Real estate agents who use professional photography make double the average GCI compared to agents who don’t.

Virtuance partnered with REAL Trends to survey hundreds of top-producing real estate professionals across the country.   We wanted to see what the data showed about how the industry uses professional photography.

As buyers increasingly turn to online photography as the first step in the purchasing process, the standard for presenting a property to consumers is advancing at an alarming rate.

Those agents who used professional photography on a consistent basis made $8,683 in GCI per transaction on average.  The agents who did not use professional photography made less than half that amount, or $4,292 in GCI on average per transaction.   Consider how the difference multiplies with the impact of quality photography on an agent’s long-term income.

We are past the days when any picture will do.  Today’s sellers and buyers are surrounded by eye-catching imagery and expect their property selling or buying experience to match.  The good news for real estate professionals is that the potential for impactful photography is within reach.   Agencies and brokerages combined reported paying an average $160 for property photos.

The REAL Trends research also found there were five clear and compelling reasons why real estate agents and/or brokerages choose to invest in professional photography:

1. You Have a Duty to Your Seller
2. Drives Your Online Traffic
3. Wins You More Listings
4. Solidifies Your Brand Image
5. Best Bet for Your Time and Money

The incremental investment in professional photography creates the opportunity to generate leads, market your brand and deliver a memorable client experience.

No longer is the definition of quality photography in real estate a subjective matter.   Companies like Virtuance are elevating expectations and placing benchmarks on quality with the aid of artificial intelligence.

Some of the objective benchmarks that Virtuance uses in the quality control over our property photos includes contrast ratios, color curves, perspective, brightness, and more.  We take it a step further and also measure quality by the days on market and the list price to sale price ratios of all of the listings the company markets. Based on these quantifiable results, we are able to make algorithmic adjustments to image aesthetic in order to achieve better results on behalf of the agent and, ultimately, the agent’s client.

Providing professional photography for your listings is one of the simplest ways you can shape your brand and business.  High quality photos work for you even when you aren’t working.  They also serve as the first impression of your brokerage or your personal brand as an agent.

Don’t get lost on cost alone.  This new research illustrates clearly that your investment now can influence both your short-term and long-term income.

REAL Trends & Virtuance will partner to share more insights with interested agents and brokers during a free webinar about the new research to take place on October 15, 2015 at 12pm MST. Click here to register for the webinar.

You can download the full REAL Trends report Invest A Little, Make A Lot here.