Author: Callum Domigan

If your floor plan software doesn’t offer these 3 things, it’s time to switch providers

Posted on by Callum Domigan

Several ingredients form the perfect property listing, and floor plans are one such component. 

In fact, as many as 78% of sellers rated floor plans as having a 7/10 (or higher) importance. On top of that, 1 in 5 property hunters would either “ignore the property advert completely” or “only re-visit it if nothing else caught their eye” if the listing didn’t include a floor plan.

The bottom line: Floor plans are essential for attracting potential viewers. 

Given how vital floor plans are for creating appealing property listings, you want to ensure your floor plan software offers everything you need to make the most out of this visual content type. 

To help with this, we’re revealing three things all floor plan software should offer its users (so, if your current provider doesn’t provide these features…maybe it’s time to swap to someone who does?) 

Interested? Great! Let’s get into the nitty-gritty of this blog post!

1. Watermarking and branding

There are several advantages to adding watermarks to your floor plans, including:

Strengthening your brand: When house hunters view property listings, they focus more on the residence itself rather than your agency. That’s why you and your agents need to scream about your brand at every opportunity – including within your floor plans! 

Adding your logo as a watermark to your floor plans increases the chances of buyers seeing your brand and taking note of your agency (especially if they want to view similar properties). In other words, this is a quick and simple way of boosting brand visibility and, consequently, brand recognition.  

This is especially handy when listing properties on portals like Rightmove, as they try to hide your brand as much as possible. As such, adding a watermark to floor plans is an excellent way to sidestep this issue.

Make your listings look more professional: Branded floor plans make property listings look more professional, which works wonders for generating trust with potential buyers. When an agency proudly plasters its name on its stock, it instils confidence in house hunters, which should translate into more enquiries. 

Safeguard your floor plans: If you’re a veteran estate agent, you’ll know that from time to time, you’ll lose instructions to competing agencies. Should this unfortunate scenario happen while your listing is still live, unscrupulous agents might try to steal your floor plans. So, adding a watermark can deter competitors from doing this, reducing the likelihood of them benefitting from the visual content you’ve spent time and money producing!

2. Tweak with an online editor

Unfortunately, most floor plan software providers don’t offer an online editor that lets you quickly tweak your floor plans. 

This is where access to an intuitive drag-and-drop editor that allows you to modify your floor plans after they’ve been created is worth its weight in gold. 

For example, if you notice a missing door or need to update measurements on your floor plan, you can make those modifications within seconds! This is much quicker, easier, and cheaper than commissioning a new floor plan re-draw from scratch.

3. Quick turnaround times

Last but not least, speedy turnaround times are imperative for publishing property listings as quickly as possible. After all, the sooner you post your listing, the quicker you’ll generate interest in the property. 

That’s why here at PropertyBox, we’re proud to say that, on average, we deliver our professional floor plan re-draws within 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Other floor plan re-draw services typically offer a 24-hour turnaround. We’re looking at you BoxBrownie, Photoplan Bookings, or, in some cases like Abdone, as long as 48-72 hours!

How can PropertyBox help?

If you’re wondering where you can find floor plan software that offers all the above (and more!), PropertyBox is your go-to. 

More specifically, you’ll benefit from the following features: 

  • You can choose between black-and-white or coloured floor plans
  • Watermarking and branding features
  • You can tweak floor plans using an intuitive drag-and-drop online editor
  • You can label rooms/specific areas

…all for just £5+VAT per floor plan!

If any of that piqued your interest and you would like more info about PropertyBox’s floor plan re-draws, schedule a callback today, and we’ll get back to you within 55 seconds or less!

3 musts for estate agents hoping for a quick property sale

Posted on by Callum Domigan

When it comes to property sales, the age-old saying is true: time is money. 

The quicker property sales complete, the less likely it is to fall through and the more money your agency makes.

This begs the question, how do you and your agents sell properties as quickly as possible for the best price?

Needless to say, turning around high-quality property listings in as short a time as you can is instrumental for quick property sales. 

So, we’re revealing three tips for speeding up listing creation (that won’t compromise quality). Let’s take a look:

1. Get your EPCs in order

Many of us overlook the power of EPCs. However, as many as 4 in 5 agents forecast a substantial surge in buyers looking for properties with an EPC rating of C or better. 

So, not only is a valid EPC a legal requirement whenever a residence is built, sold or rented. But, a decent EPC rating could be an invaluable marketing asset. 

The bottom line: You need a quick and reliable way of checking a property’s EPC validity and ordering a new certificate should you need one. 

Using software that empowers you to do this from the convenience of one place saves you and your agents tons of time and effort.

For example, PropertyBox enables agents to check their clients’ current and potential energy performance ratings. They can also order an EPC assessment at a guaranteed price of £50+VAT from their PropertyBox workspace. 

Then, within 24 hours of the EPC assessment, you can download your EPC certificate – or, if your vendor’s EPC is valid, download it straight away!

2. Write property descriptions in record time

Our industry experts say writing a decent-quality property description takes 20-30 minutes (on average). Of course, the more luxurious the home, the longer it takes agents to write accurate and compelling descriptions.

So, let’s say you list 15 properties a month. In this instance, you’ll spend around six and a half hours writing property descriptions a month on average! 

Just think of all the other things you could do with that precious time.

So, what’s the answer?

Instead of manually writing property descriptions, the most straightforward solution is to use an AI-fuelled and custom built assistant like PropertyBox to autogenerate descriptions within seconds. 

When we asked Mark Severino from Best Texas House Buyers, LLC for his tips on streamlining listing creation, he said: ‘Checklists are the number one tool that can be utilized to streamline efforts…Checklists can be used in conjunction with AI. You are able to fill out the checklist with the information for an individual property.. submit it…and ask it to write out a full listing!’

With that said, here’s how you can adopt such an approach with PropertyBox:

  1. Select your client’s property type and add details, including local area highlights – this can be done in just a few clicks!
  2. Then, within seconds, PropertyBox produces a custom property description, a key benefits list, and a summary.
  3. Copy and paste the text into your preferred property portals. Or tweak it first before it goes live – the choice is yours!

3. Ensure your listing is picture-perfect (even if they’re just smartphone snaps!)

A study found that property listings with just one photo take around 70 days (on average) to sell. In contrast, properties with 20 high-quality pictures typically complete in about a month.

The moral of the story? The more professional property photos you use, the quicker your property will sell. 

Many things contribute to the overall quality of a property photo. Some of which you can control, while others are out of your hands. This is why a robust post-production process is so important.

Below, we’ve listed just some of those factors:

  • The weather – did you take your property photos on a dreary day?
  • How cluttered is the property?
  • Do the images respect your vendor’s privacy? (number plates, personal photos, etc.)
  • Are the images HD quality?

Depending on your answers to the above questions, you might have lots of editing to do! 

So, how do you simplify this process? Historically, agents would spend hours using complicated photo editing software to achieve decent results. But, thankfully, that’s no longer the only solution.

You can now use AI property photo enhancement software like PropertyBox to brush up your visuals. 

Just take photos using your smartphone or camera and upload the shots to your PropertyBox workspace. We automatically put images through 27 photo enhancements to increase the quality of your photos. 

You can also use our magic wand to remove small objects from your photos. Just highlight the object you wish to remove (for instance, a flower pot full of dead plants). Then click ‘Finish’ and watch the object disappear!

Best of all, these property photo enhancement tools achieve results within seconds!

Are you ready to start making quick property sales?

That brings us to the end of our tips for streamlining listing creation for quick property sales.

To recap, the most productive way to turbocharge listing creation is to use an AI-fuelled property marketing assistant that can:

  • Instantly look up EPC validity
  • Allow you to order new EPCs
  • Autogenerate engaging property descriptions
  • Edit property photos within seconds to enhance their quality

If you want to know more about how PropertyBox could help you sell properties quicker, request a callback today!

Creating compelling property descriptions: our tips and tricks

Posted on by Callum Domigan

Often, estate agents focus on the visual aspects of their property listings, consequently overlooking the importance of well-crafted property descriptions. 

Whilst property photos and floorplans remain the most viewed part of a property listing, descriptions still play a valuable role in providing a comprehensive overview.

Interestingly, Property Academy’s Home Mover Survey found that:

  • 90% of buyers and 89% of renters said quality photos were “important” when searching for a property
  • Similarly, 95% of buyers and 87% of renters indicated floor plans were “important” for them.

…But, when it came to property descriptions, these numbers were even higher, with 91% of buyers and 94% of renters describing them as “important.”

So, to help your estate agency enhance its property descriptions, here are our top seven tips and tricks:

1. Create a checklist

Create a checklist before heading to the property. This should detail all the info you need to get while you’re there. 

This helps you feel more organised and boost your efficiency too. After all, the one thing you want to avoid is visiting the property more than once, as it slows down the overall sales process.

2. Use your local knowledge

As an agent, you will undoubtedly have extensive knowledge of the local area and the benefits of buying, selling or renting a property there. 

Use these insights to add relevant information to your descriptions, such as details about nearby schools, transport links, and other local highlights. 

Not only does this information demonstrate that you’re a trusted agent, but it also adds a personal touch to the description.

3. Tailor descriptions to your audience

When writing property descriptions, it’s crucial to consider your target audience. I.e., who are you trying to entice with this information?

This means establishing the type of person who might purchase/rent the property and catering the description so it resonates with them. 

For example, if your property is suitable for families, it would be crucial to mention how many bedrooms and bathrooms the property has. It would also be wise to highlight the closest schools and parks. 

These details make it easier for potential customers to picture themselves living in their new home, which goes a long way to securing more relevant leads.

4. Highlight unique selling points

Always highlight the property’s unique selling points. For example, incentives such as “Help to Buy” and short contracts are often available to buyers and renters and should be mentioned in the property description. These sorts of positives could push the sale over the line.

5. Keep descriptions concise and clear

We all know prospective buyers or renters only skim-read property descriptions to pick out key information.

Focus on brevity and avoid excessive jargon or details that detract from the property’s key features.

Also, always use sentence case and avoid excessive capitals. Trying to highlight too many features can make it harder for the reader to engage with the listing.

6. Use keywords

Make sure you use common keywords searched for on property portals, like “open plan”, “garden”, or “south-facing” in your listings. This should help them appear in more searches.

7. Embrace generative AI

In 2023, AI is taking the world by storm, and the property industry is no exception. 

As you know, producing high-quality property descriptions for each listing is time-consuming, which is why more and more agents are utilising AI software to speed up this process. 

It’s important to remember that you’ll have the most success using generative AI for your property descriptions when you use accurate and effective prompts.

Property Academy’s Mover Survey shows there is plenty of potential for estate agents to differentiate themselves on high-quality property descriptions that provide quality information to prospective buyers or renters. More specifically, they found that only 31% of buyers rated the accuracy of property descriptions as “Excellent” and 43% as “Good”. 

By implementing our seven recommendations, agents can take their descriptions to the next level and generate greater interest in their properties.

Introducing auto-generated AI descriptions

If you’re interested in generative AI to fuel your property descriptions, PropertyBox uses cutting-edge AI technology to generate property descriptions in seconds, saving you hours of manual work. 

Subscribe to any Starter or Pro plan for free to experience our brand-new auto-generated AI descriptions. 

PS. You’ll also benefit from our game-changing AI property photo enhancements, and floorplan redraws too!

5 Quick Fixes to Improve your Estate Agency Website

Posted on by Callum Domigan

Almost 95% of house buyers do online research, and when you couple this stat with the fact that Google’s top 3 search results get more than 50% of clicks, one thing becomes crystal clear: your website is of the utmost importance.

A well-designed and optimised website is more than just an online portfolio; it’s a powerful platform to represent your brand, attract leads, establish credibility, and drive those all-important sales.

Samantha Aitken, Territory Owner at Yopa Glasgow South, says it best: ‘If you were looking for an estate agent and they had an awful website or bad photographs, how could you trust them to present your property for sale well when they can’t even present themselves.’

We couldn’t agree more! 

So, with that said, if you want to elevate your estate agency website, here are 5 quick fixes you could implement today:

1. Publish customer reviews

Customer reviews play a pivotal role in influencing buying decisions. In fact, research from Capterra reveals that 62% of consumers consult online reviews before buying, valuing customer reviews even more than the opinions of experts or their friends.

With customer reviews acting as powerful social proof, you should leverage them throughout your estate agency’s website, particularly on pages encouraging prospects to contact you.

By prominently displaying positive feedback and testimonials from satisfied vendors, you establish trust and credibility, reinforcing the value of your offering.

We recommend working with a customer review site specific to the property industry, such as ESTAS. ESTAS is exclusively dedicated to property-related customer reviews from genuine consumers providing feedback at the end of their transactions.

A quick tip: Plenty of platforms are available to help you launch automated email and/or text sequences asking clients to leave a review. Not only does this save you time, but once these workflows are up and running, you should enjoy a steady stream of customer feedback.

2. Loading speed

When it comes to user satisfaction and website performance, your site’s loading speed is vital. A study by Kissmetrics revealed that 47% of web users expect pages to load within 2 seconds, with 40% abandoning sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load.

These stats emphasise the importance of optimising your website for fast load times. It’s no exaggeration to suggest that a slow website could be why you’re receiving fewer enquiries than you’d like from your website. After all, when visitors encounter slow-loading pages, they’re more likely to become impatient and leave the site before completing any desired actions, such as submitting an enquiry form.

To assess and enhance your website’s loading speed, we recommend Google’s Page Speed Insights. This tool makes it easy to test your website’s performance and identify areas for improvement. You’ll also obtain actionable and personalised insights to share with your website agency or development team.

3. Mobile-friendliness

As many as 74% of home buyers research properties using their mobile or tablet. With so many using portable devices to fuel their house hunt, it’s imperative your website is mobile-friendly.

This means ensuring your site boasts a responsive design that seamlessly adapts to different screen sizes. This is essential for providing the optimum user experience across all devices.

Suppose you’re using a popular website builder like Wix or Squarespace to fuel your estate agency’s website. In that case, you might find that your website template is already responsive. However, if you need more clarification, we recommend contacting your web developer/the customer service team of your chosen website builder to double-check.

Furthermore, a mobile-friendly website is more likely to rank higher in search engines, which should translate to more eyes on your website! Google recommends mobile optimising your website as part of its broader push to prioritise sites offering a better user experience.

4. Offer a ‘lure’

A lure, also known as a lead magnet, is a valuable incentive you can offer potential customers in exchange for their contact information (or to encourage them to take a specific action).

A lure aims to attract, engage, and nurture leads while positioning yourself as an authority in your industry. All of this goes a long way to increase the likelihood of a conversion.

Offering a downloadable resource is an excellent lead magnet example—for instance, an eBook, guide, or checklist. Whatever downloadable you decide to give away, it should be relevant, informative, and address common pain points or questions sellers have.

For example, you could create a property selling guide outlining the different sales steps, staging tips, and negotiation strategies.

This kind of gated content not only enables you to capture more leads but also helps to establish you as an expert, which is fantastic for building trust and credibility with those interested in selling property.

5. Provide a live call-back service

Offering a live call-back service on your website empowers you to capitalise on the immediate interest of website visitors and increase the likelihood of securing their business. In fact, according to LiveCall, implementing their call-back service can convert 30% to 120% more web visitors into leads.

By promptly responding to call-back requests, you demonstrate to potential vendors that you value their time and are dedicated to addressing their needs. An immediate response sets a positive impression and allows you to engage in positive one-to-one communication.

This personalised interaction permits you to gain a more concrete understanding of their specific requirements and provide tailored advice, including addressing any particular concerns they have. It’s also a chance to build rapport, establish trust, and showcase your expertise, ultimately increasing the likelihood of securing the prospect’s business.

If you want to integrate a live call-back feature into your site, we recommend Convolo or livecall.io. This software makes it easy for prospective clients to request a call-back with your estate agency’s sales team and for your agents to respond promptly.

Now’s the time to elevate your estate agency’s website

With the UK estate agency market expected to grow by over 3% this year, competition is on the up, so distinguishing yourself with a first-rate website has never been so important.

With that said, we hope having read this blog post, you’re now filled with ideas for improving your estate agency’s site.

To recap, here are a few quick and easy website fixes:

Publish customer reviews, optimise load speed, prioritise mobile-friendliness, offer a valuable lead magnet, and provide a live call-back service. By implementing these changes, you take a massive step toward maximising your online presence and, subsequently, growing your agency.

For more ways to upgrade your property marketing game, try PropertyBox for free! We provide AI-fuelled photo enhancements, floor plan re-draws, automated property descriptions, and much more. Alternatively, if you have any questions, you can request a callback from our friendly customer support team (you’ll hear from us in under 55 seconds!) – speak soon!

Transforming property marketing: PropertyBox’s faster app, enhanced AI accuracy, and powerful object removal tool

Posted on by Callum Domigan

PropertyBox is a cutting-edge property marketing assistant. It harnesses advanced technology to offer users instant improvements to their property photos, expertly redrawn floor plans, seamless removal of unwanted objects, and privacy blurring to safeguard customer information.

We love hearing our customer’s feedback

PropertyBox understands the value of customer feedback and prioritises actively listening and responding to our client’s needs. By taking our customers’ feedback onboard, we have significantly improved our platform. PropertyBox’s customer-centric approach is crucial because it allows our business to evolve and grow while tailoring our services to better meet the requirements of our users.

What improvements has PropertyBox made?

We’re thrilled to share that our efforts have resulted in a faster app, improved AI accuracy, and a significant increase in usage of PropertyBox’s object-removal tool.

  1. Accelerated speed for effortless efficiency
    • We are delighted to share that our app is now twice as fast as before. As mentioned above, we have listened to your feedback and prioritised enhancing the application’s overall speed, which will benefit our users. Through dedicated development efforts, we have optimised our app’s performance and speed, allowing you to accomplish tasks swiftly and seamlessly.
  2. Enhanced AI accuracy
    • We have enhanced AI accuracy through customer feedback. With a remarkable AI accuracy rate of 98%, PropertyBox ensures that your photo enhancements meet the highest standards of precision and reliability. The feedback allows us to learn from user interactions, adapt to evolving needs, and deliver exceptional results. By leveraging the power of AI and customer input, we have taken a significant step forward in providing users with reliable and accurate photo enhancements, which will ultimately improve your online presence and save you valuable time and resources.
  3. Object removal
    • Capturing appealing property photos can be challenging due to various factors, such as unwanted objects or clutter. Our object removal feature has been a game-changer, as demonstrated by the remarkable usage rate of 89% among our subscribers last month. This powerful tool lets you seamlessly remove unwanted elements from your images, resulting in visually appealing listings. Presenting your properties in the best possible light has never been easier.
  4. HD upscaling
    • PropertyBox is thrilled to introduce an exciting new feature called HD upscaling. Aimed at providing our customers with a remarkable advantage in property marketing. With HD upscaling, your property photos are automatically converted to HD, transforming ordinary images into stunning visuals. Agents can now win more instructions, boost sales, and achieve higher property prices, solidifying their market position and surpassing competitors

The improvements mentioned throughout this article will help our customers have a competitive edge over their competitors. The enhanced AI accuracy ensures that the photo enhancements provided by PropertyBox are precise and of high quality, which will allow customers to showcase their property at its finest. PropertyBox is dedicated to helping its customers stand out in a crowded market.

Why choose PropertyBox?

PropertyBox is here to help. Our fantastic team has expert knowledge of property marketing which will help your estate agency stand out from the competition. Whether you’re looking for photo enhancements, floor plan redraws, object removal, privacy blurring, or automatic branding, our team can assist with this.

It’s time to take your business to the next level, try ProperyBox today!

PropertyBox is the easiest, cheapest and fastest way to get your photos buzzing

Posted on by Callum Domigan

PropertyBox Chief Revenue Officer Aaron White gives his top tips for creating stand-out property photos every time.

We know that you want to make your property photos look as professional as possible but sometimes you’re hindered by weather and circumstances. Maybe the skies don’t look great on the day, or there are bins outside that can’t be moved, or maybe the scene wasn’t set perfectly in a living room and your eye is drawn to the untidy TV wires instead of the period fireplace. Now PropertyBox gives you the ability change all that after you’ve taken your shots and is the perfect tool to turn a good picture into a great picture. The difference is jaw dropping!

Eyesores gone in seconds

The most common items we’re asked to remove using our instant Object Removal tool are bins outside the front which don’t show the house to its best advantage, but just by removing them it can look stunning. Other agents’ sale boards are the second most popular item to be removed. When I first saw I could draw a line over an unwanted object in seconds, as opposed to it taking me 45 minutes to get rid of something manually, I was in awe at how we’ve developed these tools. I love demonstrating what we can do to potential clients – especially when they realise how we’re going to make their lives so much easier.

We’re simply the fastest on floorplans

We’re the only company that can turn around a floor plan within 4 hours for just £5. You don’t have to download software, just simply sketch the floor plan on a piece of paper, note down the measurements and the names of the rooms, take a photo of it and upload it and that’s it. Within hours we’ll deliver the completed floor plan to you, freeing up your time for other important tasks.

It’s interesting to see the growing take up of our floor plan service, as well as customers choosing our one-off pay and go service to produce a floor plan for their Airbnb property or holiday cottage. It certainly gives them the edge over hundreds of homes without a floor plan, making it much easier for holiday makers to see if the property has a layout that suits their needs. And it’s unlikely these homeowners will have used a professional photographer for the photographs so once again we can enhance these to make them look great.

Our new watermarking service for photography and floor plans is another game changer, allowing your branding to be more visible across all social media content, making it easily recognisable and creating more organic leads to your business.

Five ways to make your listings shine this New Year

Posted on by Callum Domigan

The market outlook heading into the start of this year is certainly calmer. But with Zoopla reporting a ‘Boxing Day boost’ with a 42% increase in new listings compared to the same day in 2021 and Rightmove reporting a 20% jump in the number of buyer views, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic heading towards the spring selling season.

There will be big gains for agents who are willing to go the extra mile to ensure their listings stand out on the portals and win the click. Not only will professional-looking visual content help agents sell quickly and for the highest price, it will ensure they’re front of mind of prospective sellers too.

1. Professional photo enhancements will provide all the benefits of professional quality property photography, without the price tag. PropertyBox’s easy to use, instant photo enhancing tool provides blue sky replacement, vertical correction, brightness adjustment, shadow boosting and colour enhancement, with beautiful quality, professionally enhanced photos returned within seconds.

2. Professional floor plans help agents generate more leads, increase buyer interest and build a reputation for high-quality property marketing. Within just a couple of hours, a simple hand drawn sketch will be converted into a professional looking 2D plan, customised in the agent’s style, colours and branded with their logo, enabling them to benefit from up to 30% more enquiries from buyers and tenants.

3. Clutter-free photos help agents get the perfect shot by airbrushing eyesores such as wheelie bins, shampoo bottles, kitchen clutter and For Sale boards from property photos. Simply highlight any objects that need removing using an online pen, with an adjustable brush size for ease of use, then relax as our AI-driven Object Removal tool instantly airbrushes the eyesore and seamlessly backfills the space to march with the surroundings.

4. Estate agency branding on photos and floorplans helps agents grow their brand online and highlight their commitment to property marketing excellence. The online equivalent of a street full of For Sale boards, ensuring branding is clearly visible on the portals allows agents to promote their business and show potential sellers how much they care about the quality of their listings.

5. Upload between 8 and 15 photos when adding new listings to your website and the portals. This optimum number helps agents attract attention to the property and move a potential buyer onto the next step by making an enquiry. Between 8 and 15 high quality professional-looking photos will show off the listing to its full potential and give buyers plenty of information, but also leave them wanting more.

Are you ready to get started?

Save time and money by outsourcing key marketing elements to the professionals

Posted on by Callum Domigan

We know you are constantly juggling tasks to make sure you can focus on the important aspects of winning instructions and progressing sales but, without eye-catching photography and clear floorplans, your agency is instantly at a huge disadvantage. That’s where PropertyBox comes into its own, saving you time and money by producing these vital tools of estate agency service super quickly and within budget.

It couldn’t be quicker

You have just 2.7 seconds to grab someone’s attention online, but it can take considerably longer to achieve professional quality photography for your listings if you’re trying to do it yourself, often with just a smart phone. How do you make your skies bluer? Is your photography lacking in oomph and just a bit colourless, languishing in the shadows? Now you can upload your shots via our client portal and, in just one click, our AI photo enhancement software will transform your photos in seconds, ready to be instantly uploaded to Rightmove and Zoopla. It couldn’t be quicker.

We’ve asked our partner agents how long it would have taken before using PropertyBox to touch up their own photography and the answer is, “hours – and that’s without interruptions to deal with important call and queries”. How much time could you save to concentrate on securing valuations, client relations and progressing sales by switching to the country’s leading photo enhancement service?

Stand out at valuations

Homebuyers spend 80% of their time looking at property photography and just 20% reading the description. You can prove to potential clients at the valuation stage that you are prepared to go that extra mile to ensure their property stands out from competition, sells quicker and for a higher price, by showing them your outstanding listings.

Not only that, but do you do the most you can to protect your clients’ privacy? PropertyBox automatically blurs faces, personal photographs around the home and car number plates. That’s peace of mind you don’t have to make more time for.

Try before you buy

We can help to build your brand to show that you always present your properties for sale or rental to the highest standard. We’re so confident you’ll love our service that you can even ‘try before you buy’. Just upload a selection of property photographs for enhancement to see the results before signing up to one of our highly competitive packages.

Book a demo with Vince to find out more.

Five common mistakes when photographing properties – and how to avoid them

Posted on by Callum Domigan

We are always waxing lyrical about your property photography and how it makes the difference in the speed and sale price of your listings. It isn’t a matter of rocking up and taking some pictures, you need to use your photographs to tell a story of the property, to let your viewer feel like they are walking through the house (potentially the one of their dreams) online before they decide to book a viewing.

We have plenty of articles and tips on how to take a good photo and what you need to do to get them just right on our blog. But it’s just as important to know what NOT to do when setting up and taking your photographs.

 

1.Wrong lighting.

Lighting really can make or break the look of a property – externally and internally.

For example, too much sun for external photos will give shadows or saturation and you will lose some of the details of the house. Internally if the photo is too dark it can make the room look small and gloomy and discolour walls, making things look dirty.

 

What can you do?

  • Take photos of the exterior on an overcast day or towards dusk and have all the lights on inside making it look warm and inviting
  • For interior images play with the lighting inside to make it bright but not stark – you may need to bring in some extra lamps.
  • With our brightness adjustment and shadow booster functionality on our property photography enhancing tool you can really level up your images in seconds.

 

2. Too much clutter.

Even if the current owners have cleaned and tidied for your arrival there can still be things lying around that will spoil the shot and look messy. If there is too much clutter it can make the room looked cramped and unappealing.

 

What can you do?

  • Walk around the property first to see if anything needs hidden or removed – It may only be a small thing but could take over the whole picture
  • Even things that should be there, such as cushions or a bold rug may look better if removed. Try to keep the decor neutral.
  • Our property photography enhancing tool will remove that cup on the kitchen counter that you missed. It can help clean up your image in seconds.

 

3. Composition & the wrong angles.

Taking your photograph at the wrong angle can make the difference to the look and feel of the room or even the front of the house. Changing the angle of your camera by just a few feet can completely change the quality of the photo.

 

What can you do?

  • You may have to adjust your height according to the furniture in the room. If the bed or coffee table is low to the ground, you’ll want to bring your height down so everything is straight. Between waist and cost height is often best.
  • Take note of the natural lines in the room and ensure to keep them straight in your photo. For example, turning your camera just a few degrees can make the whole room feel wonky.
  • Try to have only 2 walls showing in your photographs. Rooms can tend to look longer and/or narrower than they really are when you shoot down the length of the room showing three walls meeting.
  • If you do take images that are a little off and look wonky you can change this in seconds by uploading them to our photo enhancing tool with it’s vertical correction functionality

 

4. Poor quality.

The biggest mistake you can make is using poor quality images.  Especially with low-cost listings, many agents think it is ok to use less than good images. it’s not! Bad photogrpahy not only effects the time it will take to sell a property, but it will also reflect poorly on your brand. You need high quality images every time. This will go a long way to selling your property for a good price and in quick time. It will also level up your brands reputation and in turn bring in higher value properties for your books.

 

What can you do?

  • Read some of our blogs on setting up your rooms and exterior for a good shot
  • Take a few shots of the same room and angle so you can ensure there is one good one of each room
  • If your images don’t turn out as well as you hoped you can use our property photography enhancing tool to enhance your imagery to professional level. Giving your listings a boost and your business a solid reputation for quality property listings.

 

5. Too neutral.

We always advise to make the room as neutral as possible to appeal to the maximum numbers of buyers, we want them to imagine their style and furnishings in the entires home. However, we also won’t don’t rooms that lack warmth. Small pops of colour can have a big impact along with making the room look more inviting.

 

What can you do?

  • If the rooms are all white (or grey) you can add some flowers or bright cushions to add that pop of colour
  • Put the lights on in the room or bring some lamps into the picture to bring that warmth in.
  • Our property enhancing tool not only adjusts brightness but can also enhance the colour with the colour enhancing feature.

 

By using our fast and effective photo enhancement tool you can level your photography up without the high cost of money and time and give you consistently great photos each and every time. If you would like to see it for yourself check out our free trial….

What photos showcase the best property listings?

Posted on by Callum Domigan

It’s no secret that photography sells properties and good property photography sells property faster and often for a higher price than those with mediocre images.

It can also help to elevate your brand and bring in higher-value listings going forward for your business.

Win win!

 

What photos do you need to showcase?

 

Here are our 3 tips for an overall better listing post.

 

1. Curb appeal: THE best image to use should be a photograph of the outside of your home.

First impressions count so make sure you do everything you can to enhance your property’s curb appeal. If 68% of home buyers think kerb appeal is important when buying a home (Survey by YouGov) then this should be the first image they see and a superb one. If the weather isn’t right come back on a day that the lights is good and play with angles leading into the house.

 

2. There’s always an angle: Duplicating a few images of the same room is fine, but try to add some from different angles to give the viewer a real idea of the space.

Ensure you have images of the kitchen (the most important room in the house from a viewer’s perspective), living room or large bedroom. Then think of the location and needs of those living in the area – For example, photos of large storage areas, especially in cities where space is at a premium would be a bonus.

 

3. Leave it out: Don’t take pictures of everything in the house.

It’s best to avoid any unnecessary photographs such as stairs, boilers, or small cluttered rooms that are unlikely to entice someone to view your property.

 

Finally. The order of your photos can be important and help tell a story, or help the viewer to feel they were walking around the house from the front door – we recommend this order: the exterior/garden/front door, hallway, kitchen, dining room, living room, bedrooms.

 

If you take the above tips paired with great photography then you are on the right track. We know a professional photographer can cost a budget that sometimes you don’t have so that’s why we created PropertyBox image enhancer alongside the floorplan service.

 

By using our fast and effective photo enhancement tool you can level your photography up without the high cost of money and time and give you consistently great photos each and every time.

 

If you would like to see it for yourself check out our free trial….