By: Alan Aptheker
Real Estate industry researchers have made a discovery, perhaps not so startling, but a discovery nonetheless. An experiment was performed that illustrated the point that photos garner more attention than any other bits of information in a real estate listing. Forty-five potential real estate buyers looked at ten real estate listings, each with six photos of the property, inside and out. Ninety five percent of viewed the first photo – the exterior – for about 20 seconds.
After viewing the exterior 76 percent looked at the property description, but more than half, 41.5 percent, did not read the agent’s remarks, (you know the remarks that are ALL CAPS with lots of exclamation points!!! that proclaim things like “cozy cottage,” or “sprawling suburban estate, natural preserve views,” etc.) In the end, 60 percent of the customer’s time was spent looking at photos, 20 percent at property descriptions and a mere 20 percent to the agent’s actual comments on the property.
Why do we care? (Realtors® and the sellers they represent)? If you know how potential buyers look at your listing, I mean really look at it, agents should be working with sellers to tune up their promotional material on the web. And another thing you might consider. Researcher Michael Seiler, Founder and director of Old Dominion University’s Institute for Behavioral and Experimental Real Estate, says “participants moved their eyes in a “Z” pattern from the upper left corner and after reaching the bottom right corner, they scanned up the right column of the screen.” Good to know, huh?
Have a home to sell? We can help you market your home on the web!
