Today is the final day I am going to post before and after photos of this house we have been using as an example all week. Again, it was an attractive impressive Estate, but not that well maintained. Our main goal (as you will hear me say over and over like a broken record) is that we do not market and promote properties, we market and promote LIFESTYLES.
A property is something you find in Mesquite, Texas (bring on the hate mail) – it is a roof over your head, a place to shower and cook your food, and sleep. Living on a golf course is a lifestyle, any luxury property of substance is a lifestyle. This client does not search for living space in terms of “how many bedrooms does it have?” – they search in terms of is it near the ocean for convenient access to their yacht, is it surrounded by beautiful mountains that you can view from every window or in this case, is it located on a golf course.
Needless to say, marketing these properties is a lot more than throwing up some photos of the front and each room from your $125.00 digital camera and calling it a day. It is a must to convey to the savvy buyer that this property is more than the sum of it’s parts. IT IS A LIFESTYLE. You also want to make an emotional connection with these shoppers that makes your listing stand out head and shoulders above the rest. You will see what I mean by this tomorrow when the video it posted.
So here we were, Jason and I at the end of a long photo shoot, wanting to capture some of the nice twilight glow coming from the windows of this beautiful home. The photo below is one of several we captured.
Nice enough, even better that what I see on the MLS for 90% of the homes listed for 5 million and less. However, meeting the minimum standard is NOT our business model and the person who is going to make an offer on this property deserves a bit of drama to help them see just how stunning the house can be. The positives for me is the nice warm glow illuminating from the windows, the negatives were (again) the low laying overgrown evergreen along the front, how some of the exterior lights gave off a greenish glow, the ill maintained driveway with grass growing between the cobble stones, I mean really, COME ON PEOPLE!!!
First of all, I wanted this to be a full page in our eBrochure so I was going to crop the photo from landscape to portrait, that would take care of a lot of what I saw as negatives. Secondly, I wanted an over the top dramatic sky that would totally make the colors jump off the page. My dad, in his 70’s HATED the final photo, but it resonated and emotionally connected with someone. This property was under contract in three days.
Dramatic? YES. Over the top? YES. But this buyer does not buy generic green beans at the grocery, and they EXPECT to be impressed when they are looking through the hundreds of mundane photos on REALTOR.com.
Are your photos memorable? Do they stand out?
Check back tomorrow for the movie (and eBrochure) that was produced for this property. Happy April Fools Day!
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Thanks, That is something! I loved that photograph. I see what you mean!