Visual Marketing for Different Kinds of Properties

Most real estate agents will tell you that quality photography is one of the most important tools for marketing their listings. In fact, great photography is at the very heart of marketing any property, allowing potential buyers to make an emotional connection to the home, even before seeing it in person. On the other hand, poor photography can also be an immediate turn off to potential buyers, causing them to bypass the listing entirely. Done poorly, it can even lower the perceived value of the property.

Photos Can Make or Break a Listing

These are more than just anecdotal opinions. NAR’s annual Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers is a long-standing resource from the association which evaluates consumer behavior and preferences. It has shown that listings with photography will hold a potential buyer’s attention for at least 20 seconds, compared to a mere 2 seconds for a listing without images. Most shockingly, 84 percent of home buyers said they wouldn’t even consider a listing if it didn’t include photos.

Use the Right Media for the Property

Different kinds of properties benefit from different kinds of visual marketing approaches. While you might want to set up an entire landing page with aerial video footage for a luxury property, the same approach would be overkill for a home that’s more closely aligned with the national median price point.

What’s more, visual marketing strategies and tactics are different for various types of homes (luxury condo, single-family home, vacation home, city vs. rural, etc), making it even more complicated. What works for your type of property in your particular market just depends.

You may wish to do a little competitive analysis and scope out how other colleagues are making their visual marketing stand out. If comfortable doing so, you can even go to them for tips and advice on how they got to where they are with their photography skills.

The Elements of Quality Real Estate Photography

So, given the importance of photography, how do you know the best way to visually market your listings? Whether you choose to work with a professional photographer or not, it’s important that you understand the basics of quality real estate photography. 

#1. The Right Skills

Only after you determine the type of visual content that will work best for the property—photo, video, aerial—can you determine who will be best to do the work. There is no right or wrong answer here (unless you’re talking about who is legally authorized to operate a drone). Depending on your skill level, in some cases you will be able to do the photography yourself. In other instances, you will definitely need to hire a professional.

#2. The Right Equipment

If you’re doing to work yourself, you’ll have to rent or purchase the right equipment. To get the shots that will really help sell your property, it’s time to consider putting down your smartphone. You may need an ultra-wide-angle lens, an external flash, a tripod, and editing software. It might be a great idea to make friends at your local photography store so they can advise you, or find a good online resource or tips guide.

#3. The Right Styling

There are some simple tips for preparing the home for your photoshoot. Prepare the house much in the same way you would for an open house—turn on all available lights, declutter the space, remove all cars from the driveway to freely show the entire exterior of the home, and more.  Learn from trial and error, as sometimes the only way to know what works is to play around with the variables of the shoot onsite and see what works best.

#4. The Right Composition

For real estate photos, there are some tips that you can use to help ensure that your shots of the home have the best composition. For instance, always show a third wall, show your rooms in thirds, use the lines of the room to draw the eyes through the space, utilize objects in the foreground, and more. It cannot be overstated how much of an impact lighting can have, so it will make sense for you to spend more time and resources on good lighting.

Taking It to the Next Level

While many real estate agents choose to work with a professional photographer, other agents choose to photograph their listings themselves. To learn more about the equipment you’ll need to shoot professional-looking shots, how to get the right exposure, tips for making your property photo shoot ready and more, sign up for our course How to Shoot Real Estate Photography Like a Pro today. This course was co-developed with VHT® Studios, a leading real estate consultant and service provider located in the Chicagoland area.


AgentEDU® is a platform where agents at every level can come to watch 10-minute video courses for the many situations that successful agents must master. From essential to advanced level and everything in between, AgentEDU® courses help agents become top producers with increased earnings and a plan for continued growth. For a 7-day free trial sign up here.

AgentEDU® is an Agent Publishing brand. For nearly two decades, Agent Publishing has been committed to providing residential real estate professionals with the information and training required to build successful and meaningful careers in their local markets. Agent Publishing’s influence extends to every career stage and reaches agents across print, digital, events and online learning.

real estate assistants working together

4 Things a Real Estate Assistant Can Take Off Your Plate Immediately

As a busy real estate professional, chances are that you could benefit greatly from the services of a professional assistant. Real estate assistants can perform a wide variety of routine tasks. An assistant can support a general agent, a buyer’s agent, or a seller’s agent; an individual agent or an entire real estate team; or some combination of the above.

Most often, an assistant is expected to pitch in with general tasks that can free up real estate agents and allow them to spend more time doing what they do best — helping represent clients to buy and sell property.  

Be Mindful of State Requirements

Before unleashing an assistant in your business, make sure that you have a full understanding of what duties are and aren’t allowed to be performed by unlicensed real estate assistants in your state.

You Are Responsible for Their Work

Real estate brokers are responsible for the supervision, training, and control of an assistant. If assistants perform duties that are reserved for licensed professionals, you will be held responsible and it can jeopardize your own license and business. This is an important compliance issue for brokers and real estate business owners, so it’s important to be careful and do your research up-front. If not done properly, using assistants in your business can become a liability.

Obtain Official Guidance

To understand what duties are or aren’t allowed in your state, check in with the real estate board or commission of the state(s) in which you operate — to obtain the official guidance.

You can also supplement your research with resources such as this one from NAR, which aggregate state-based information into a user-friendly chart. It’s always wise to verify this information with your state to be sure, however, as state statutes and regulations can change unexpectedly and these changes not yet be reflected in secondary resources like these.

So What Can They Do?

Assuming you’ve checked what’s allowed in your state, let’s look closer at 4 things an assistant may be able to take off your plate immediately. 

#1. Scheduling Showing Appointments and More

One of the biggest benefits of an assistant is the help with keeping track of your schedule. Your assistant may be able to help in scheduling showing appointments, walkthrough appointments, and more. 

#2. Creating Social Media Posts

It’s no secret that social media is a huge piece of the real estate marketing puzzle. Your assistant may be able to create and schedule social media posts, promoting your personal brand as well as your current listings. 

#3. Answering Calls and Emails

As a busy professional, you know how often your phone rings, whether it’s incoming calls or emails. An assistant can help you by handling basic communications, fielding incoming calls to curate and prioritize the list of people who want to claim your time and energy. 

#4. Create, Post, and Manage MLS Listings

Your assistant may be able to access the MLS on your behalf to create, post and manage listings. In this capacity, he or she can upload information and photos about each listing, as well as making sure the information is correct and the status is up to date. 

What Makes a Great Real Estate Assistant? 

Now that you have an idea of some of the tasks an assistant can handle for you, how do you spot a great assistant candidate? A great real estate assistant will possess a number of different traits, including the following:

Organizational Skills

All assistants are expected and asked to do a number of different tasks — and often all at the same time. A great real estate assistant will have strong organizational skills, allowing them to keep track of both current and upcoming tasks. Consider investing in an automated task management system, to help simplify your requests. 

Ability to Multi-task

In addition to being able to organize tasks, a great real estate assistant will be able to juggle different tasks simultaneously. He or she should also know how to prioritize tasks, allowing for the most important tasks to be done first. 

A Strong Desire to Learn

One of the biggest benefits for real estate assistants is that there is the possibility to learn so much about the real estate industry on the job. In addition to learning from the agents, great real estate assistants will take it a step further and choose to invest in learning on their own. 

Pleasant Demeanor

Your assistant is hired to make your life easier. Even when he or she is stressed or having a bad day, a great real estate assistant will not outwardly show this stress and will remain professional. 

In order to be successful in your role, it is crucial to delegate some of the more menial tasks, allowing you to spend more time on what’s important — buying and selling homes. For education about and for real estate assistants, check our our Assistants skills track of courses. 


AgentEDU® is a platform where agents at every level can come to watch 10-minute video courses for the many situations that successful agents must master. From essential to advanced level and everything in between, AgentEDU® courses help agents become top producers with increased earnings and a plan for continued growth. For a 7-day free trial sign up here.

AgentEDU® is an Agent Publishing brand. For nearly two decades, Agent Publishing has been committed to providing residential real estate professionals with the information and training required to build successful and meaningful careers in their local markets. Agent Publishing’s influence extends to every career stage and reaches agents across print, digital, events and online learning.