“Internet Curb Appeal” – The New Concern in Baja Real Estate!
According to AMPI/NAR, over 80% of all completed real estate transactions started with the home being viewed on the internet first! AMPI, the most prominent organization of real estate agents in Rosarito, Baja California, is an affiliate of the National Association of Realtors, NAR. Buyers of Baja real estate are perfect examples of NAR’s concept of internet realty as they tend to begin their Baja home searches online, then come down later to look at what they saw online.
Thus the importance of “internet curb appeal” is born.
A home for sale must be visually pleasing on the web or it will be overlooked, especially since there are so many impressive homes for sale here in Baja. Our inventory Baja homes for sale is growing rapidly, so now more than ever, internet curb appeal is extremely important if you want results in your selling efforts.
Internet curb appeal consists of two important aspects which are mutually dependent upon each other. If you eliminate either of them, your home for sale listing may go stale or die in a competitive selling market. These two elements are a 360° virtual tour and a professional photography shooting of your home.
First, get a professional photographer to make a 360° virtual tour of your home. Buyers know that pictures leave out a lot of information and don’t allow you to see the whole picture, but a 360° virtual tour takes away that uncertainty and gives buyers greater certainty that they will not be wasting their time if they visit your home in person.
According to the National Association of Realtors, if a 360° virtual tour was available, 85% of all buyers used them before looking at a property. Only 15% of all home buyers failed to use virtual tours before looking at a property for sale.
The next important aspect of “internet curb appeal” is professionally shot real estate photos. If your house doesn’t look good in pictures, why would a potential buyer think it will look good live, in person?
Even more essential is that you have one excellent, high impact real estate photo of your home at the top of the listing page. If you do not, there is a strong chance that your listing will just get overlooked. Period. It is just like a newspaper article; if the title is not compelling and capturing, you won’t read it… you’ll go to the next page.
Real estate picture taking is a tricky task, as there are many lighting issues to deal with, especially through windows. Only a technically experienced real estate photographer will have the artistic “eye” to portray a property the way it ought to be seen.
The bottom line is that if a property looks bad online (or simply unimpressive), it will be overlooked… even if the property description matches the buyers property search criteria.
Here in Baja, professional real estate photography is a virtually unheard of concept. This could be because professional real estate photography costs time and money, or maybe because many agents and brokers are not willing to experiment with improving their marketing plans. Don’t let the lack of usage distract you from not having your property for sale professionally shot, especially in today’s slow market.
A 360° virtual tour and professional real estate photos will easily get your Baja property for sale viewed more often by more buyers, reviewed more often by the same buyer, and recommended more often by area agents. This is the benefit of good “internet curb appeal,” especially since most Baja real estate for sale has a collection of horrible real estate pictures on the web.
Make sure your Baja home for sale does not fail in this category. Request professional real estate photography and virtual tours from your Baja real estate agent so that your home for sale or rent receives the attention it deserves.