Shooting vacant houses for virtual staging

Virtual staging for vacant houses

According to the survey of Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp, staged homes spent half time on the market than non-staged homes and sold for more than 6 percent above the asking price. So why not consider investing on virtual staging when it comes to selling an empty house.

Virtual staging means using computer techniques to add 3D furniture into the photos of a vacant house. Therefore, to apply virtual staging techniques, photos of vacant houses are required. Shooting empty properties seems an easy task for professional photographers who are trained to cope with this. However, non- photographers also can take good photos themselves if they know some following tips.

Light condition

Light is an indispensable factor when it comes to real estate photography. It affects a lot to the quality of the photos. With furnished houses, it might be more difficult to work with the light because it has the shadows. However, with empty houses, there is nothing except for four walls, it will be easier to control the light. When shooting, you just need to test with your camera, take photos with lights on and off. Same applies for using flash. Test your camera so you will know what works best with you. If possible, make use of natural light by opening all the windows or doors. Shooting in the morning or afternoon when the sun is not at its brightest is a good idea.

Angle

 Vacant houses look smaller and less spacious than furnished houses. Therefore when shooting empty properties, try to choose an angle which gets as much of empty floor space as possible, and one or two walls without doors or openings. Remember not to take too much ceiling than floor. Ideally it’d better take at least two times as much floor as ceiling.

Composition

The purpose of Virtual Staging is making vacant houses be life-like house so that buyers can experience the place as a home instead of a piece of property. And empty rooms with four walls will work best for Virtual Staging.  This is why the Living Room, Dining Room, and Master Bedroom are chosen. When shooting, remember to shoot all photos in horizontal landscape mode. Vertical portrait photos do not work well with virtual staging.

Formatting your Photos

The quality and resolution of the original photos affect directly to the quality of the final Virtual Staging product. Therefore, the higher the resolution, the better the outcome. At least 800 pixels wide in “.jpg” format is recommended. Before shooting, remember to check that your camera is able to take the photo at the size and resolution that you need.

Shooting vacant houses is not too difficult. Knowing some small tips and tricks about how to shoot, you are also can make it as a professional.

 

 

AVOID DANGERS FROM VIRTUAL STAGING

As defined by Wikimedia, “Virtual staging is a type home staging. The interior design is created in graphic editors. Virtual staging is especially popular among real estate brokers, photographers and interior designers. The main goal of this kind of Visualization (computer graphics) is creating super realistic images of properties (usually for sale)”. Undoubtedly, Virtual Staging is the best approach for marketing a vacant home, offering most of the benefits of traditional staging, at just a fraction of the cost.

 

Due to its advantages in selling empty properties, virtual staging is becoming the first choice of many home sellers or real estate agents when it comes to selling vacant properties. Some choosing to use “do-it-yourself” virtual staging software application, some choosing to hire a professional home stager for help. Whatever choices you make, remember these following conceptions for best applying virtual staging on your home.

Virtual Staging doesn’t mean filling a space with furniture. The goal of using virtual staging is creating a space which can emotionally connect buyers with sellers. Most buyers have tendency to purchase houses which they feel familiar with as well as have an initial connection with their old house. Therefore, applying virtual staging wisely, you need to view the house under the eyes of customers, not yours. Imagine if you are buyers, which things you want to see in the house. Don’t just try to add furniture without any perspectives just for making the room occupied.

Virtual staging can create bad effect. There is a fact that if the manipulated images without the before photos are shown to home buyers they’ll be sorely disappointed if and when they visit the home. While the virtually staged images may entice them to visit, they’ll find a home they will not recognize from the images they saw, and they may just walk away. Such a scenario certainly doesn’t benefit the seller nor does it help the real estate agent working to sell the home.

Besides wonderful benefits of virtual staging, it also includes some dangers. One of them is the misrepresentation of property. Therefore when using virtual staging, agents or home buyers should be honest, don’t show an image of a home in a way that it’s not, just consider virtually staged photos as a reference for potential clients to envision the empty house.

REAL ESTATE PHOTO EDITING – A must in selling properties

The important of photography in real estate market is undeniable when there are a lot of research proving that buyers spend 60% of their time looking at listing photos, and only 20% each on the listing description and agent description. It doesn’t hurt to say that photos act as the bait to trap the customers. Clear photos are more convincing and carry more messages than the distorted and shabby ones. However, capturing images of the property is just the starting point and real estate photo editing techniques offer the necessary features to the image.

WHY IS REAL ESTATE PHOTO EDITING A MUST ?

As mentioned earlier, stunning photographs will be an effective tool to attract potential customers. Therefore, creating appealing photographs definitely will bring you more contacts from clients and boost you sale up. However, in order to create perfect photos with spotlessness, photographers need to shoot very precisely and skillfully. If not, they might get some of these basic problems:

 IMPROPERLY ALIGN LINES

When it comes to real estate photography, verticals are the norm. However, to shoot vertically is not an easy task if photographers don’t know the tricks. When shooting high buildings, the camera might be tilted up and down and as a result the photos will not be vertical.

INCORRECT COLOR AND CONTRAST

Color plays an important role in real estate photography. Uneven color and lack of contrast can make an image look pale and gloomy. However, this problem is made by many beginner photographers. It is not only because they lack in experience, but it is also because of the weather which we can’t control.

SKY BACKGROUND

Another factor that has significant influence on a real estate photograph is the sky. Blue sky with some big white puffy clouds will make the house more energetic. However, if you have to shoot in a cloudy day with grey sky. Then, the grey sky will destroy all the background.

These simple mistakes are very common, and we can’t avoid some of them. Therefore real estate photo editing is a must. Without post – processing, the photos won’t be perfect as photographers expect.

SHOULD PHOTOGRAPHERS EDIT BY THEMSELVES OR OUTSOURCE?

Real estate photo editing is a crucial part in creating stunning photos. Some photographers choose to edit on their own, some choose to outsource from other agents. So which one is better? Here are some benefits of outsourcing real estate photo editing services:

• Time saving: photographers will not waste time on fixing the mistakes on the photos when using photo editing services. They can spend that time on shooting more houses or staying with their family and friends.
• Perfect outcomes: professional editors who specializing in processing RAW photos will not satisfy you. They are trained to deliver the best outcomes.
• Cost saving: hiring someone do for you, you will have to pay for them. However, for long term purpose, you will see that investment turn out to be worth it. Throw a sprat to catch a herring.
• Customer preference: Your work is just shooting and shooting, the amount of shots need to be processed will be done by photo editors with the highest quality. The same high quality images will help you have your own style and customers will have trust on you. It is fundamental factor to attract more customers.

If you are photographers, you should consider which choice is better. Editing photos on your own is not a bad idea but it will take a lot of your time and you might be stressful if you have a huge amount of work.

HOW UNPROFESSIONAL REAL ESTATE PHOTOS MAY HARM YOUR BUSINESS

Professional real estate photos have significant influence on online real estate market. They are the first things to capture clients’ attention. Therefore, realtors or a person trying to sell homes should invest more time and effort on creating the most stunning and appealing photos. If not, your business will get some troubles.

Snapping a few photos with your camera phone will help you save a little money. However, those unprofessional photos will have negative impacts on your real estate business.

Decrease the value of your house: unprofessional photos mean your photos have bad quality, bad angle shootings and bad lighting,… So if you don’t really work on it seriously, your photos can not show the best view of your property. As a result, your house’s value will be dropped down. And let’s think whether your customers want to buy it.

Extend the market time: many researchers show that professional real estate photos are able to reduce to selling time. So how about the unprofessional pictures?

On the online real estate market, most home buyers is trying their best to stand out of other competitors by creating stunning and unique photos. It is estimated that home sellers have 20 seconds to grab the buyer’s attention with a photo. If you have unprofessional photographs, definitely you can’t defeat your competitors and your selling time will be lasted for a long time.

Getting your potential customers away: Unprofessional photos means you don’t put more effort on creating them. Customers can base on those to imply that you don’t care about the house and the house might have hidden problems which make you want to sell it as soon as possible. No one want to buy a house where they can’t feel safe and comfortable. And unprofessional photographs are the clear proofs for imperfect points in your home.

Unprofessional photos are causing negative influence on your selling strategy. Therefore, investing some money to hire a professional real estate photographer is a great idea for your quick selling target. Let think out of the box, you will see you get what you paid for.

IS THIS WORTH INVESTING IN CHEAP PROPERTIES?

A good deal for any products is always the target that all the customers are looking for. However, in some circumstances, a cheap price is not always the good thing. It is also true in real estate market and buyer should have high awareness of buying properties on the cheap.

FACTORS SHOULD CONSIDER BEFORE BUYING A CHEAP PROPERTY:

Location: Location is the most important factor in real estate. Therefore, a lower price is likely indicative of slipping property values if not an issue with the property itself. Be aware of things like crime rates, amenities, and other issues present in the area. Asking about the origin of the property to know more about the house will not a bad idea.

Hidden problems: There must be some reasons why the home seller offers the cheap price. Sometimes, the problems are hidden behind real estate photographs. Using real estate photos to sell home is the effective way to hide some unattractive points in the property and the story behind it. Therefore, it is important to investigate the property seriously, or you can have someone who can perform a thorough home inspection.

Neighborhood Values: Neighborhood is indispensable factor when buying a house. Your future house will be where you live comfortably and raise you kids. Will you want to have noisy neighbors who don’t let you any quiet time to relax after a long working day? Or will you want to have a neighbor who always have inquisitive look at your house or even you? It would be very frustrated. Therefore, keeping an eye on the surrounding will never let you down.

Here are the main factors you should keep in mind when you are offered a cheap property. It’s said that you get what you pay for, therefore, cheap thing is not always the best choice, especially in real estate market.

 

REAL ESTATE PHOTOGRAPHY WITH AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS

There is a fact that the more creative your business is, the more customers you get. It’s always true in any kind of business including real estate photography. Instead of showing traditionally the property through front photos, many realtors or home buyers are inclining to use another method to show the house, which is aerial photographs captured by drone photography equipment to get an attractive overview of a property by highlighting it in relation to its environment.

Why should choose drone photographs for your real estate photography?

For real estate agents, drone photography can show potential buyers a variety of details, including:

• Encompassing aerial views of the entire property and land
• Confirming condition of the roof and other property features that are difficult to access
• What the drive home or the kids’ walk to school looks like
• The neighborhood and surrounding area, including the home’s proximity to amenities
• Civic developments or local improvement districts (LIDs) that the buyer’s property taxes might contribute to
• Property maps and surveys.

In the past, such aerial pictures could only be obtained by the use of expensive methods (helicopters or aircrafts). Only a few high standing properties could afford to record such materials as costs were quite inaccessible for most professionals of the real estate market. Fortunately, nowadays, a drone is a cost-saving, wonderful, easy-to-use and accessible tool allowing to shot breathtaking pictures and other recordings from which the real estate market can take a lot of advantages.

Photographer or Drone Specialist?

There are drone pilots who only do aerial photography.  There are normal photographers who use it as an add-on service.  Who should be your partner?

If you choose your regular photographer be sure to verify certification.  The specialized drone pilot will often have a better drone while the photographer will usually have better Photoshop skills.  The key is to find the best of both worlds.  Your best advice is to ask for a portfolio of work to verify their skillset.

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