I caught you! You were looking at the photo for this post instead of reading the good stuff in the first paragraph, weren’t you? People do the same thing when they look at your property ad.

If there are two identical homes listed on the internet, even if they are located just across the street from each other, the ad with the best photos in the right order is going to get more response.

Professional photos OR Take your own?

The quality of photos and how they represent the property could be the difference between finding a tenant in one week or in six weeks. Your iphone is capable of taking some really good photos, so should you pay for a professional to take the pictures of your property?

I am going to go out on a limb and say "Yes! Professionally shot pictures will always be better than what you can take on your own". The Pro has better equipment, more experience and a more creative eye, so they will take a better picture than you can.

However, this is not ALWAYS what you need to attract the RIGHT tenants....

Some time ago I had a house in need of tenants. It was a rather standard, four bedroom house. Thinking that great pictures would get me great tenants, I paid for professional photos. The photographer made the house look like it belonged in Hollywood. I put the pictures in the ad and scheduled a pair of open homes, which were very well attended. There were ten people at each open home, but no one was interested enough to even take an application! I got comments indicating the house did not feel as big as the one they saw in the photos.

After hearing those comments, I went back and took more photos of my own using my iphone (I’ll tell you more about using your iphone in my next blog), and replaced them in the ad. The next open home I only had three visitors, but all 3 were very interested. I may not have got as many people to the inspection but I got the right people! I received two applications back and one of them consequently got the property and were great tenants.

How many photos should I use?

Believe it or not, showing too many photos may reduce the number of enquiries you’ll get. Show too  much and they have no reason to come see the property (you may have oversold the property). However, two photos may not show enough to entice people to go and see your property. The key is to use just enough photos for someone to pick up the phone and make an enquiry. Using six to ten quality photos can tell an attractive story without overselling the property.

BUT, In what order?

First impressions count, so make the most out of the six to ten photos you decide to use.

Below is the order of the photos I would use on a typical house.

Photo 1 (main): Street View

The front of the house gives an overall view of the property. If this is not your lead picture, make sure the photo which best sells the house is.

Photo 2: Kitchen

This is the "engine room" of any house, so is held of great importance to most tenants. If you have a dishwasher, make sure you get that in the shot.

Photo 3: Living areas

This is where people spend most of their time, therefore it needs to be displayed early.  This room makes a big impression, so show it early in the ad.

Photo 4: Main Bathroom

A tricky one to photograph, but tenants will want to see how the bathroom is laid out and the condition it is in.

Photo 5: Backyard

This can tell tenants whether there is room for a bit of footy with the kids.

Photo 6: Master Bedroom

Tenants need to see at least one bedroom and the master bedroom is the most important of those.

The above top 6 photo are “must haves” in any ad, but if  your property has a pool, a view, or a great entertaining area do not miss out on showing these. The exact order of your photos may change depending on the quality of photos you have and most desired aspects of the property that will attract your ideal tenants.

Changing the photos or their order in your Cubbi account is easy. Just login and start making the changes. They will appear on all the websites including realestate.com.au in about 2 hours. On the other hand if you're interested in learning more about advertising your property using Cubbi click here.

Be sure to check this space next week to get some great tips about taking the best pictures to use in your ad.