What a Picture’s Worth

According to Ken H. Johnson, an associate professor of finance at Florida International University’s Hollo School of Real Estate, adding at least one photo to a residential property listing raises the final sale price by as much as 3.9 percent. Nearly 85 percent of the 4,077 homes studied by Johnson and co-authors Christopher Cain and Justin Benefield included a picture. They found that interior photos were more effective than exterior images, adding a 3.9 percent price gain compared to 1.9 percent. Johnson remarked, “If I was selling, I would put every picture I could on the listing, at a ratio of four to five interior vs. one exterior. We’re talking about a few extra weeks in marketing time to get that 3 percent to 5 percent increase on a home. That’s a good trade.” However, he added, Realtors and home sellers should be prepared to wait for the payoff. That is because the research indicated that adding a photo increases the time to sell by 20.6 percent. This means the residence will stay on the market for an additional 16.5 days, on average. | Read More