urged sellers to,

“Put it all away!  Stash the stuff! Get rid of all the extras for the day of the shoot.  Clear the fridge of magnets, take down the kid’s artwork, take the bathrobes and hanging junk off of doors, clear almost everything off the bathroom counters except a few well-chosen things.  It may take an extra hour, but you just have a swipe or a click’s worth of time to make an impression on buyers.”

Devlin was adamant about this issue and the potential for a few ill-placed items to ruin a quality photo.

Lighting

Do you know how to set up flattering lighting for a photography shoot? That’s okay, we don’t either. This is just another reason why hiring a professional matters. Kate Devlin even confessed that this was something she had to learn to perfect in the field. As one seasoned real estate professional simply states, “lighting matters.” Unless you have time to read Photography for Dummies or enroll in a photography course (we don’t) we recommend that you let a pro handle this vital element of presenting your home. McCann Team agent, Paul Chin, noted that “better lighting and wider images bring out sharper colors and contrasts leading to better presentation of the property and the agent.”

Space and Scale

Let’s face it. In the real estate business, size matters. When people are viewing a home digitally, they want to get a good sense of the scale, layout and usable space in the home. Julie McCann a real estate professional with extensive experience in presenting and perusing properties, explains that amateur photos tend to be “choppy, showing less of the full space of a room, and ultimately less of a clear understanding of the layout.” Devlin agrees, stating that many people unintentionally shrink their properties.  She explains, “Scale is important.  Sometimes over-sized furniture or accessories can really throw off visual perception of a room. An extra-large towel hanging where a hand towel normally would go, and an over-sized wastebasket can really give someone the impression that a room is much smaller than it is.”  Devlin also makes a point to emphasize unique and exciting spaces such as “a craft corner or a breakfast nook so people can understand how they could use the space.” Yet another benefit of using a pro is their ability to use their artistic eye to capture the highlights of a home and present them to possible buyers. Julie McCann explains that professionals have the ability to make people

“fall in love with a property, get a real feel for the place and even start envisioning morning coffee on the deck!”

Customer Service

The mark of a real professional is their ability to interact with clients and add to their level of comfort during the active and emotional process of listing their home. Kate Devlin recalled numerous instances when she was required to really talk clients through the process and connected with them by discussing the major transition occurring in their lives. Local RE Photographer and Owner of Plush Image Corporations, Matt Robnett chimed in on this important issue as well, stating that “an experienced real estate photography team will be expertly trained to interact with sellers. I encourage my clients to let us shoot alone with sellers because we are experts at representing their business in a friendly and professional manner, and make great use of our one-on-one time.” Clearly, pros know how to impress your clients and properly represent your business, showing customers that they are valued and respected.

Next time you are confronted with the temptation to take a shortcut and skip out on professional photos, keep this advice in mind and consider what a difference quality photos make.  Using a pro can help you avoid embarrassing blunders and prevent you from undermining the quality of your property. As Kate Devlin states as her personal mission and the number one benefit of hiring a professional photographer, “A professional knows how most effectively to present your home or investment.”

Tags: philly real estate blog, philadelphia real estate blog, center city real estate, bucks county real estate, joseph c mccabe, Joseph Cummons, how to buy a house, house for sale in philadelphia, Realtor philadelphia, phiily real estate

Philadelphia Real estate and Living: Philly real estate investors and agents Joseph McC...

Philadelphia Real estate and Living: Philly real estate investors and agents Joseph McC...: After much research and  planning McCabe & Cummons LLC is up and running and destroying the competition. We are looking for junior inves...

Philly real estate investors and agents Joseph McCabe and Joseph Cummons aquire 1 million dollars worth of real estate in 3 days!!

After much research and  planning McCabe & Cummons LLC is up and running and destroying the competition. We are looking for junior investors to join our team but only if you can handle not ever sleeping and making a fortune! Looking to buy sell of invest? Call the Philadelphia real estate experts. -McCabe and Cummons growing strong

Joseph McCabe Realtor, Philadelphia Explores the rental crisis

Philadelphia real estate ownership, that celebrated hallmark of the American dream, is increasingly on hold for younger Americans.

Short of cash, burdened by student debt and unsettled in their careers, young adults are biding time in apartments for longer periods and buying their first homes later in life.
The typical first-timer now rents for six years before buying, up from 2.6 years in the early 1970s, according to a new analysis by the real estate data firm Zillow. The median first-time buyer is age 33 - in the upper range of the millennial generation, which roughly spans ages 18 to 34. A generation ago, the median first-timer was about three years younger.
The delay reflects a trend that cuts to the heart of the financial challenges facing millennials: Renters are struggling to save for down payments as wages have largely stagnated. Increasingly, too, they're facing delays in some key landmarks of adulthood, from marriage and children to a stable career, according to industry and government reports.

These shifts help explain why homeownership, long a source of middle class identity and economic opportunity, has started to decline. The share of the U.S. population who own homes has slid to 63.4 percent, a 48-year low, according to the Census Bureau.

And when young adults do sign the deed, their purchase price is now substantially more, relative to their income, than it was decades ago. First-time buyers are paying a median price of $140,238, nearly 2.6 times their income. In the early 1970s, the starter home was just 1.7 times income.

Millennials are "still very interested in buying a house, but they're delaying that decision," said Svenja Gudell, chief economist at Zillow. "Once they start having kids, they begin looking for homes. We're also finding that - given how much rental rates are currently rising - a lot of folks are having a hard time saving for a down payment and qualifying for a mortgage."

Low mortgage rates have eased some of the pressures caused by the higher prices. But in many of the hottest job markets, the gap between home prices and median income is prohibitively high.

Around the Silicon Valley tech corridor in California, the median home price exceeds eight times the typical income. That disparity is nearly six times in metro New York City, almost five times in Boston and Seattle and above four times income in Miami and Denver.

Millennials increasingly find themselves in a situation like that of Lou Flores, a 30-year-old property portfolio manager in San Diego. He shares a one-bedroom apartment with his boyfriend, paying $1,400 a month to live within walking distance of Balboa Park and the zoo.

Flores' parents had built their nest egg by steadily upgrading their homes, ingraining him with the notion that "renting was a waste of money." But the median home in San Diego costs more than a half million dollars, according to the area's association of Realtors.

So Flores figures ownership is at least a few years away.

"Here in California, if you're not married or with someone, it's impossible to buy a home without financial backing from your parents," Flores said.

Few first-timers around the country can lean on their parents. Among homebuyers last year under age 34, 14 percent received down payment help from family or friends, according to a Federal Reserve survey.

Most first-timers still depend on personal savings for at least some of their down payments. But rising rental prices have complicated the task of socking away money for a down payment. Fueled by a surge of renters across all age ranges, rental prices nationally have grown at roughly twice the pace of average hourly wage growth, which was a paltry 2.1 percent over the past year.

A result is that those prices are consuming more income. A striking 46 percent of renters ages 25 to 34 - the core of the millennial population - spend more than 30 percent of their incomes on rent, up from 40 percent a decade earlier, according to a report by Harvard University's Joint Center of Housing Studies. (The housing industry generally regards a figure above 30 percent as financially burdensome.)

Some of the cost burden stems from a shift toward people who envision themselves renting for several years and therefore seeking the kinds of amenities more commonly associated with home ownership. Based on searches for rentals on RadPad in June and July, for example, apartments with stainless steel appliances and swimming pools were disproportionately popular in cities with lower homeownership rates such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington.

Nearly a fifth of Washington-area searches sought apartments with stainless steel appliances, compared with 5 percent nationwide. More than a third of Chicagoans wanted an apartment with a pool, versus 18 percent nationally.

Job security has become a more central consideration for first-time buyers. The Money Source, a mortgage lender and servicer, examined applications from 5,404 millennial homebuyers. It found that the buyers had averaged nearly 4.5 years in their field of work and had held their current job for slightly more than three years. Those figures point to how critical career stability has become for a generation that entered the workforce during the Great Recession and its slow-growth recovery.

Housing industry experts note that surveys still show a strong desire to buy among millennials, but that their timelines for purchasing depend on achieving more stability in their careers.

"As long as there is the job market to support millennials - just as it has for previous generations - I don't believe their habits will change," said Darius Mirshahzadeh, CEO of The Money Source.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/real_estate/20150817_ap_3aeab8fd8a4b4bcc82195708242e0bb4.html#6ErjYTBgDCKiyySd.99

Fascinating Philly real estate stats

As of May 2015, average apartment rent within 10 miles of Philadelphia, PA is $1443. 

One bedroom apartments in Philadelphia rent for $1197 a month on average and two bedroom apartment rents average $1483. 

The average apartment rent over the prior 6 months in Philadelphia has increased by $155 (12%)

One bedroom units have increased by $146 (13.9%) and two bedroom apartments have increased by $159 (12%)

Investments in Philly ! We're out checking out new inventory what do you look for?

When working on acquisition of properties what is your criteria and what do you look for in a hold or a flip sometimes it's better to not be too specific no investment is truly a risk by definition!