Just like many real estate professionals don't consider themselves appraisers, inspectors or interior designers, many don't want to be the ones to pick up a camera and snap photos of a home.

Some prefer to market a home for days or weeks without a photo, conveniently placing the blame for lack of visuals on busy photographers, as if they are too good to get in front of the house with a camera. Well, that excuse doesn't fly anymore, when plenty of other real estate professionals are not only able to take and retake multiple digital photos and get them uploaded to the MLS and their Websites, and others are taking their own virtual tours.

As Realty Times has pointed out before, the presentation of listings online is sorry, in light of the fact that the Internet and its technologies allows for the near-free display of all kinds of listing data to enhance the marketing of a home.

Unlike a newspaper which sells space by the inch, the Internet is a rich advertising medium in which visual and sound technologies not only allow agents to market homes with spectacular effects, the housing ads can also answer key questions about location, neighborhood information and much more, so that when a consumer contacts the agent, he or she will be a likelier buyer for the home.

But consumers expectations when they go online are that they will be able to see the details of the product they are interested in, including media player movies and voice-activated tours of homes, which require broadband to load and play efficiently. At the least, they want photos to upload quickly so they can use the Internet for elimination as well as selection.

Pictures pique interest.

Yet many real estate professionals market homes online with no more imagination or flair than they did in the single-photo printed MLS books of yesteryear, and it's just a matter of time before consumers notice, and choose their Realtors based on how they present their other listings online.

A new study presented by the Pew Internet and American Life Project shows some startling statistics that real estate professionals should notice:

• About 48 million adults have broadband access or one-quarter of the adult American population
• Two in five Internet users in the U.S. have broadband access at home
• Among college-educated consumers 35 and under, broadband is used by 52 percent
• About 36 percent of home broadband users switched because their dial-up was too slow or frustrating
• About 21 percent want to download files faster
• About 39 percent of U.S. Internet users have broadband at home, up from 27 percent a year ago
• About 55 percent of Internet users have broadband either at home or at work
• Lower broadband fees are attracting subscribers away from dial-up

Real estate professionals will be expected to satisfy consumers with broadband with more photos and other broadband-friendly media on listings.

Published: April 30, 2004

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.