What does the estate agent's professional photographer do?

[Madinitials]

Apart from take photos of course. Do they bring props and stage the photos? Is it worth the extra £100?

We have just put our house on the market and the photographer took photos, measured the house to produce a floorplan and did an energy certificate which is a requirement to sell. We just had to pay for the energy certificate which was £75 + VAT for 4 bed house, agent paid for the photos and floorplan.

He didn't bring props but advised on what I should move around before he took the photos. I have a friend who is a semi-professional photographer and just put her house on the market. The photos which she took herself were nowhere near as good as the ones taken by the professional photographer. They have really wide angle lenses and must have much better flashes, the lighting on the professional ones was much better than on hers.

I think these days people are always looking online before they decide to view a house and so photos are more important that they used to be. I think it might be £100 well spent.

We got one when I sold my dads house. They put more time and effort in. He came back to do outside shots to get the best light - he added tint to make the sky bluer.

Again he didn't bring props but asked in advance for us to get some (fresh flowers, caffetier etc) and moved them around the house.

He took 'arty' shots from up a ladder and on the floor, and other detailed bits - like the reflection of the bathroom in the towel rail!

He took loads and we got to choose which ones we wanted, so that we were genuinly happy with it.

I would use one again, I agree that its money well spent.

Our estate agent did all the above for free. Weird you have to pay extra - surely marketing your property is what the huge fee is for?

I used to work for an estate agent and we were told to push things like the "professional photographer" as add on sales (infact, we were targeted on this). The lady who did our listings was fab, so it really didn't get you anything extra by getting the professional in - however, some other agents photos are horrific, so I suppose it would depend on the agent you use in the first place.

Its also not worth paying for things like up to be a premium listing on rightmove (imo!) as if someone is looking to buy a house, they tend to scroll all the way down the page and not just look at the top listing anyway :)

When our son recently sold his house, the professional photos rendered it unrecognisably amazing. He said they had special wide angle lenses which made it look enormous. I am therefore very suspicious of fancy pictures. The pint sized reality did not deter would-be buyers though as he got a cash offer at the asking price and the photos were included in the agent's fee.