Why Quality Real Estate Media Matters

Does great real-estate media matter? I’m Scott Kemp with Realiant Media Minute, and we are going to discuss that today. Realiant Photography creates media for real-estate agents’ listings. When an agent gets a new listing, they need photographs that present it clearly.

You might think a picture is a picture, but there are meaningful differences. We spend a lot of time refining our technique. When we train new photographers, we review the details that help the finished work look consistent.

And I’ll show you some pictures here a little bit, but you know, I’ve heard of realtors, and I’ve seen some that take pictures with their cell phones, right, they go into house and take a picture with their cell phones. And I can tell you that most people can tell that as well. And what does that say to the homeowner?

So the Realtor Mary goes and takes some pictures of John’s house, and the photos are all wonky, that looks like Mary just really didn’t care and didn’t value John’s listing. And that’s not a good way to get your next referral. You want to blow your sellers out of the water with great media.

And that’s what we try to do for you, we’re constantly looking out for you, we want to make you succeed, because if you succeed, we succeed. So we are always available for advice. If you have some complicated shoots, we’re happy to talk about them with you, and discuss them and how we can best approach them.

Because again, we want you to succeed, and you’re going to do that with great media. So let’s look at some pictures here. All right, let’s get some examples queued up, we got sunset, this is kind of a combination of an actual sunset, one of our photographers Jason just shot.

And with a little, little bit of sprucing up with the sky, because sometimes sunsets just don’t look that pretty. And you don’t want us coming out seven times to shoot them. So our next one’s coming up here is a beautiful shot of a house near Oak Ridge, and they were on a lake, and it was so still, and I wanted to show that that tranquility there.

And it’s just, I love doing these houses, I love doing the trophy properties, the ones that are that have lots of acreage, because I, you know, I grew up in Alaska, I grew up on the water, and this speaks to me, and I wanted to show that. So the next one we have is kitchens, and what you’ll notice there is the nice framing, you’re going to notice the nice vertical lines.

That is so important, that’s how it’s an instant giveaway that you didn’t hire a true photographer to do it, when your vertical lines are not straight up and down. So the next one we have, you know, they’re not all trophy homes, sometimes they’re just new construction, and it’s your average new construction on new construction lot, and we still try to make them pop.

And pretty much we want the skies to always look blue, but actually if we go out, and it’s a clear blue day, we will actually put clouds in the sky, because it just looks better. The clear blue sky is why you think it might be sunny, and it feels good, because it’s sunny out when you look at it on the computer, it’s kind of boring.

So we take that extra time and put a real sky behind that house and make it pop.

The next picture we have is a kitchen remodel by Thayer Construction, they do incredible remodels of kitchens and bathrooms in Corvallis, and they’ve hired us to take their portfolio pictures, and I think this is also a good example of a real state of picture, because this is what it would look like if it was a house as well.

So we’re coming back to the next one where it’s just a regular house, a new construction, and the real state agent had it staged, and staging is super important guys, because you look at the houses that have been staged versus an empty one, people can imagine themselves living here, and they have to really use their imagination if it’s just empty walls.

Now we do have products, we offer virtual staging, we can put the furniture in the picture, so people can not have to guess what it would look like for the furniture, and that’s pretty cool too.

So next what’s coming up, we do a lot of drone photography, and this one’s neat because it’s in the fall, so we got some fall color going on there, but it’s like a little mysterious, and I just like that, it’s an interesting view of the lot, and it shows that.

So the next one we have, this is super important, and if you’re using other photographers, I want you to look at your pictures that you’re getting, and ask yourself, do your windows look like this? A lot of times they’ll be blown out, and they’ll be kind of white, and you can’t really see through the outsides.

We spend a lot of time with our technique and our shooting, as well as our editing to really make the outside pop. We do that on every house, it doesn’t matter if it’s a trophy property like this one, or if it’s a rental that’s got renters in it, so we spend a lot of time on that to make it look like that.

It just, that looks so warm and inviting, and who doesn’t want to go out that patio and fire up the barbecue and watch the kids swim in that lake? That’s where I’d want to be, and then when you see that picture, that’s what buyers are going to want to see too, and that’s why this media is so important.

So drone photography is also very important to us, because it’s kind of what we call the establishing shot. It’s like, what’s the neighborhood look like? Are you backed up against a huge subdivision? Are you next to a power plant?

Not that we would highlight if that was it, but we do have to be truthful. We can’t erase the power transmission tower that’s right over the house. We’re not ethically going to do that for you, but this one shows the property on this beautiful acreage. You’re obviously out in the country.

You have very few neighbors. You probably have a view, just so cool. I love this place. I would want to live here.

Yeah, I’m kind of a country boy, so that’s where I’d want to be. Again, we’re going back to the windows here. We want to see through those windows, and again, kind of look at your photos and ask yourself, can I see that view through those windows, and does it look natural? Again, we spend so much time on those windows.

Here’s a combination kitchen living room, or sorry dining room, and a kitchen combination. You can see through the windows. This one, I think, was actually a foggy day. That was a challenging one.

I remember shooting this one, and we had to do a sky replacement in there through the windows to make it kind of look like that. That’s the best we could do, because it was socked in with the fog. We’re going to do our best to make this house pop for you. This one’s kind of a fun one coming up here.

This is a bathroom, and this is on that trophy property up in your Salem again. Who would feel comfortable using that shower out in the open with no shower curtains around you? I mean, you’re kind of like totally exposed. I’m not sure I’d want to use that shower, but it has 27 shower heads.

If you do want to use it in rain teds, and there’s apparently even a chair there, so somebody can sit there, and I don’t know, watch. That’s weird. But the picture looks cool, and that’s in a multi-million dollar home. So I guess people that have those kinds of homes, that’s what they might want.

This house in Corvallis is super cool. You’ll see it on our website. I just love it. This is a natural shot.

There’s no virtual editing on this. We shot it at Twilight, and it just looks really cool. I love doing one-point shots where it’s straight on. Basically, one point means it’s straight on, and it just makes a really cool effect.

It doesn’t work for everything, but when it works, it really works. This looks like it could be on a magazine. It’s just so cool, and yeah, I love this one. This is actually the room inside the house.

They’ve got great views through there. It’s super tall ceilings. Super cool fan. I love it when people get artistic with their fans.

The fans can be so boring, but yeah, I love those kinds of fans, and I love those tall windows.

When you have unique fixtures, when it’s obviously that the house has something that’s really special, and this could be like a clawfoot tub, a big soaking jacuzzi, a nice fixture like this in the kitchen sink that doesn’t look like it came from Home Depot, maybe another nice fireplace. We’re going to highlight those and give it as part of your media package.

This one at Wallport here, I loved it so much. This is what I would consider the finest house in Wallport, Oregon. It was at the top of the hill. They could see all the way up the bay, the bridge, all the way over bay shore and out the ocean.

They had about 270 degrees of view, and that was just incredible, and I think we captured that with that drone footage. If they didn’t order the drone on their package, they would not have got that picture. That’s awesome.

These are the kind of pictures that we can deliver, and it’s just so important that you hire a media company that can deliver that and that wants you to succeed, and we’re going to do everything we can to help you. We look forward to working with you. Give us a call, and I love to talk with you guys.

We like to build the relationships with our agents because we want to know when we’re doing a good job, when something didn’t go right. We’re going to fix it. We want those relationships, so I’ve instructed all my photographers to spend a little time with you guys. Get to know you.

Get to know what you like because those relationships are important. We just don’t want to be having a blind relationship here. We want something real. People want to connect, and we want to do a good job, and we’d love to hear how we can do better on every shoot, and we’re always open to advice.

I think we do a great job, but we’re looking to get better every day, so love to hear from you. I’m Scott Kemp. Realiant Photography.