How to Use Photos Effectively in Your Vacation Home Listing

Renting your Orlando vacation home is a popular way to generate income, especially if you don’t plan to use the property for your own personal use too often. Listing your home on rental websites like Airbnb, HomeAway, VRBO and FlipKey are a popular way to help you generate interest for your home. 

If your home is located near Disney World, you will face quite a bit of competition from other properties in the area. Since you only have about 30 seconds to grab someone’s attention, using great photos of your home will help your listing attract interest. Here are a few simple tips to get the most out of your vacation home listing’s photographs. 

1. Hire a professional – The best way to ensure high quality, high resolution photos is to hire a professional photographer to do the job for you. Taking photographs yourself may save you money in the short term. But if the lighting is poor and the images are of low quality, they will only diminish your home and hurt your overall revenue potential. Since your listing could potentially generate thousands of dollars in revenue, isn’t it worth investing a few hundred dollars on high quality photographs? 

2. Clear out any clutter – Before your photo shoot, take a few minutes to straighten up your home and clear away any clutter. It’s similar to what you would do before selling a property. However, don’t rent extra furniture to stage the home. You don’t want to mislead your guests about what they’ll actually find when they show up at your door. 

3. Keep weather in mind – Photos of your property will look best if they’re taken on a sunny day. If it means postponing an appointment with the photographer, make sure you have that arrangement in place so you don’t have to pay extra if he has to return another day. 

4. Use multiple photos – Don’t be afraid to include a lot of photos in your listing, including the interior and exterior of your home, as well as any nearby attractions. HomeAway says listings with more than 4 photos get twice as many inquiries as listings with 4 photos or fewer. 

5. Group your photos – Make sure your photos get uploaded to the rental website in an organized manner. For instance, group kitchen photos together, bedroom photos together, etc. 

6. Use captions - Some vacation rental websites allow you to include captions with your photos to describe what’s in the image. If the site you’re using has this capability, take advantage of it! 

7. Test different feature images – Rental websites usually feature one thumbnail image with your listing. Since some photos of your property may generate more interest than others, it’s wise to experiment with different images to see which one attracts the most number of people to view your listing profile. 

8. Add personal profile photo – Personalize your listing by including your personal photo to your profile, so your renters know who they’re going to be dealing with. You can offer some personal information such as your interests, but don’t disclose too much. 

If you are looking for an Orlando vacation home to purchase for use as a rental property, contact Team Donovan today at 407-705-2616. As experts in the vacation home real estate market, we make buying and selling Orlando property a stress-free experience for our local, national and international clients.

 

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