A Picture is Worth a Thousand Dollars

September 19, 2010 by Ben Munson in Apartment Marketing, Landlord Tips
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You’ve heard the old phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words”, but in landlord terms, that picture often translates to cold hard cash.   For many landlords, a one month vacancy can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.  Including pictures in your apartment listings will dramatically increase the number of renters interested in your apartment.  You’ll also only receive calls from tenants who are truly interested in your apartment’s unique set of features, rather from all the rest who only want to see more detail than the listing provided.  The more renters you manage to interest in your apartment, the sooner the rent checks will start rolling in.

Try these tips to get some extra nice apartment photos:

Plan for Natural Light
Put some thought into when the apartment will get the most sunlight.  The more sunlight available to you when you photograph the space, the less you’ll rely on your flash.  A camera flash can often make your photos look either washed out or give them a yellowish hue common of artificial lighting.  Natural light will make your apartment look light, airy, and well, natural.

Clean up!
Nothing turns off a renter like a photo of a cluttered or dirty space.

Try Exciting Angles
When you’re looking through the view-finder on your camera, experiment with standing high on a chair, or squatting low to the floor, to achieve a view of the room with more of its features included in the shot. Alternatively, if you’ve got the budget, invest in a wide-angle lens. A wide-angle lens will help bring all the details of a room into one shot, and will result in beautiful, professional-looking photos that are sure to wow apartment seekers.

Highlight unique details!
Is there something about your apartment that makes it stand out from the rest?  Nice landscaping, a fireplace, a spiral staircase, stainless steel appliances, or any number of other features can really bring life to your advertisement when included in the photos. Don’t limit your photos to just the bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. If there’s a big closet, snap a photo to add more visual interest to your advertisement. Just remember not to go overboard! You want to make sure that there’s a good variety of images, but you don’t need more than 2 or 3 photos of each room at a maximum.

Highlight Fixtures and Fireplaces with Night Photography
Light fixtures and fireplaces can look especially stunning at night.  If your unit happens to have either beautiful light fixtures, or a fireplace, you can highlight these features by turning them on and taking their photo at night.  You can even try capturing the glow of your fixtures from the street, looking in, to create the sense that the apartment is a cozy place to come inside to on one of Rochester’s many cold nights.

In Rochester, NY and the surrounding Metro area, there are several places that allow photos with apartment listing:

• Newdigs.com – When it comes to adding lots of photos, Newdigs is your best option.  Okay, we’ll admit we’re a little biased here, but we dare you to tell us differently once you try it for yourself.  Newdigs allows for unlimited photographs with all of their listings.  Newdigs is free for any apartment of less than 25 units.  (For buildings with 25 units or more, Newdigs is free until the end of the year.  In 2011 they will begin charging $95 per month.)
• Craigslist.org – Craigslist is extremely popular because it is free, but landlords have to be selective about which photos you post, as only 4 are permitted per advertisement.  The free advertisement also offers a very large amount of text, sufficient for any apartment advertisement.  You just need to re-post your listing every 48 hours to keep it relevant.
• RentRochester.com – Like newdigs, Rent Rochester is a locally based company.  They allow for several photos with their $35 per month, per unit advertisements.
• Rent.com- Rent.com’s solution for the small landlord allows for one photo per one month advertisement.  Actually, we should say it requires one photo, as it will not allow a landlord to continue with their advertisement until they add their one photo.  They tried charging $15 per lead every time an apartment seeker contacts them regarding your advertised apartment, but it does not appear to have gone over well.  Recently they changed to a flat $150 for a 60 day listing.
• Apartments.com – Basic advertisements, $100, do not allow for a photo, but adding $5 in order to upgrade to an “Enhanced”  listing is well worth it in order to include up to 20 photographs.

How to Use Photos to Rent Your Apartment Quickly

September 13, 2010 by Ben Munson in Apartment Marketing, Landlord Tips
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You have heard it a million times for a reason, photos really are worth a thousand words. When it comes to advertising property, a photo is probably worth about five thousand. In this era of digital cameras, video capable cell phones and $100 video recorders there is no excuse for a property owner to create a listing with no photos.  Poor listings with no photos are the number one reason that apartment vacancies extend beyond one month for the less savvy landlord.

For those of you familiar with Craigslist, one of the many limitations of the site is that it only allows four images on a listing. Newdigs’ users can upload an unlimited number of photos because we realize that renters demand as much information as can be provided. The more a renter can discover about your property online, the more qualified that lead is for you as a landlord. The last thing you want is for your email and cell phone to blow up with useless leads inquiring about every aspect of your listing.

So what pictures should you include? We recommend a minimum of:

1. Front of property showing the property’s ‘curb appeal’
2. Back of property highlighting the yard or possible off-street parking
3. Main bedroom
4. Secondary bedrooms
5. Family room
6. Dining room or other living area
7. Bathroom
8. Kitchen
9. Special features – Fireplace, water-view, balcony or the like

Keep in Mind:

1. Clear away clutter from view – close the toilet seat, clean up messy areas
2. The subject of the photo (house) should take up at least 80% of the screen
3. Don’t include pets or people in photos
4. Use an SLR camera with a wide angle lens if possible – a photo of the corner of your bathroom doesn’t help anyone.
5. Try not to catch yourself in the mirror
6. Pay attention to lighting – take interior photos mid-day and exteriors are best nearer to sunset or sunrise, and avoid those really cloudy days
7. You can HIRE NEWDIGS to take professional photos for you. We’ll even put up a lawn sign, create the listing, and post the listing for you.  Call us at 585-678-6900.

Virtual Tours, Slide-shows and Video Tours:
You have likely heard it said that you should include a virtual tour of your listing. In our humble opinion, they are pretty cumbersome and rarely give a user a much better impression of the property than a dozen good photos. If you feel that it genuinely adds value to the advertisement and gives a perspective on the property that the photos can’t, go for it. Many ‘virtual tours’ are nothing more than photos edited together and played in a movie mode. These slide shows are ok, but don’t hold a candle to a professional video tour. We are most impressed with these professional video tours. Last week we had Patrick Bayer from HouseFinderTV.com stop by our office to show us their work. We were so impressed that we will soon be offering their services on Newdigs!

In Closing:
Never be afraid to use more photos than you think you need. An interested renter will want to know and see everything they can about their potential new digs before scheduling a walk-through or signing the lease. As a landlord you only want to be dealing with highly qualified renters so you aren’t wasting time with window shoppers.