Saskatoon real estate agents have known for years that home buyers who are shopping for homes online are very interested in viewing photos. As far as they’re concerned, the more photos an online ad offers the better. Survey after survey places photos at the very top of the “what’s important to you” list.It makes sense. Life is busy for all of us and the more information we can receive in advance of making an inquiry, the greater our ability to qualify properties saving ourselves time in the process.
However, until now, most of the evidence has been purely anecdotal without any solid statistical support. I suppose that’s why I found a recent post titled, “The Most Important Number in Listing Marketing,” (no longer available) by Point2’s COO Brendan King so interesting.Point2 is the largest real estate network in the world hosting hundreds of thousands of property listings in their database which are displayed to millions of viewers at Point2Homes each month. They are in a position to deliver definitive answers on the viewing habits of home buyers and that’s exactly what they’ve done with this fascinating study.
Over a thirty day period, Point2 observed the viewing habits of people that visited their website and concluded that “views” of listings and “leads” generated by those listings increased significantly as the number of photos available on a listing increased. On the following graph, the vertical axis represents the number of photos on a listing and the bars represent the number of viewings on a listing, followed by the number of leads which were generated as a result of those views. Clearly, we see properties that feature just one photo generating approximately 5 views and 1.37 leads, while listings displaying 21 or more images received over 77 views and close to 11 leads.
One serious question remains unanswered in this study; in spite of overwhelming evidence that listing photos are a major benefit to both buyers and sellers, why do agents typically under deliver in this area? With today’s technology, it costs nothing to capture more images. Granted, there is a time investment required in capturing, processing and posting the images but it seems marginal to me in light of the potential benefits for both the seller and the seller’s agent.
If you’re thinking of selling your Saskatoon home, why not make the number and the quality of photos part of your selection criteria when choosing an agent? It will pay dividends.
I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra
-250-wide.jpg "Norm Fisher, TeamFisher")
