REINCheck

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VO [00:00:06] You're listening to REINCheck with Andrea Rice, Contracts and Industry Specialists at REIN where you get the latest member news and information delivered straight from the source, REIN MLS.

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Andrea Rice [00:00:20] Welcome to REINCheck. I am your host, Andrea Rice, and today we are checking in with REIN's Marketing Communications and Public Relations Specialist Rami Yoakum to talk about how to optimize your listing photos. Rami, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to be here today.

Rami Yoakum [00:00:37] You are welcome, Andrea and I have to chuckle when I hear that big, long title when someone says that out loud.

Andrea Rice [00:00:46] I know. I was like, I hope I don't stumble through this.

[00:00:48] Like say that three times fast. I need to let you all know, Rami and I do both have a background in photography. I was a photographer in the Navy for five years, which included extensive photography training. And Rami is a self-proclaimed photo enthusiast who actually previously worked as a multimedia journalist and as a reporter, took many of the photos. So, we thought we would team up to help spread some information to our members on the best ways to optimize listing photos.

Rami Yoakum [00:01:22] And you said it. I'm an enthusiast. I am definitely not an expert. No certifications, no trainings. I just take a lot of pictures. And, you know, for me working here at REIN, one of the interesting things is sometimes when you go online and you look at listings, the photos just are unimpressive. And that's odd to me considering that one study I looked at recently said up to 97% of home buyers or potential home buyers start their search online. And, you know, we all know from using the internet, the internet is all about pictures, especially beautiful pictures. So, you know, it got me to thinking that it kind of surprises me that more members, more agents don't take advantage of that, you know, 50 photos that can be uploaded to their listing and make them, you know, really impressive, good-looking photos. So, you know, I'm happy to talk a little bit about, you know, taking photos. And I'm sure you have plenty of information you can add as well with your experience.

Andrea Rice [00:02:32] And I have to agree, it is sometimes surprising because, I mean, that's what's going to grab, you know, your buyer's attention first is that photo. So, that's really your first opportunity to get your listing noticed. So, let's start out by just hitting some of the basics on how our members can set themselves up for success. One of the things that I've noticed is a lot of the photos in the MLS don't seem to fill the frame. They don't seem to be the optimum size for what we allow. So, can you tell us how to avoid that mistake?

Rami Yoakum [00:03:10] Yeah. So, you know, REIN itself in our online listings, we recommend photos be 1024 by 768, and that's measured in pixels, which for those who don't know, pixels stands for picture element. And that's what photographs are made of. When you see them online, these pixels or these picture elements. When you go in to crop a photo, a lot of people will tend to crop in a lot closer than their camera can allow them to resolve. And you end up with pixelization. You know, you just zoom in too far. You crop in too far. One thing that you can do when you pull up a photo, at least in Windows, it works this way. If you right-click on that photo, you can open up a tab that will allow you to select properties down at the bottom. And then from there, you can see more about the photo you're looking at. It will show the size of the photo and kilobytes or megabytes, but will also show if you move over, if you hit details to the right, it will allow you to see what the size is in pixels. And that's really what you want to look at when you're uploading to REIN's website and, you know, a lot of websites. You want to see what that size is in pixels. And again, 1024 by 768 is kind of what resolves the best and looks the best when they're uploaded to our website or listing website.

Andrea Rice [00:04:45] And I believe on most cameras and in whatever your settings are, if you're putting the photos in a program as a batch or whatnot, you can set it so that it's at the optimal pixels and just forget about it. You don't have to go in and do that every time so.

Rami Yoakum [00:05:02] Right. And yeah, that's a good you know, that's a good point. The camera is a big part of it. But, you know, you really don't have to run out and spend $1,000 or more on a camera. You know, I've done some photos for listings before. And when I was writing for an online news website, I took lots of pictures of homes and did home stories. And a lot of times I just used my cell phone. You know, there's a couple of principles that go along with that. But, you know, if your cell phone is ten megapixels or more, you know, a typical iPhone or a Samsung phone, it will work perfectly for taking photos as long as, you know, you have a couple of other elements that are good.

Andrea Rice [00:05:48] So some things to keep in mind before you really even take your first photo. So, let's talk a little bit now about some of the things you can do to really help your listing photos stand out. What are some of the tips you have?

Rami Yoakum [00:06:04] Really when it comes to taking photos, especially indoors in a somewhat tight space, like most of the homes you're going to list are the absolute, in my opinion, the absolute most important thing is lighting. You can have the best camera in the world and if it's too dark, your pictures are not going to look good. And you know, if you have a ten-megapixel cell phone camera or just a little point and shoot that you gave $200 for at Wal-Mart, if you have good lighting, you can get good photos. So, it's very important to have that lighting. And at least, in my opinion, natural light tends to work the best, you know. So, when you're shooting, open the blinds. Open the curtains. Do it during the daytime when it's sunny and bright outside. You can shoot using the lights in the house, but you tend to get a lot of yellow hues and shadows thrown around. So, you know, my tip is do it during the day when it's bright and sunny outside and open the curtains, open the blinds and let the light in. That would be my first tip. Probably the second thing is something, you know, photographers talk about called composition, which you can probably explain a lot more technically than I can. But, you know, to me, composition is just what the person is going to see in the photo that you present to them. Whether it's the angles or what's in the photo or whatever. It's important to have good composition because someone online looking at it on the computer can open that photo up. And I've done it before. I see a picture and I'm like, What the heck is this a picture of, you know? It just doesn't make sense to my brain when I look at it. So, to me, lighting and composition are the two most important things with taking photos for home listings.

Andrea Rice [00:08:04] Yeah. And you mentioned like, what am I looking at? I think that's so important to keep in mind with property photos in particular because people want to get an idea of the layout of the room or the house or how this room transitions into this room. And so many times, you can't tell. And it might be something that you could take in just a different angle or back up a little, come in closer a little, just to really highlight what is the flow of this room or this hallway or how this transitions, and that can make a big difference.

Rami Yoakum [00:08:40] Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, as a person who has, you know, as a potential consumer or a buyer, I've looked at photos of homes online before, and sometimes I see a photo and I'm like, what is this and where is this? And I have to go clicking back through all the photos, trying to figure out where this fits in. You know, it's easy when you're taking the pictures to understand what you're looking at. But, you know, you got to remember, once you've taken that picture, look at it and think about does it make sense to someone who has never been in this home before and may not know exactly what they're looking at? So, you as a photographer can help the viewer, the potential consumer, you know, understand what's the flow of the home or the room or whatever.

Andrea Rice [00:09:28] Right. And, you know, another thing with looking at composition and things like that, I always am amazed at how much clutter there is sometimes in these listing photos. I mean, I think really probably buyers need to be informed or I'm sorry, sellers need to be informed on, you know, hey, we're going to be taking these photos. You need to do X, Y, and Z, you know, to clean it up. Because people for me, it's a big turnoff when I see the counters are covered with stuff or, you know, you can't look, you can't get past all the clutter.

Rami Yoakum [00:10:10] Right. Right. Yeah. You want, you know, if you have a listing, you want your photos, your photographs of that listing to appeal to people so that, you know, that they're looking at the home, the room, whatever. And a lot of times, like you said, there's so much going on in the photo clutter or, you know, nonsensical stuff that you're not getting, you know, you're not getting the juice out of that photo because people are distracted by what's in the photo. You know, there's an old saying, I think what I call an old saying that, you know, when you're doing home listings, you know, you try and avoid that clutter. You try and avoid personal things like, you know, family portraits and, you know, valuable items. And, you know, we stage home sometimes to help them sell. And I think when you're taking pictures, less is more with what's in the photo. You know, get rid of the stuff that isn't going to help you sell that home. Simplify a little bit.

Andrea Rice [00:11:14] Where the better the more clean lines.

Rami Yoakum [00:11:17] Yeah, absolutely. You don't want people distracted by what's in your photo. You want people looking at the features of the home. Not necessarily, you know, like you said, what's on the countertop. You know, my wife will open it up and start looking at the counter and like, what is that on the counter? Why have they got, you know, flowers sitting on the counter in this photo? So, I think, you know, you can simplify and get rid of some of that stuff pretty easily and improve the quality of your photos.

Andrea Rice [00:11:49] And another thing that as someone who is trained in photography kind of irritates me is when I see photos and you can see the person taking the photo in the mirror. We don't want to see your reflection in the mirror or even some of the appliances. Right? You'll see them in the microwave looking back at you and, you know, that just comes you can get the picture, you can get what you need, even in those tight spaces. Sometimes it may require a wide-angle lens. If you have an actual camera, I would suggest getting a wide-angle lens if you're going to be taking your own photos with an actual camera other than your cell phone, but, you know, maybe a different angle or stand slightly, you know, kneel down. I think that's one thing that I really get from my photography training is I'm a little bit shy and I don't know how to like really be extroverted and just, oh, I'm going to just go in here and do this. And sometimes in photography, you have to be willing to like get in the way or I'm going to be crouched down in front of this thing. And, you know, maybe I feel like I look like an idiot, but that's how you get the good shot. And I think sometimes when it comes to mirrors or reflective surfaces, you just got to kind of get creative with wide-angle lenses or I'm going to crouch down here or I'm going to get on a step stool and get it from an angle or whatever.

Rami Yoakum [00:13:25] Right. And that's especially hard with some of the smaller bathrooms, the second bathroom or whatever, the smaller rooms. It is hard. I've taken lots of pictures and then went, oh, I'm in this picture. I can't use it. So those are definitely things you want to think about. You know, you don't want to take pictures and there's a pet in it. You know, no one really wants to see a pet laying in their future home. It's not their pet. So, yeah, there's a lot of things to think about. And one of the things I had read somewhere was, you know, if you're going in, you're an agent and you want to try taking your own pictures versus, you know, farming them out, paying someone to do them, one of the good things to do is come up with a list of what you want to take pictures of, you know and check those off as you go. And that way you don't go in and take pictures and then go, oh, I didn't get what I wanted and you've wasted all that time. So, you know, that's kind of a thing too. Maybe come up with that checklist of pictures that you want to get.

Andrea Rice [00:14:29] And like that idea. And one thing I think I like, and if I were taking the listing photos, I would want to get a photo without a car in the driveway if possible. I know it's not always possible because maybe the owner has two cars and they're not there and they can't move it. So, it's not always possible. But if it's something that you can arrange to do, I think that always makes for a better exterior photo.

Rami Yoakum [00:14:58] Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I've seen before, I've read before that, and it kind of makes sense, I guess, you know, you don't want pictures of cars if you can help it, especially if the license plate number is showing. You know, that's kind of not something that you should strive to do. Just like, you know, interior pictures, you shouldn't you should try not to get, you know, family portraits of pictures of kids or, you know, valuable items that, you know, someone with, you know, bad intentions might see in a listing and say, oh, I might like to own that. So yeah, again, you're right. You want a clear view of the home and not the cars that go with it.

Andrea Rice [00:15:45] Do you have any other tips for our members or?

Rami Yoakum [00:15:50] One thing I didn't know until I just found out a couple weeks ago was that we actually have a listing handbook that offers a bit of advice on pictures, you know, with the size and different things that agents and members can find online on our website under resources. You can actually, you know, click resources and go down to listing input and you can find the handbook there and that will help you along. You know, my main thing is, don't go out and spend, you know, $1,000 or more on a camera. You know, a simple camera will work. Just remember the lighting and remember the composition. And, you know, you can take some pictures that will do your listing justice.

Andrea Rice [00:16:37] Right. I agree. All right. Well, thank you so much, Rami. I really appreciate you taking time to talk about this topic with me today. And, you know, hopefully, our agents, our members can get at least one takeaway to help them improve their listing photos if they're not hiring to have it done. And I want to thank all of you out there for listening. And if you have not done so already, I do invite you to go to REINMLS.com/podcast. You can go there. You can listen to all of our past episodes, and you can also subscribe to REINCheck so that you can get new episodes delivered directly to you as soon as they're released. So, thank you and have a great rest of your day.

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VO [00:17:20] You've been listening to REINCheck with Andrea Rice. Stay in the know from those who know. Delivered straight from the source, REIN MLS.

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