How to Take Striking Photography for Listings to Rent Units Fast

Photography is worth a thousand words, or at least, it used to be. Today, it’s worth a 42% increase in click-through rate.

When it comes to the hospitality, multifamily or senior living industries, however, photography is even more important as it’s directly related to sales.

Picture this: when was the last time you heard of someone clicking on a rental listing that didn’t have photos attached to it? Yeah, it’s unheard of.

Photos mean a lot to consumers. It’s a transparent view inside your community. Content with striking photography gets 94% more views than content without photography.

Let’s put this into a more real-world perspective. Everyone knows Airbnb. Well did you know at one point, the billion dollar company was a failing startup? Turns out, design and photography turned it around for them.

People simply love photos.

After you’ve written descriptive, keyword-rich rental listings, it’s essential to add high-quality photography that really tells a story about your community.

Renters spend more than half of their time looking at photos. Without images tied to your listing, renters are likely to skip over it as they scroll through the other contenders.

At LCP360, we recommend adding as many high-quality photos to your rental listings as possible. This increases your chances of appearing higher in search and ILS results. So what do you need to achieve such striking photos that are guaranteed to fill units?

You need the right equipment.

First things first: you’ll need a camera. Not just any camera, but a professional DSLR that can take high-quality photos and allow editing in RAW. In addition to a camera, you’ll want to invest in a tripod to keep photos level and consistent

Having the right editing equipment is a must, whether that’s Lightroom or Photoshop. Editing software comes in handy during the quality control stages, to ensure unwanted flaws are removed and the photos are in top-notch condition to add to listings.

This all may sound expensive, especially if you’re only taking the photos once or every so often. Professional rental photography services add more flexibility with guaranteed quality taken by professionals.

Take the time to stage and prep.

When it comes to your rental listing photos, the devil is in the details. Prospects will scrutinize listings down to the mess on the counter. It’s essential to stage and prep your community so that your photos turn out amazing.

• Here are a few things to keep in mind when staging an apartment unit:
• Declutter and dust surfaces
• Hide cords and keep messes out of sight
• Open blinds to let in natural light
• Keep monitors off or, if they must be on, keep it them on a screen that’s desired
• Brighten up the space with greenery or flowers
• Add decor that is homely and helps prospects see themselves in the space

How do you know which rooms to photograph?

When in doubt, consider capturing every room. Remember that photography is a definite way to build trust through its complete transparency. If you show every room, you have nothing to hide in your community. Plus, this keeps prospects engaged longer on your listings and increases the chances that they’ll reach out for an in-person tour.

Don’t forget curb appeal.

With that last point in mind, you don’t want to miss out on the benefits of capturing outside views. Many landlords or management companies forget the value of capturing multiple perspectives of a building’s exterior.

According to researchers that tracked the eye movements of subjects who viewed online listings, 95% of users viewed the first photo (often an exterior of a building) for more than 20 seconds.

This is also the opportunity to show off the neighborhood and any exterior amenities like a pool or dog park.

When capturing outside photos, your safest bet is to take photos during the summer when the weather is the clearest. Also consider shooting dusk photos, which will highlight your community during one of the prettiest times of day.

Keep in mind that exterior photos should be the starting point to your listing slideshows. According to Zillow, on average, entry-level listings sell 4.2% higher than anticipated when the word “landscaped” is added.

Here’s what to avoid.

When capturing photography for any real estate, there are a lot of best practices. There are also a lot of things not to do:

• Photographing in dark rooms or taking blurry photos
• Not taking enough photos
• Flash reflections in mirrors or camera visible in mirrors
• Having a person visible in a mirror
• Not using quality control measures after taking photos

Going professional is the best way to go. You ensure that your listings will have high-quality production with quality guarantee.