Why hire a professional photographer to sell your home:

Are you selling your property in spain?
Sell faster and for more money with a simple property hack.
I’ve been in the spanish real estate business since 2001. The two hardest things for me to explain to the agents who worked for my company were the importance A) a good client follow up system B) understanding the importance of professional photos.

According to major property portal Right Move, Spanish homes that use a professional photographer for their listing on average sell 5,000 euro over those who do not and sell 50% faster too.

I know you are paying your estate agent a load of money to market the property and that includes taking photos. The reality is that most of them cut this corner. If they have a buyer, he/she will a house anyway so they don’t really mind if its yours or your neighbours. (its cold but true!)
So, let’s assume your Estate agent is not a good with a camera and doesn’t see the significance. The photos he takes show him in the mirror, they are dark and show the buyer very little of the house.
You could do nothing and hope you get lucky or you can spend a very small amount of money, around 100 euro, for a series of edited, clear, pictures of your home. Remember, despite the fact you are doing the work that the agent should do (but probably will not), ultimately you are the one who benefits most.
Are there benefits to hiring a professional real estate photographer?
We think that’s a big yes!!

The photos here in this blog post were provided to me by Laura.
Check out how creative Laura is. You´ll find her on Facebook.
La-Ventana-De-Laura-Photography.

We don’t get a commission or anything- We just think that she does a great job and for a small fee, you can really help sell your home in Spain.

So, why hire Laura or any other property photographer:

Saves You Time
You’re wearing too many hats as a property seller as it is. Unless you are qualified, and not just using your Nokia 97, your time is better spent gathering up all the information relating to your sale. Help your lawyer to get ready for completion. Have the mortgage information, bills, deeds etc ready to go.
Do you even have a law firm in spain? You know you don’t have to go with the one you bought from. The time you save by hiring a photographer and editor can be used to get a fantastic, friendly, accommodation law office instead. Yes, we know where you can find one!

Laura told me that it can take 4-10 hours to create amazing listing photos. I never knew but the time is not just in taking photos but developing and editing the photos, maybe creating the videos, perhaps virtual tours, and some social media ads.
I outsource as much as I can in my life and this is not a job I will ever take on!
Make you house stand out.
Again, I know it should be the agents job, but really your money is your job.
If there are two homes for sale in San Jose and yours is one of them. The other one has exquisite pics and the buyer who is here on an inspection trip only has limited time, he’ll go and view the other one and probably not yours. That is a fact. If you are not getting buyers to look at your home, you are not going to sell it!
You want your home to be the one that buyers want to see.

Be proactive and use your photos beyond the agents listing.
Once you pay for the photos they are yours. You will of course send them to the relevant agent who will get them online. You know you can use many agents in Spain to sell your house- please never sign an exclusive selling agreement. For a list of estate agents in Spain we deal with who advertise on Kyero, Right move, A Place in the sun etc.just send Nicola an Email.
You can also do some marketing yourself. I’m not suggesting that you try to sell the house privately, but what’s wrong with putting your professional photos on Instagram, Facebook etc.
If someone expresses an interest just pass the lead over to your agent or if you don’t have one yet pass the lead to us here at Spanish solutions and we’ll put you in touch with a great agent.
Its true, you are doing the agents job but once you sell your Spanish home, that is all that’s important.

Your Spanish home will sell for a higher price.
Redfin.com created a report in the USA showing that homes over there get on average $11,000 over market value if the seller has used professional real estate photography. I can’t get the exact comparison for Spain, but surely, its big. Right move suggests more than 5,000 euro is the right figure for Spain- 5,000 euro for a small investment of a couple of hundred euro!!

You are not just showing photos of the actual property. You can also easily show off amenities around the urbanisation- Communal gardens, pool, maybe a gym etc. These extras add more perceived value to the home but maybe they would have been overlooked by the agent. Importantly for you, they can make your asking price appear less of a factor in the eyes of the potential buyer.

If the homes look great, and it will with great photos, then the perceived value of the buyer goes up, simple. Your home will be more in demand. Low supply of well photographed Spanish homes and high demand for them, means an increase in price for you.

Sell your Spanish homes faster.
One of the reasons why we mention here the importance of having a flexible, accommodating law office like Spanish Solutions is that you may need your representatives to act quickly. If you follow our advice, you will sell your home quickly, you need to be ready and never delay a buyer.
By having attractive photography (and well written descriptions-but that’s another story!) you will create a desire for people to come and visit your Spanish property.
The more foot-traffic, the more people you get in the door, the greater the chances of your home getting sold. Again, simple. If you get more buyers through the doors of your home early and often your home will naturally sell all the more quicker.
If you really help the agent and create an online presence of your property through Facebook, you’ll increase the audience reach of your listing. Most buyers start their search online- you need to get your property in front of them regardless of whether they are in Norway, Denmark, The UK or Sweden. Photos speak all languages!
We are not experts on this but because you have more photos to share on Facebook, you could accelerate your home’s exposure by engaging paid advertising. Our advice is don’t try to sell it yourself but do try to generate leads.
Did we mention that you should have spoken to your lawyer by now and have all the paperwork ready??
Get more offers on your Spanish home.
Awesome, professional photos will not work if the home is overpriced, you have no paperwork, your lawyers are slow, it’s not photo-ready, and you have a terrible agent.
If your listing is overpriced, you will cost yourself thousands. It means you don’t get clients in the door for months and the first question they ask when they do the viewing is:

“how long has it been on the market”?

Becuase it was listed so long ago, they assume there is a problem and they offer you 10% less than your bottom line- which eventually you accept. We sold 3,500 properties during my Spanish real estate career so I’ve seen it so many times.

If your Spanish home on the other hand looks uninhabitable or like wild animals have lived there, potential buyers cannot picture themselves living there. It will take more time to sell your home, guaranteed.
You should market your home to get in front of buyers and they will come to see it.

In order to get the right price, look at what is selling around you- I mean what is selling, not what has been on the property market for months. What are clients paying for houses like yours? Be honest with yourself; probably your refurbishment doesn’t add as much as you think. The buyer does not care that you spent 10,000 on curtains and blinds- be self aware and price it right.
If you need Spanish Solutions to help and tell you what houses we’ve recently sold go for, we’re happy to do so, subject to normal data protective rules.

If due to your fault or your agents, you don’t have good quality, professional looking photos, it takes a lot longer to sell your home. Worse still, taking too long to get offers means price reductions, fluctuations in currency exchange and headaches for you.
We work with Money Corp and we can get you special “Spanish Solutions deals” on currency by the way! The currency sales team will meet you in our office if that’s easier for you- We are here to make selling your home is Spain pain free!

Conclusion:

You want to sell your property in Spain quickly and for the right price.
Talk to Spanish Solutions first, before even meeting an agent if that’s easier. Even if your paperwork is with another law office, a simple form signed by you and we can go and collect it on your behalf.
We’ll ensure you have your certificate of habitation, licences, escritura etc. We make sure you are up to date with payments- community fees, utilities, taxes etc saving you time when you have a buyer ready to write you a cheque.
You must then, get your home in front of the right people. The professional photos that Laura or your photographer takes will become a big asset and create attraction, attention and self promotion opportunities for your home in the sun.
Attract buyers with better quality photos, save time and stress with Spanish Solutions and relax – We’ve taken care of everything!!

Thanks to Laura from Ventana De Laura for sharing these images with us.

Ian