DOING BUSINESS: Technology@work
Tips for taking better digital photos
BY STEPHEN M. CANALE, CRB, CRS
Digital photography opens up a whole new way to market homes. You can take a series of digital photos, download them to your computer, and e-mail them to a buyer almost as fast as you can say “one-hour photo processing.” But if your digital photos are poor quality, they turn off prospects and make your job harder.
After some experimentation, I’ve developed these useful tips for overcoming common digital photography problems.
If your digital photos often come out with one portion of the house looking too dark, your problem is probably underexposure. Often, underexposure occurs when the background light in the picture is brighter than the details you’re trying to capture. You’ll often run into this problem outside when the sun is directly behind the home or when you’re taking a picture across a snow-covered yard. Inside, taking a photo toward a strong light or a bright window can have the same effect.
To reduce the amount or the impact of background light, try
- Taking an exterior picture at a time of day when the sun is in front of the house
- Waiting for an overcast day if snow or water glare is a problem
- Turning off bright lights inside and drawing shades and blinds
If none of those options are feasible, you can reduce underexposure problems by
- Zooming in on the home itself. If the home takes up more of the overall picture, you reduce the amount of background light that would otherwise cause the photo to be underexposed.
- Setting your camera to use spot or center metering, if it has those features. That will instruct your camera to take a light reading based on the light in the center of the frame, which is usually where the home is.
- Setting your camera to forced-flash mode, which causes the flash to fire regardless of the amount of available light. The flash will reduce the effects of a strong light in one area when you’re taking pictures inside.
- Using the exposure value setting available on some higher-end digital cameras to override your camera’s built-in light meter and compensate for the light.
Out-of-focus images are another common problem. In real estate photography, you often take pictures out
of windows. Because a digital camera’s auto-focus feature may focus on a nearby object (a screen or tree branch) and not the intended subject matter, the image you want to photograph comes out blurry. Avoid this problem by
- Setting your camera’s focus on infinity rather than on auto-focus
- Moving the center of your photo slightly to shift the auto-focus away from the object that’s confusing it
It’s also a good idea to check your camera’s settings to be sure your digital photos are formatted for easy retrieval and electronic viewing by customers. You can accomplish this by
- Making sure you’ve set your camera to save images in the JPG format. This is your best option, whether you intend to e-mail photos to clients or post them on your website.
- Setting your camera to its lowest available resolution (often 1 megapixel, other times expressed as one-quarter size) and lowest quality setting. Higher values will substantially increase the file size and thus the time it takes consumers to download the pictures. And because computer monitors can display images at only 72 dots per inch, a higher resolution won’t give viewers a better picture.
By ensuring that your photos are bright, crisp, and fast loading, you make it easier for buyers to say yes to your listings.
In addition to instructing GRI programs for a number of state associations, Canale has spoken at hundreds of seminars in 39 states over the past several years, covering a variety of subjects relating to real estate sales and technology. For information about his seminars, visit www.canale.com.
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DOING BUSINESS: Ethics
Salesperson ignored duty to client
BY BRUCE AYDT
Q.
A year ago, in a dual agency, I represented the buyers of a home, and a coworker represented the seller. At the end of escrow, we created a 90-day holdback amount for uncompleted work. The funds were to be given to the seller after the work was done. If the work wasn’t finished in 90 days, the funds were to go to the buyer.
A few weeks ago, the seller’s rep sent the buyers a letter requesting release of the funds to the seller, though the work wasn’t done. I received a copy of the letter. Even though it’s dual agency, is this unethical conduct?
A.
First, make sure this is dual agency. If your state doesn’t use designated agency, it most likely is. As dual agents, you both represent the buyer and the seller. Unless the state specifies otherwise, a dual agent can legally contact either client, as the buyer and the seller are the clients of either agent.
The contact isn’t a violation of the Code of Ethics, but it’s problematic nonetheless. If the work wasn’t done, it was wrong to ask the buyer to release the funds to the seller. Therefore, the seller’s rep breached a duty to protect the buyer client and is in a dual agency conflict of interest.
If this were designated agency, the seller’s rep would have no agency relationship with the buyer. In that case, Standard of Practice 16-13 of the Code of Ethics says a seller’s rep shouldn’t contact a buyer without the buyer’s rep’s consent.
Q.
A salesperson in my office made an offer on a listing of mine. The sellers accepted, and the house was put under contract in the MLS. The buyer provided a prequalification letter from the lender subject to certain conditions, but sale of a property wasn’t listed as a condition.
Two weeks later, the salesperson told me the buyer wouldn’t qualify because she had to sell her condo. The salesperson had previously assured me that wouldn’t happen.
In the meantime, the sellers had made an offer on their next house and set a closing date to coincide with the sale of their current house. The sellers had to make a bridge loan and liquidate stock to close the purchase.
The buyer and her salesperson requested release of the contract and return of the deposit. My clients aren’t willing to return the deposit because it cost them a lot more to make the bridge loan and liquidate stock.
We believe the salesperson caused the additional expenses and handled the situation unethically. Do you agree?
A.
Not necessarily. This case highlights problems with prequalification letters or preapproval letters. Often, these documents aren’t commitments by a lender to lend money but merely statements of whether a buyer would qualify for a loan. The buyer’s rep may be liable if he stated that the document was a commitment or that there was no problem with the buyer.
I’d also need to know whether you gave the seller advice about accepting a contract on this type of loan assurance. Did you and the seller talk about risks? Did you ask whether the buyer had to sell her condo to buy the house or just assume it wasn’t an issue?
You should look at the contract’s financing contingency to see what contractual remedies are available to the seller. And in the future, watch out for pre-qualification or preapproval traps.
Aydt is senior vice president and general counsel of Prudential Alliance, REALTORS, St. Louis, and a former chairperson of NAR’s Professional Standards Committee. He has also been honored as Educator of the Year by both NAR and the Missouri Association of REALTORS.
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