The last couple of years proved very good for anyone looking to sell a home. In 2021, for example, people bought more than six million existing homes. On top of that, the average sale price for those homes reached almost unprecedented levels.
Yet, the market has changed. The mortgage interest rates have risen all year with an unsurprising cooling effect in the home-buying market. While the market hasn't plummeted, sellers are now looking at ways to maximize their quick sale odds.
Are you wondering, "Can an aerial photo of my property help with my sale?" If so, keep reading to see how aerial drone photography can boost your chances of a sale.
Unique View
People like things that are familiar but unique. For example, people like ice cream but will often try out new flavors. It's not that they lose their affection for traditional flavors like chocolate or vanilla. It's the idea of something new and unique.
When it comes to real estate photography for selling your home, there are a lot of chocolate and vanilla images out there. Every listing has a shot of the front of the house from straight on, probably taken from somewhere on the lawn. There are also standard shots of the key spaces in the house, such as the living room, bathroom, and kitchen.
You want some of these images because they're familiar and expected. Yet, they don't offer anything new or exciting. They're not different from a dozen or even a hundred other listings in your area.
Best case scenario, people click through all of the images. Worst case scenario, people don't instantly fall in love with your home after the first couple of images and move on.
Drone photography isn't brand new, but it's still something that's different from traditional real estate pictures. They offer a unique view of your home, which can boost interest.
Demonstrate Scale
Another problem with traditional photography in a real estate listing is that the images often fail to give a sense of scale. Unless your home is unusually large, odds are good that it won't look that much different from every other house in a picture.
This is an even bigger problem if the house extends from the back and away from the road. No ground-level image can ever really capture the size of the house. The angles don't allow for it.
With drone photography or drone footage, you can give potential buyers a much better sense of scale. You can start from farther away and at a higher angle. You can also take a shot from directly above to give a true sense of a home's footprint.
Drone photography can also give a much better sense of the size of the lot. While that can matter less out in rural areas where a house may come with an acre of land, it can matter a lot in urban areas where lot size is a big deal.
After all, even half an acre of land can mean a lot of yard for kids to play in compared to a house on a 1/4-acre lot.
Boost Emotional Response
When it comes to buying a home, there is a lot of advice out there about the logical factors you should consider when making a choice. For example, you should buy a house that needs a minimum number of repairs to keep your upfront costs down. That includes picking a house with a good foundation, a solid roof, and sound plumbing and electrical systems.
You should also look for a house that falls within your financial means. After all, you don't want a monthly payment that leaves you starved for cash every month.
Yet, despite all of this good advice, buying a home is often an emotional choice. For all that talk about logic, people often fall in love with the look of a house.
Childhood Dream House
Let's say that someone grew up dreaming about living in that Queen Anne-style house down the road. The odds are good that if they run across a Queen Anne-style house for sale, they'll take a long, hard look at it. They may even revise their budget to buy it, regardless of how much work it needs.
If your home has a particular architectural style, a good shot that captures it in its full glory can trigger someone's childhood yearning to live in that kind of house.
Natural Features
By the same token, if someone dreamed about living in a house with a lot of big trees in the backyard, shots of the big trees in your backyard can boost their emotional response.
If the main attraction of your property is the land, rather than the house itself, aerial shots can prove especially helpful in showing off natural features in context.
For example, pictures of trees from ground level aren't all that impressive. Pictures of those same trees from the air can do a great job of showing that they sit next to a small stream.
While you cannot account for those kinds of factors, you can encourage an emotional response with great images. An aerial shot that shows off the natural features around your home can get someone emotionally invested.
Expanded Reach
A good real estate agent will often focus on selling to people in the immediate area. There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is that locals typically have a better feel for what real estate costs in a given area.
One of the other big reasons is that locals can come out and see the property in person. People typically want to buy a house after they walk around in it or around it.
They want to get a feel for the land. Traditional photography just can't give you a feel for the place. It can show off features of the house or the property, but without that all-important context.
While drone photography can't bridge that gap completely, it can go a long way toward giving people a good sense of what they're thinking of buying. That can expand the reach of any given listing to people who don't live in the immediate area.
People who live several hours away or even in another state can still get a sense of the property. Depending on how well your drone photography goes, you can potentially score a sale without someone ever turning up in person.
It's Great for Social Media
Drone photography is also a great candidate for sharing on social media. This is another area where the uniqueness of the shots works in your favor.
If you get a particularly good shot, people will share it on their pages or their feeds. This can generate more interest and more inquiries.
Of course, that means you need an active presence on social media. It's not enough that you have a profile or a page. You must actively interact on that profile or page.
You must also check your messaging on those social media apps regularly. People who reach out via social media often have a very fast cool-down period. If you don't get back to them within 24 hours or so, you can find they've moved on to other options.
You also want to make sure that you pick social media outlets that cater to images on some level. A site like Instagram favors image posts. While you can share images on a site like Twitter, the feed often moves so fast that people miss things that you share.
The biggest factor is often how regularly you post. If you only post on social media once a month, you should expect low engagement for property sale posts.
Getting the Most from Drone Photography
Some people and real estate agents got into drones and drone photography early on. For those people, getting good drone images of a property will prove relatively easy. They'll have invested in a high-quality drone and a high-quality camera.
If you didn't jump right on the drone bandwagon, real estate photography probably isn't the right place to start. As with most skills, there is a learning curve. Hiring a professional drone photography service will save you time. The people running the service already put in the time and effort to learn how to make the equipment work.
Just as importantly, they will likely get you better results. A pro service will know how to maximize the number of good shots of the property.
Should I Use an Aerial Photo of My Property?
Are you wondering, "Should I use an aerial photo of my property?" The answer is, yes.
An aerial photo of your property can do a lot for you. It can provide a unique view and demonstrate scale. It can also boost the emotional response of potential buyers.
Aerial photos also put the property in context, which can help sell to people who don't live in the immediate area.
Hommati offers real estate agent services such as drone photography. If you're looking to boost the sales potential of a property, contact Hommati for more information.