Spot the difference: Would you rent property A or property B?
Photography that effectively portrays the features and appeal of a property is a vital marketing tool for landlords wanting to attract tenants. The picture of the property is the first thing a prospective tenant sees when searching for a new home, yet many agents and private sellers still continue to use poor images. To highlight just how important professional photographs are to finding the right tenants fast, online lettings agent, Upad conducted their own little experiment.
Upad’s statistics show that professional photos considerably increase response rates and to prove this, they advertised the same property under separate adverts and compared them. One had the original photos taken by the landlord; the other had professional photos taken by one of Upad’s professional photographers.
Advert A
This advert was live for 58 days and had a total of 10 tenant enquiries
Advert B
This advert was live for just 18 days and had a total of 27 tenant enquiries.
James Davis, CEO of Upad and professional landlord of 14 years comments,
“I would hope that from looking at the photos, it’s pretty obvious which ones were professionally taken. Our experiment proves that professional photographs instantly improve response rates. For instance, if a property’s target rent is £1,000 PCM and it goes vacant for 15 days, the lost income equates to around £500 for the landlord – that’s £33.33 per day. The landlord in our case study had a 58 day vacancy, which meant a loss of nearly £2,000 in rental income!
“The most important part of the advertising process is the first 48 hours so having your property looking its best is vital if you want to ensure maximum interest and fast turnaround. Our professional photography service costs just £85 (+VAT) and when you get results like this, it’s obvious that the service is worth every penny.”
As one of the UKs largest and fastest growing letting agencies, Upad specialise in helping professional tenants rent properties from landlords directly by allowing landlords to manage their own viewings. As a result, Upad receive around 20,000 tenant enquiries per month.
Upad offers a complete lettings service for a flat fee of only £299 (+ VAT) which includes professional photography and a floor plan, a ‘To Let’ board erected outside the property and advertising across all major UK lettings sites as well as comprehensive tenant referencing, drawing up of the tenancy agreement, deposit registration and crucially, rent collection. For more information please contact Upad, on 0333 240 1220 or visit www.upad.co.uk.