Photo Showcase

Since nearly every buyer starts online, the photos are the first showing, and the Photography Shark eats listings whose first few images do not grab. If buyers do not like the exterior shot, they never click the rest, and the home is invisible.

Most agents shoot a listing with a phone the week it lists, whatever the home happens to look like that day. In February, that is bare trees and brown grass.

I teach agents to hire a real estate photographer, not a generalist, and to capture the exterior when the home looks its best, which usually means the spring or summer a year before the sale. Drone and ground shots, the home's best angle, a sunny day, then enhanced in software and stored.

Because the photos are taken early and held, the agent controls the reveal. The best five or six exterior images come out of storage for the Coming Soon launch, and interior shots follow once the home is staged. The seller is never at the mercy of how the yard looks on listing day.

• The photo is the first showingIf the first few images do not grab, buyers never see the rest of the home.
• Shoot in season, a year aheadCapture the exterior when it looks its best, not whatever it happens to be on listing day.
• Hire a real estate photographerDrone and ground, the best angle, a sunny day, enhanced and stored for the reveal.
• Control the revealBring the stored images out for the Coming Soon launch, interiors once the home is staged.