There is a myth in the real estate industry whose origin is difficult to pin down, but continues being circulated. It’s the myth that more photos on a listing will get that listing a higher ranking. I’ve been told that some MLS’s will rank by number of photos, but buyers don’t have access to the MLS.

I’ve contacted the major consumer real estate search sites and they have all told me that while one is able to sort by number of pictures, it has no bearing on where a listing will appear in a list. In fact, the only criteria is when listings are entered into the system with the newest listings shown on top. This means that it is extremely important to have all of your marketing materials ready to upload when you place your clients listing on your MLS. For the best results, it’s a good idea to not rely on syndication to the big three consumer facing web sites and upload your new listings directly with high resolution photos.

Stress to your clients that getting their home prepped for photography quickly is very important as it’s detrimental to list their property without a full set of quality photos. While it customary for MLS’s to only require one photo with a listing, waiting to put up more will only mean that the listing may be several pages down before the balance get syndicated out to all of the listing web sites. Just like an internet search engine, the first page that comes up gets the most clicks on its links and next to nothing on page 5.

©2015, Kenneth Brown. All rights reserved.