Partner Spotlight | April 20201 | Deep South Focus Photography

Making real estate photography the easiest part of the sale

By Jill Clair Gentry

In real estate, excellent photography is no longer optional, and features like 3D tours, aerial photography and floorplans are becoming increasingly important as buyers rely more and more on online resources in their search for a home.

Photographer Jon Jeffress, co-founder of Deep South Focus Photography, says professional photography is the best investment a listing agent or homeowner can make in their quest to sell a home.

“Professional photos are going to attract more potential buyers to the property as opposed to cell phone photos,” Jeffress says. “The investment is totally worth it.”

Making agents’ lives easier

Real estate photography is all about details—details agents often don’t have time to focus on when getting a property ready to put on the market. Jeffress provides agents a photography preparation list they can provide to the homeowners to ensure the photos are as good as they possibly can be.

“We really try to make the real estate agent’s life easier,” Jeffress says. “We advise the homeowner to replace any burned-out lightbulbs and to make sure the bulbs are all the same color temperature, to open up blinds, clear out clutter, depersonalize, and remove trash cans and toilet plungers. We also give tips to enhance curb appeal—adding fresh plants and pine straw makes a huge impact, and it’s not that expensive to do.”

Every agent knows scheduling with third parties can be a nightmare phone tag scenario, but Deep South Focus uses cutting-edge scheduling software to remove the burden of scheduling from the agent.

“They can book the project online, and based on what services they choose, the system takes into consideration how long each service takes and calculates availability in real time based upon the address entered and the drive times from my other bookings,” Jeffress says. “They don’t have to play phone tag with me and the seller.”

After the photos are taken, Jeffress guarantees a 24-hour turnaround time, even though his editing process is extensive.

“I take multiple images of each composition and blend them together to bring out all the details and colors in the space,” he says. “Editing is definitely the more time-consuming part.”

Diverse service offerings

In today’s digital marketplace, photography is just one piece of the puzzle. Jeffress says the newest trend is 3D home tours.

“We use a special camera, and it takes a spherical image of the room and stitches it together,” he says. “The editing process allows you to put labels and arrows on the images, kind of like Google Earth for inside a house. It allows buyers to get a better feeling of the layout of the home.”

Deep South Focus also offers Zillow 3D tours, which brings the property up higher in Zillow searches. According to data from Zillow, homes with a 3D tour sell 10 percent faster than listings without them, and they are 22 percent more likely to sell within 30 days.

Jeffress also offers a floorplan image that can be added to the listing.

“It’s one thing to look at pictures of the home, but buyers want to know where the bedrooms are in relation to each other,” Jeffress says. “Someone with young kids might want the bedrooms near the master. Being able to see the layout can make a big difference and can save the buyer, agent and seller a lot of time.”

Listings that have a lot of land or are positioned near a waterfront can benefit from aerial photography and video as well. Jeffress is certified with the FAA to legally fly a drone for commercial purposes.

“Agents must make sure a photographer or videographer is properly certified and insured to do commercial work with a drone,” he says. “It’s illegal to do commercial photos and video without a part 107 certificate from the FAA.”

Becoming a real estate photographer

Photography is Jeffress’ second career. He previously worked for a website hosting and marketing company, and photography was just a hobby. In 2009, he took a panoramic photo of a beach scene while on vacation in North Carolina and ended up winning an award for it.

“My wife Julie bought more equipment for me after that and I took some pictures at a classic car show,” he said. “I had a website where I stored all my photos online, and the website had a built-in shopping cart. I never expected to sell anything, but one day, someone bought some pictures of a car. I contacted him to ask why they purchased the photos, and he said, ‘It’s my car!’ That began my professional photography career.”

In 2012, Jon and Julie chose the name Deep South Focus Photography. Jon focused on automotive event photography and began attending car shows all over the country with Julie, eventually setting up a mobile print studio that allowed them to print and frame car photos at the events.

Then, in 2015, the Jeffresses put their home on the market.

“I figured, I’m a professional photographer; I can take the pictures for the listing,” he says. “We had multiple showings the first day it went live. We didn’t even get a sign in the yard—it sold that quick. Our REALTOR® said the photos made the difference.”

They slowly began adding more and more real estate clients to their workload, and in 2019, Jon and Julie took the business full time, spending weekends at car shows and photographing real estate during the week. Jeffress says he is truly passionate about assisting homeowners in selling their homes, aiding buyers in finding the perfect property and helping agents build their businesses. “I just want agents to use their time wisely and to focus on what they do best in real estate. Use professionals, such as a professional photographer, that make your life easier and save you time,” he says. “Whether it’s me or someone else, utilize a photographer to help you visually market your listings. There’s enough business for all of us. I love to see agents invest their time wisely and hire out these services so they can spend that saved time building their business.”