Do estate agents really need to spend time editing property photos?

Are you familiar with the following scenarios?

  1. You can’t afford professional property photography for every listing your agency publishes. 
  2. The property listing is time-sensitive, and you don’t have time to wait for an appointment with a professional photographer.

If you’re a seasoned agent, you’re probably familiar with both situations and might have wondered the following question: 

Should agents ever attempt to edit their own property photos?

It stands to reason that professional photographers charge a premium for a good reason – editing high-quality property photos is a time-consuming and tricky business. 

In fact, when you use professional marketing services, like a FocalAgent marketing pack, agents are almost 40% more likely to complete a sale and, on average, achieve a 1.63% higher selling price. These statistics are based on data collected and verified by TwentyCi throughout 2022, including 2,331,408 properties. 

So, where does that leave you?

Continue reading as we explore that very question. 

How important are property photos?

We’ll cut to the chase. High-quality property photos are imperative. 

That’s not just our opinion. 

Rather, recent research published on Estate Agency Today reveals that when participants were questioned about what they found most influential in forming opinions about a property advertised online, property photos were deemed the most influential (almost 40%)!

More interestingly, as many as 80% said they would click on a listing because the first image was enticing. 

But, almost 60% said they would skip properties with unappealing initial images. In other words, the house hunter wouldn’t even consider viewing the property or finding more information about it if they didn’t like the property’s feature image!

On top of that, 71% of prospective buyers who clicked through to the whole property listing said the first thing they looked at was the full range of property images available. Plus, almost 50% stated they wouldn’t peruse the rest of the listing if they didn’t like the property photos. 

How do you enhance your property photos with limited time and money?

The stats above are clear. 

Where property photos are concerned, putting your best foot forward is imperative. 

But what do you do if you lack the budget for a professional photographer and don’t have the time or skills to edit the photos yourself?

Fortunately, an AI-powered property marketing assistant like PropertyBox provides an easy, cost-effective solution. 

You can transform the property photos you’ve taken on your smartphone or camera into professional-looking content in a matter of seconds.

When we spoke to Samantha Aitken, Territory Owner for Yopa Glasgow South, to get her thoughts on the subject, she said that before PropertyBox, she would have to: ‘upload and edit each photo individually, so it could take a few hours’ – whereas, now ‘it literally takes a few minutes to edit photos.’

With that said, let’s see how PropertyBox’s property photo enhancements work:

How do PropertyBox’s photo enhancements work?

To give you a sense of how easy it is to enhance property photos using PropertyBox’s AI, below we’ve quickly outlined the process:

  1. As previously hinted, take photos of your client’s property using your smartphone or camera.
  2. With just a few clicks, upload the shots to your PropertyBox workspace. 
  3. PropertyBox transforms your images into better-quality visual content for publication on your agency’s website or property portals. 

Simple, right?

What should you look for in an AI property photo enhancer?

Here at PropertyBox, we thought long and hard about what makes a best-in-class AI-fuelled property photo enhancer and put these ingredients together to form the ultimate property marketing assistant. 

Firstly, we understand that the old cliche ‘time is money’ couldn’t be more accurate for estate agents. 

So, we aim to provide the highest quality property photo enhancements in the shortest amount of time. 

That’s why we automatically apply as many as 27 enhancements to your photos, including blue sky replacement, vertical correction, vertical adjustments, boost shadows, colour enhancement, customer privacy blurring, HD upscaling, and more. 

On top of that, you can also use our object removal editor to extract unwanted objects from your photos in seconds. Just use the ‘Erase Brush’ to highlight the object you wish to remove, click ‘Apply’, and watch it disappear!

You can even add your agency’s logo to property photos to strengthen brand recognition and protect assets from third-party use.

But, most importantly, if you’re not 100% satisfied with your photo enhancements, PropertyBox pays to manually enhance them at no extra cost (usually, these are returned in under an hour)! 

However, over 98% of our AI enhancements don’t require manual intervention, so rest assured that you’re in safe hands!

If any of that piqued your interest and you have more questions, please schedule a call with our helpful team – they’ll get back to you in 55 seconds or less!

Property marketing gets easier with PropertyBox’s new tools for estate agents: AI-fuelled descriptions and EPC lookups

PropertyBox, best known for its game-changing AI property photo enhancements, has announced they are moving to become the first all-in-one AI property marketing assistant for estate agents. 

The PropTech company is thrilled to announce the launch of two new products as part of their SaaS offering: Auto-generated AI property descriptions and automated EPC lookups. These new features streamline the way estate agents write property descriptions, check the validity of EPCs and order new EPCs, freeing up their time to focus on closing sales quicker.

Following the development of these features, PropertyBox is confident they provide everything agents need to create engaging content for their property listings.

Matt Gates, Co-Founder and CTO of PropertyBox, commented: 

“We’re proud of the role we play in the property market in helping estate agents showcase their client’s properties in the best possible light. These two new products are key for PropertyBox in offering even better value for our all-in-one AI property marketing assistant – helping save agents time and money. With estate agents spending hours every month on property marketing admin, we hope to free up their time so they can focus on other key revenue-generating activities.”

Auto-generated AI property descriptions

Showcase properties in the best possible light with auto-generated property descriptions. Of course, the average time agents spend writing property descriptions varies depending on the property. However, our pool of industry experts estimates that it takes them between 20-30 minutes. In contrast, our AI can produce first-rate descriptions in a matter of seconds.

Benefits:

  • Generate professional property descriptions in seconds.
  • Text is optimised for property portals, including Rightmove and Zoopla and comprises a main property description, a list of key benefits, and a summary.
  • With just a few clicks, you can quickly add unique details about your property. 

How PropertyBox’s auto-generated AI property descriptions work:

  1. If you haven’t already, subscribe to a Starter or Pro PropertyBox subscription.
  2. Then, within a few clicks, you can specify the listing type, property type, number of rooms, unique property details, and local highlights so agents can include their local knowledge and expertise in every listing.
  3. Now, watch as our cutting-edge AI writes text explicitly tailored for your property.
  4. Copy the finished description straight into your property portal or edit it however you wish – the choice is yours!

Automated EPC lookups and ordering service

Not only are EPCs a legal requirement when advertising a property for sale or let, but a valid EPC provides potential buyers or tenants with a better understanding of how much they’ll need to budget for energy.

Since EPCs and selling property go hand in hand, how often have you had to chop and change between multiple tabs to check a property’s EPC status and renew the certificate?

Now, with PropertyBox, you can quickly check current and potential energy performance ratings. Just confirm your property’s address, and we’ll show the EPC details within seconds!

If the property has a valid EPC, you can download it with just a click, which makes publishing it as part of your online property listing or sharing it with your customer much simpler. 

Alternatively, if an EPC has expired or doesn’t exist, you can order an EPC directly within PropertyBox – for only £50+VAT! 

Benefits:

  • Automatically detected: PropertyBox automatically detects when a property’s EPC has expired.
  • Nationwide service: PropertyBox works with energy assessors across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
  • Qualified assessors: PropertyBox only partners with highly qualified, accredited, and insured assessors.
  • 24-hour turnaround: The key holder is contacted within 24 hours after the order is placed, and EPCs are ready within 24 hours after an appointment.
  • One price for all: Even if a property has 6+ bedrooms, the price stays the same – PropertyBox won’t charge you more!
  • Delivered via email: After the inspection, PropertyBox provides a link to the property’s EPC via email and your PropertyBox workspace.

How PropertyBox’s automated EPC lookups work:

  1. Once you have a Go Easy, Starter or Pro subscription, provide us with the property address.
  2. Then, with just a few clicks, PropertyBox provides the status of the property’s current and potential energy performance ratings – available in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
  3. If the EPC has expired (or is about to), you can renew the EPC without leaving your PropertyBox dashboard for just £50+VAT.  
  4. One of our qualified EPC assessors will review the property so agents can be confident in the product they are getting. 
  5. You’ll receive a copy of the EPC via email.

PropertyBox’s auto-generated AI property descriptions and automated EPC lookups are now available to existing and new subscribers alike. 

Automated EPC lookups are available from PropertyBox’s Go Easy subscription (£19.99+VAT a month) onwards, and auto-generated AI property descriptions are available from the Starter plan onwards (£39.99+VAT a month). 

PropertyBox is offering a free 7-day trial, inclusive of 40 property photo enhancements and 2 floor plan re-draws. 

For more information about PropertyBox’s newest features, visit the following product pages:

About PropertyBox: PropertyBox is best known for its intuitive AI property photo enhancements and professional floor plan redraws. Fast forward to today, and PropertyBox now offers agents an even broader suite of features to help them transform their property marketing, save time on admin and sell properties faster. Trusted by leading estate agents like Hunters, EweMove, Martin & Co, Yopa, eXp UK, and more, PropertyBox is a reliable AI marketing assistant for estate agencies of all sizes. 

Contact

Rosie Douglas

Campaign Marketing Manager for PropertyBox

Email: rosie.douglas@focalagent.com