Why Open Homes is worth the investment
Introduction
Over 10,000 agents in California have trusted Open Homes to attract buyers. They’ve enjoyed all the benefits we’ll discuss here, not to mention the endless list of features we’ve built into everything we do. The friendly photographer you meet on site is just the tip of the iceberg. Beneath the surface is an abundance of additional work and value we put into each order. It’s really a little ridiculous how much thought we’ve put into this stuff. Read on to learn why trusting Open Homes with your listing’s marketing is a no-brainer.
Proven results
John Hayes, who founded Open Homes, was one of the original real estate photographers working in San Francisco when real estate photography became an industry. Open Homes has continued for over 17 years working with some of the most prolific agents in the Bay. Today, we have over 1,000 top-producing agents who regularly book with us on each of their listings because they’ve seen results.
To help us do our job better, Open Homes tracks data on the properties we shoot, when they sell, and for how much over asking. Over $60 billion worth of transactions have been marketed by Open Homes since 2007. In 2021, Open Homes listings sold, on average, 15% over asking, and in some areas, 20% above the MLS average. After all this time—and all these listings—we’ve learned what works, and it shows. This means with Open Homes, you’re getting a partner you can trust to elevate your brand and sell your listing with marketing that works.
We care
Quality runs through our veins, and care is our beating heart. We care deeply about our work and your success. We reduce worry and stress for our agents by handling all the complexity that goes into great marketing, keeping it simple for you. We listen. We want to know exactly what is important to you so we can perfectly align our work to fit your needs.
Our eagle-eyed Visual Artists are always on the lookout for the fine details. We did a blind side-by-side comparison with our competitors where each photographer shot a home with crooked blinds, pillows out of place, chairs askew, and more. We counted how many of these details each photographer noticed and fixed prior to shooting. Our test showed that our closest competitors had an average of 60% of the attention to detail that Open Homes provided. This means you can be confident your Open Homes Visual Artist is going to deliver excellent, distraction-free work the first time without needing to supervise everything they do.
Our Visual Artists
We actively scout the best talent in the Bay, we compensate them well, and we hold weekly training sessions to keep them up to date on the latest innovations in the industry. Our Visual Artists are incentivized to improve and their success is directly tied to yours. Skilled and personable, they’ll put their gear down and walk the house with you to understand the listing’s most important selling points and your vision for the work. And if you’re an agent that prefers things nice and effortless, you can always count on them for their art direction and expertise even if you’re not on site.
Because our Visual Artists are professionals and we treat them well, they tend to stay with Open Homes for a long time. Some of our Visual Artists have been with us for over 16 years! When you work with Open Homes, you can build a working relationship with and request a Visual Artist who remembers your preferences and vision so you aren’t starting from scratch on every listing.
After the shoot
We have a talented team of editors who don’t just deliver every shoot by the next morning; they also handcraft each photo to ensure quality and consistency for every single photo of your listing. This is unique because most others use automated processes, applying bulk edits and leaving the important decisions to a computer.
We don’t cut corners. For example, on a 1,500-square-foot house, we spend about 6 hours in post-production to make your photos shine. Our images have the whitest whites and most beautiful blue skies in the industry. We manually mask windows to ensure a natural look with beautiful detail outside. We correct perspective and lens distortion to create straight lines and level shots. We provide tons of add-ons like adding fire to fireplaces, removing unwanted wires or other objects, blurring signs, turning on televisions, and lighting up light bulbs. We can even put water in that sad, empty pool.
After 100,000 listings shot and tens of millions of photos retouched, we are trusted to capture listings for the top agents in the business. Don’t wait days to get your photos back to you. Be an early bird and get the worm with top-quality images delivered the next morning. Every time.
Customer success and responsiveness
We have a local team of customer success specialists ready to help so you won’t be waiting days for a response. We understand the pressing nature of what you do and how important it is to bring your listing to market quickly. That’s why we make sure any changes or last minute emergencies are addressed with urgency. According to a survey by superoffice.com, the average company takes 12 hours to respond to customer emails. Over the last 6 months, our median first email response was 45 minutes. Our median time from the first email to issue resolution was 1.3 hours. Don’t stress when plans change. We can schedule your listing’s shoot on short notice—often even the same day! Get help when you need it from a team that’s always there for you.
A total real estate marketing partner
We’re the whole package. A one-stop shop. Most companies are good at a few things. We handle everything from photos to print materials and websites. Drone videos, floor plans, and even headshots. If there’s something you need to market your listing, chances are we do it. And we do it all with the same level of professionalism you know from our photography. Focus on the kind of work you really want to be doing instead of working with six different vendors on each listing. Just place your order, and we’ll take it from there.
Innovation
Open Homes was one of the first in the market when real estate photography became an industry, and we’ve been a trend-setter ever since. We are constantly testing and developing new offerings and have our ear to the ground for emerging trends. This means our customers are the first to enjoy improvements in services, ordering, technology, and more.
For example, we’ve developed our own ordering and asset management system to make your ordering experience easy and repeatable. Pricing, ordering, job tracking, and asset delivery all happen in one place. And since we have a whole team of full-time developers and user interface designers on staff, everything is easy to use and constantly improving.
Our developers are also on the cutting edge of website design and customization for your properties. We have created our own content management system (CMS), similar to popular tools like Squarespace, Wix or Webflow, built from the ground up specifically for real estate. This means when you order a listing website, you get a domain, beautiful templates, and the ability to easily customize your website so it perfectly fits your unique brand.
We have a product team who works every single day to keep our agents at the front of the race. When we discover opportunities to bring you better quality at a lower cost, we add them to our offering and pass the benefits on to you. Be a leader in your industry and in your brokerage by partnering with Open Homes.
Undeniable value
Working with Open Homes on your listing’s marketing is one of the best investments you can make. Why? We spend more time. We deliver more images. We have the best people. We get results. Our handcrafted post-production is second-to-none. We move the industry forward. We have your back. We care. With all the people involved and time spent making sure your products and experience are top-notch, in many cases we actually charge less per hour than our competitors. The truth is, even if that weren’t the case, the quality we provide and the boost to your brand and bottom line would be well worth it.
Come and see
When you book with Open Homes, you’re not just hiring the best real estate photographers in the Bay Area. You’re assembling an army of professionals. Every Visual Artist you meet in the field is supported by scheduling, customer success, retouching, product, and marketing strategy teams—all working to ensure the best results for your listing and your brand. While there are many options out there, Open Homes is the clear choice for agents who understand the value of great marketing. We’d like to join you in your work. If any of this sounds good to you, let’s market a listing together. See the difference for yourself.
