Professional Rental Property Photos Are More Important than Ever!

While many renters are still hunkering down due to ongoing stay at home orders, moving from one rental home to another IS still considered essential and therefore permitted. However, this new normal is underscoring the necessity for high quality professional rental property photos.

Here’s an update as to where the individual states stand on stay at home orders and reopening.

Partial reopen (9): Alaska, Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee

Expiring soon without mention of future intentions (7): Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Maine, Nevada, Texas

Shut down or restricted until further notice (35): Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

Even though some states are easing restrictions, these are the White House guidelines that businesses are to follow:

1. 1. Continue to ENCOURAGE TELEWORK, whenever possible and feasible with business operations.
   2. If possible, RETURN TO WORK IN PHASES.
   3. Close COMMON AREAS where personnel are likely to congregate and interact, or enforce strict social distancing protocols.
   4. Minimize NON-ESSENTIAL TRAVEL and adhere to CDC guidelines regarding isolation following travel.
   5. Strongly consider SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS for personnel who are members of a VULNERABLE POPULATION.

The days of high touch, in person showings and visits are over – at least for a while. Renters will now need to rely on best practices for renting an apartment when you can’t go see it. Which means, professional rental property photos are needed more than ever to catch a browser’s eye.

28% of respondents indicated they were taking advantage of virtual tours to help choose an apartment.

a recent RENTCafé survey

A virtual tour means very different things to varying audiences. 

It could be akin to a leasing agent or landlord walking a renter through an apartment via a video call. While this becomes a personalized experience, it may not be very efficient to do this for every interested renter.

It could also be some type of virtual reality software or 360 degree camera application. However, these are not the norm due to the high cost associated with this type of technology. As the U.S. economy continues to slow and rent revenue remains uncertain at this time, apartment marketers are looking to other, more cost effective tools.

While a virtual tour could be either of the above, it is most likely a renter perusing online photos while conducting an Internet search. Nearly 100% of all rental searches begin online, and as noted in this article, “Quality photos are still king (and queen).”

The bottom line is, professional rental property photography matters more than ever!

A rental listing must be expertly showcased to give the renter a true feel of a potential new rental home. To catch the eyes of renters and engage their interest, high quality professional rental property images are paramount. This can make the difference between whether a rental unit remains vacant, or ultimately gets rented.

ARIUM Living gets it. In their Metrowest listing on Dwellsy, their photography is outstanding.

Focus or zoom distance matters. 

Angles matter. 

Lighting matters. 

The styling of spaces matter. 

For those who haven’t invested in professional rental property photography to make a property stand out from all the rest, there is no time like the present.

Dwellsy Lightbox

Dwellsy Lightbox was born in a time of COVID-19, when social distancing simultaneously decimated the wedding and event photography industry AND caused a spike in demand for unit-specific rental photography (since units couldn’t be shown in person). We made it our mission to do well by doing good and we knew that we could bring these two groups together for the benefit of all. At a time there is so much we can’t do to help the world, doing this felt like a no-brainer.

Local event and portrait photographers across this nation remain ready, willing, and expertly able to lend their services to the emerging demand from millions of mid and small scale property owners and managers. Some of these photographers are already offering exterior and interior expertise to larger firms the real estate and rental property industry. However, this new opportunity to pair talented, yet underemployed event photographers with mid and small scale real estate and rental professionals who have a growing demand, is one of the few bright spots in an economy rife with collateral damage from this global pandemic. Learn more about Lightbox here.