Renting a vacation home is both a lucrative and incredibly competitive market today. This means you have to catch the eye of your potential customers quickly and make them intrigued to explore your listing further. What do they see first when searching for a home? The listing title and PHOTOS.
It’s all about the photos.
After completing a search, no matter what it is, we all typically scan the results and see what grabs our attention. The same goes for rental listings. The photos that appeal most to a perusing customer will be the first indicator as to whether looking at a listing is worth their time. And there are so many listings, they have every very reason to be exceptionally picky.
Professional photography will be a great return on investment.
You may be wondering if hiring a professional photographer is worth the money. Typically, a photo shoot of your home will set you back a few hundred dollars. Now that you know just how important these photos are, you have probably quickly realized that professional photographs are your only option if you want to stay competitive in the market. Unless you have an artistic eye, a friend with a camera or something in between, you should really consider getting a photographer.
What a professional photographer can do for you.
Good home photography is all about angle and lighting. With the right eye and equipment, a good photographer will make your home feel instantly inviting. The photo will draw you in and make you feel like you’re already there, while giving a feel for the flow of the home as well. Dark, awkward, hard to define pictures just won’t cut it nowadays. The best part is that a lot of companies offer these services as a part of their package. AirBnB boasts that good photographs can boost sales by as much as 40%, so they offer their own options and services for photography to maximize profit. Additionally, many property management companies, such as Skye Management, offer this as a basic service when their clients sign up for a package. These companies know that excellent photos will give you the upper hand to fill up your rental dates the way you would like.
How to make your photos stand out.
Holding a searchers attention for a couple extra minutes is just what you need to convince them that your rental is the right one for them. How do you do this? Make sure to pick the top features of the house to be your top three photos (since many people don’t scroll past this). That means that a picture of your bathroom probably won’t make the cut, unless it is somehow a luxurious selling point. The first two to three photos should basically summarize what you have to offer in beautifully crafted photos!
If you just can’t bring yourself to do hire a photographer.
For the do it yourself’ers out there, make sure you take your time researching how to get the photos you want. With the quality of phone and tablet photos improving each year, you may be able to get good photos if you do it correctly. Think about details like angles, lighting, clutter and and how to showcase your selling points.
Photographs are a powerful tool for your rental listing. If you need help deciding what is best for you, you can chat with someone at Skye Management.
So now that you know about the importance of photos, the real question is, can you afford NOT to hire a professional?
