2014 Rental Listings- Photos You Shouldn’t Post

2014 Rental Listings- Photos You Shouldn’t Post

2014 Rental Listings- Photos You Shouldn’t Post

We’ve all seen ’em- those ads we can’t believe someone posted, yet they posted.  I’m not sure what goes through the minds of some, but I figured that as we head into 2014, I’d offer a few examples of photos you shouldn’t post.  For those who are into lists of “do’s and don’ts” and such, these would surely be “don’ts”.

The photo above is a decent example of Photos You Shouldn’t Post Type #1:  blurry photos.  Perhaps this photo’s snapper was intentionally blurring the entire photo in order to hide a stale date in the corner of it or something- not too sure, but folks can’t really “get a clear picture” (couldn’t resist) of how a property looks if photos are blurry.

2014 Rental Listings- Photos You Shouldn’t Post

Photos You Shouldn’t Post Type #2:  photos of garbage

This should be a no-brainer.  If you happen to be taking a photo on Garbage Day and the ol’ garbage man hasn’t yet picked things up, do yourself a favor and put the bags out of sight before bustin’ out your Polaroid.

2014 Rental Listings- Photos You Shouldn’t Post

Photos You Shouldn’t Post Type #3:  photos with you in them

It’s a good idea not to include any humans in your photos for privacy reasons- and it’s best not to include an owner or tenant’s children for safety purposes.  And you?  Leave the “mirror selfie” for Instagrammin’ later on.

2014 Rental Listings- Photos You Shouldn’t Post

Photos You Shouldn’t Post Type #4:  photos of a messy/dirty/cluttered house

Where to begin?  Generally speaking, the goal of putting photos in your ads is to provide an inviting illustration of a property you’re looking to sell/lease.  The inviting part goes right out the window when the viewing public sees a stained carpet and wonders just how much better it would look once steam cleaned- and you’ve lost that prospect forever.  It’s also quite possible that you’ve not only lost them as a prospect for one of your properties, but you’ve lost them as a prospect for all of your properties.

Folks seeing a photo like this can’t help but think to themselves “If this is how they let this place get, can I expect their other ones to be much better?”  And can you blame them?  Though rare, you can run into liability issues by using a photo like this as well.  Just as we’re reminded not to put our new TVs’ boxes on the curb the day after Christmas and send up a “Great stuff here!” flare to the thievin’ world, we have to be careful not to picture something in our ads that might come up “missing”.  You’ll be in a world of hurt when an owner/tenant calls and asks you to replace something of theirs that you “advertised”.

2014 Rental Listings- Photos You Shouldn’t Post

Photos You Shouldn’t Post Type #5:  blurry photos from afar

Come on, now.  If the blurry photo in Photos You Shouldn’t Post Type #1 above is a bad idea- and it is, one can’t reasonably expect any good (or prospects) to be heading their way when using a blurry photo taken from a distance!  For the most part, shots like this give one of two impressions:  either the photographer is lazy/incompetent/broke and can’t afford better equipment or that the photographer is a hard-charging genius with tons of money that just happens to have something about the subject property he’s trying to hide.

While this group of photos is by no means all-inclusive (I’ve got more), I hope all find a bit of value in my somewhat informative, somewhat whimsical look at them.

2014 Rental Listings- Photos You Shouldn’t Post