Okay, I know I am prejudiced about this but I just don’t understand why while searching for properties online that I see listings with no photo available by the listing agent.  If it bugs me does it bug you?  Do you even want to go see a property in person if you can’t inspect in online first?  I know my clients don’t like it so I must assume that other agents don’t like it and the general public doesn’t either.  Am I wrong here?

I personally think agents are just lazy when they don’t upload any pictures with their listing.  Today, digital cameras are downright cheap to buy, easy to use and a snap to upload pictures to the web.  Our local MLS has made it really simple to do, too. So why don’t agents do it?  Are they from the Old School, where they expect someone else to come out and take the picture for them? (Yes, this was a good business for someone until quite recently, in fact.)

If you are searching online for a home, how important is it for you to see pictures?

I think most people fall into the first category but occasionally I do find someone in the second category.  On the other hand, if I am working with a Senior buyer, the third category is where they often land because many of them do not use computers in their daily lives so when I take them to show prospective homes that is the first time they will have seen it.

So dear reader, where do you fall in the need to see a picture online?  Mandatory?   Important?   Or,  Who Cares?  Fill in a comment and let me know what you think.  Is a picture worth a thousand words?  And, yes these two empty pictures do come from listings.  One is off of Infolink’s reil.com and the other from realtor.com.   There is no need to say which listings these are from because you, too, can find your own set of  empty houses just for your own curiousity.  They’re out there everywhere.

One of the things I’m really noticing is listings that are Bank Owned and the agent isn’t local.  It appears that they just can’t drive to San Mateo County to snap those pictures of the house.  The other thing that’s interesting to me is when a property has been listed for a long, long, long, long time and there aren’t any pictures.  Not even one of the front of the property.  Nada, zippo, nothing.  Guess why that listing is hanging around for so long?  I’ll bet it’s the lack of pictures.  But where is the owner of that property?  Don’t they look at their listing online?  Aren’t they aware that their listing has no picture?  Maybe not. Maybe the fact that No Photo Available sits where their home’s picture should sit aren’t bothered.  Too bad.

This gets me back to A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, or maybe a thousand dollars, or more.  I can’t help but believe that the seller isn’t losing money by having a lazy agent.  If they can’t shoot pictures I wonder what else can’t they do for their seller to protect them?  Makes me not want to do business with them!