Trying to sell a high-end home, luxury property or valuable piece of art?
Start with professional-quality photography and video, industry experts say.
“People do judge a book by its cover,” says Bart Wilson, Chief Innovation Officer for VPiX, a Colorado-based company that specializes in virtual tours. “If you do not grab their attention and impress them right away, they’ll move on.”
Professional-quality photography pays off, studies have found. A 2010 analysis by Redfin, a Seattle brokerage firm, found that homes with professional photographs sold for $934 to $116,076 more than homes shot with basic point-and-shoot cameras.
Aerial photography, high-definition video and 360-degree virtual tours are among the top options available to Auctioneers seeking to market homes, properties or other items.
One company, 3vTV, based in Jacksonville, Fla., is now traveling the country by plane and automobile capturing aerial and on-the-ground images, which Auctioneers and real estate professionals will be able to purchase, says Bo Zarn, Business Development Director for the company.
For the aerial images, an airplane with 14 cameras attached to the belly flies at an altitude of 1,500 feet capturing panoramic views of commercial and residential properties. A street-level system uses eight cameras mounted on a vehicle’s roof rack to snap photos. The cameras collect hundreds of images, which are strung together and essentially form a video.
“We’re sweeping the country,” says Zarn, a former real estate appraiser and National Auctioneers Association member. “We’ll be everywhere except 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and Camp David.”
Read the complete story in Auctioneer magazine to learn how a database of images could help move millions of dollars in foreclosures and bank-owned properties.
