And I’m going to be interviewing and he’s a professional home photographer here in Tucson, in my opinion, the best. And we’re going to walk you through what you can do to prepare so you’ve got great photos and then just the process and how long it takes. So hope you enjoy my interview with Shawn.

Hello, Tyler Ford coming at you. And like I explained, in the introduction, getting professional photos up front before listing your home and selling it is so, so important. And I’ve got Shawn Svedberg with me, and he’s my photographer of choice. And we were talking about this before we started, we hit record. Shawn’s been at it for about 11 years in Tucson, and he was one of the first photographers here in Tucson. And how I found him is he had an internet presence and I Googled Tucson real estate photographers and up pop Shawn. And it started what is going on…

Shawn’s been at it for 11 years and in my opinion, he is the best photographer here in Tucson. So again, can’t emphasize how important it is to get the professional photos done upfront. But what I’m going to do is Shawn is just kind of walk you through the process. So you’ll know what to expect. So first off, welcome Shawn, thanks for joining me and sharing your valuable information to help people get their homes listed and get top dollar. So let’s talk a little bit about what do you want people to do in order to prepare to get their home set up correctly? So you take the very best photos.

Well, Tyler, I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today about what it does I do for the home sale process as far as the photos. One thing I love to do is to send an email preparation letter to the homeowner so that they’re prepared. So they don’t have that deer in the headlight look, when I show up to with my camera and tripod ready to go. But basically it’s ways to have your home ready because people aren’t selling their home every day. They’re not a professional like yourself where what needs to be done, but they don’t necessarily know. So we’re trying to help prepare them in such a way that they… Maybe they’ve put some things in the garage. Because typically I don’t shoot in the garage so they can hide things there or just have the home photo ready.

And it might not be necessarily how they always have it every day of the week, but at least for the photos so that we can have a nice look to the home. Nice curb appeal, not only from the outside, but from the inside as well. And we really want to take these photos and be able to have it to where people can basically show off their home in a sense. And because we’re trying to help them sell it quickly. And for the top amount of possible and professional photos will help to do that.

It’s basically, let’s say you’re going to have a dinner party your home or something and you want everything neat and put away. Obviously things in the bathroom, you’re not going to have the electric toothbrush and the bars of soap sitting on the counter or those kinds of things. Basically if there’s things that you can store away and keep it simple. Definitely want to keep it simple so that when people see the photos, they’re not being distracted too in the photos. They’re just being able to picture themselves, looking in that beautiful home and saying, “Hey, I could picture myself living here. Let’s call the realtor, let’s call Tyler and see about setting up a showing.”

Well, I like the fact that you send that email out in terms of… Because as agents, we try to counsel and coach people, but a lot of times it’s better coming from the source. So even though we tell people how to prepare that email that Shawn sends out… And it’s also on his website. And at the end of this, at the end of the interview, we’re going to give you his contact information. But all that information is also on his website, which would help you prepare. So let’s say photos are scheduled, you’ve got your home prepared, ready to go. What could somebody expect in terms of time? And this is the big question that I get. Can they stay at the home when you’re doing the photo shoot? So walk us through the process, what you do, whether they can stay there or not, and how long it takes you typically?

Certainly. So one of the things is if you have pets, we shoot a lot of homes with homes of pet lovers and that’s great. They just don’t photograph well because they don’t always take good direction of where to stand still those kinds of things. So a lot of times if either the pet is maybe at a friend’s house or maybe in another room at the same time. If they have pet toys or baby toys and things like that, have those put out of the way. And we’re just really trying to showcase the home as best as possible. And so by doing that, by having various things ready… So for example, like I was saying, toothbrush [shops 00:06:14] a little off the counter, paper towel holder in the middle of the counter, put that away. Various if you have game consoles sitting on the coffee table, have those put away.

And just basically really trying to show off your home so that when I come in usually about an hour and a half or so, maybe a little bit less than that for a typical about 2,500 square foot house or less. The thing that usually takes the most time is if I can just walk in, you’ve got the lights on the blinds open and I can just… The best case scenario is I can walk in and just start shooting the photos from the various corners of the room and just walk in and get those photos. And then my goal is to then get them processed and back to you as the agents in 24 hours or less so that you can be up and running on MLS. And that’s super important as far as quick turnaround time, that’s something… And part of that, we don’t offer any kind of twilight or golden hour shots anymore because of the fact that we do have the 24 hour turnaround. So all the people are watching the sun go down, I’m processing your photos and trying to get them ready for-

That’s one thing I like about Shawn, you do, if your photos are scheduled today, you get them tomorrow. Usually I can’t wait to get up in the morning, cause they’re in my email inbox. It’s like Christmas. And it’s just an exciting thing. So the other thing I like about Shawn, the photo in Shawn’s background right there, he’s got this extension pole. It’s not done by a drone, but he’s got this pole that goes up on the back of his car so he can get high up and get some really good photos that are elevated. And the background photo that Shawn’s got there is from his… What do you call that? So you’ve got an extension rod that gets you up high up in the air so you can shoot some good photos.

Yeah. It’s a carbon fiber aerial pole and I’ve got an adapter hooked to the back of my Jeep SUV so that I can put… I usually put the camera it’s about right about 19 feet in the air. I don’t typically go any higher than that because when you’re that close in the street to the home, you’re going to hire, you’re just going to see tile roof and not necessarily the front garden, those kinds of things. But it gives you a perspective. I’ve had many people ask me, “Hey, what kind of drone do you use?” In fact, it’s not probably same question I don’t have a drone like Tyler does. But it’s a matter of being able to get the shots that we need.

And basically every time I moved my Jeep in various five or six different places out in the street and it’s quiet. So it doesn’t bother the neighbors. And it’s electronically a motorized head at the top of the pole. So I can control my iPhone, sitting in the front seat and really makes it to be able to really hone in on where the picture is as far as frame and a good composition.

But if somebody wanted to reach out to you. Let’s say they haven’t chosen their agent yet. And they want to just be prepared. So when they do decide to list, they’re ready to go. Because listing a home without photos is the biggest mistake that anybody could ever make. So in order to be prepared and ready to go, if somebody wanted to reach out to you, Shawn, and schedule a shooting. How could somebody contact you?

Well, it’s we tried to create a name that’s very descriptive of what we do. It’s Tucson, which is where we are, homes, is what we’re photographing and photography. So it’s tucsonhomesphotography.com And that’ll take you right to their website. Any of the pages on our website, if you scroll down, has our calendar in real time so that you can click it on and see what our availability is. It’s a great listing tool. So you can be in the middle with Mr. and Mrs. Jones in a listing appointment, say, “Hey, I’ve got my photographer Shawn schedule right here and you can scroll on your phone or your iPad right in front of them. Enable us to see about scheduling a time to be able to have them come and shoot the photos.

Yeah. And it’s a really easy… And the other nice thing about his… When you order it, it’s got ties right into Google Calendar. So if you’re the agent you’ll have your email, but you’ll all have also the contact information of the seller. So they get that information as well, which makes it nice as an agent because it takes a lot of the work out of it for us. Shawn sends over that email with the list of the things that they need to do. So he’s got a really good online portal for ordering photos. So with that, I just want to say, thanks. And again, Shawn, in my opinions the best guy in Tucson, and there’s nothing more… I mean, the number one thing, in my opinion, that you need to do when selling your home is get professional photos and not cut corners when it comes to the photography. So just want to say, thanks, Shawn.