In today’s real estate market, when over 90% of home buyers search online for listings, professional real estate images are crucial. The quality of the listing images is the most critical factor to consider when hiring a real estate photographer. The second thing to consider is how many photos you post on the MLS and third-party listing websites like Zillow.
You may assume that posting as many photos as possible will only benefit your listing’s online presence, but did you know that overposting can actually be a detriment? That’s right – when it comes to posting real estate images online, there is a fine line on the number you should post.
Before we discuss why too many real estate images can negatively impact your listing, let’s talk about which real estate images help your listing.
The Must-Haves
When you promote your listing online with real estate images, you need to provide home buyers with specific shots. While you don’t need to lead with an exterior image as the first photo (although we recommend it), you need to provide it. Additionally, you should include at least two pictures of the living spaces and the kitchen.
One to two images of the bedrooms are essential as well. Always have bathroom images, too, but one photo will suffice if it’s a smaller space.
Let’s recap – the must-have real estate listing images include:
- Exteriors (2-4 images)
- Living Spaces (2-3 images)
- The Kitchen (2-4 images)
- Bathrooms (1-3 images)
- Bedrooms (1-2 images of each)
Now that we have a clear idea of what real estate images will help sell your listing, let’s get into the nitty-gritty. When you add too many pictures to the MLS (the max amount of photos varies locally) or on Zillow (a whopping 100 images), several adverse outcomes may occur.
Too Many Real Estate Images May…
Waste Buyers’ Time
Most buyers are actively trying to find a house, condo, or townhouse before their competition gets to it first, especially in today’s market, where inventory is lower than average.
It’s unlikely that they have the time or energy to sort through over 40 images of the same listing, which means they may miss out on crucial pictures of your listing buried at the end of your tour photos. For example, if you upload eight pictures of each room, a buyer will get overwhelmed clicking through essentially duplicate images to get to visuals of the other spaces.
Create Information Overload
Prospective buyers view dozens of listings throughout the day, which means recall of your listing is vital. For this reason, you want to go with the less is more approach for listing photos. Reference the must-haves above and stick with it.
If you’re providing buyers with 40-100 images of your real estate listing, they will have difficulty remembering which impressive features are offered. Furthermore, all of the listings they view will begin to blend, especially if you provide them several images of the same space that other comps also highlight.
Leave Little to the Imagination
The purpose of real estate images is to get buyers to tour your listing in person. If you post an overabundance of images, you leave little to the imagination. Not only that, but you allow buyers to form a mistaken idea of the listing.
You and your sellers need to create a little bit of mystery and intrigue for the property. You can do this by publishing just enough visuals to entice buyers to schedule a showing.
Reveal Something That Turns Buyers Off
Another risk to oversharing visuals of a listing is revealing something that detracts a buyer from the getgo. When you provide countless listing images, you allow buyers to see nearly every bit of the home. Again, the goal is to attract buyers with beautiful listing images that encourage them to see the home in person. If they see an element, in detail, of the house that they do not like, they are less likely to give the listing a chance to impress them in person.
That’s not to say that you should purposefully hide aspects of the house, but you need to use real estate images to your advantage and show the best parts of the listing!
Ultimately Lose Buyer Interest
Losing buyer interest is the sad reality of uploading too many real estate images of your listing. When you consider the potential risks of posting far more photos than necessary, as we discussed above, losing buyer interest is the worst outcome possible.
Buyers might consider putting an offer on an entirely different home if they feel a listing page wasted their time with several redundant photos that leave little to the imagination and bog down their brain with overstimulation.
So, How Many Images Should You Post?
There isn’t a hard and fast number for how many real estate images you should post to your MLS or third-party listing site, but there are recommendations.
Many industry experts believe that real estate agents should stick to 15-25 listing images for a 2,000-3,000 square foot home.
“A great listing tells a story about the property, which doesn’t necessarily mean showing every space. We know buyers have a lot of options and can have short attention spans when viewing listings. Spending more money on tons of images to post online may not serve the property well. Ask yourself which images will grab buyer’s attention and make them schedule a showing? Use that information and our guideline to determine how many photos you should order. ”
Heather Norman, Digital Marketing Coordinator | Virtuance
