Photographing Lake Keowee Waterfront Homes: The Cove at Old Edwards Reserve
Lake Keowee listings don't sell the way a house in town does. The buyer is paying for the water, the view off the back porch and the walk down to the dock as much as for the kitchen. If the photos only cover the rooms, half the story never makes it online.
We saw that clearly on The Cove, a new build in Old Edwards Reserve that Kim Meyer with Smith Spencer Real Estate listed in September. Seven bedrooms, about 4,950 square feet on 1.1 acres, European white oak floors, three levels of porches and decks, and a covered dock at the bottom of the hill. Here is how we approached it, and what any agent listing on the lake can take from it.
Start with where the house sits
On the lake, location is the first question a buyer has, and a ground photo can't answer it. We flew the drone high enough to show the house, the cove it sits on and the mountains behind the lake in one frame. That aerial became the cover of the social carousel and the opening shot of the video, because it tells a buyer in one look why this lot is different from one two streets back.
Old Edwards Reserve is also a community buyers want to see, so the gallery covers the clubhouse, the pool, the courts and the grounds. Amenity photos do a lot of quiet work on a listing like this. They answer what life is like there before anyone asks.
Treat the outdoor levels like rooms
The Cove has three stacked levels of outdoor living off the back, and the screened porch opens right off the great room. On a lake house those spaces are where people actually spend the summer, so they deserve the same care as the kitchen, shot wide enough to show the trees and the water through the screens.
We also shot the back of the house from below, so buyers can see how the levels stack and how much usable space there is. That one frame explains the floor plan better than a paragraph in the MLS.
Give the dock its own photos
The dock is often the single most important feature on a waterfront listing, and it deserves more than one frame. At The Cove we photographed the walk down, the covered slip from the water side and the view looking out from under the dock roof. That last frame, the lake framed by the timbers with the boat in the slip, is the one that makes you want to be there.
If you list on the lake, ask your photographer to plan real time for the dock, not one quick frame on the way out.
Video for the buyer who can't come this weekend
Plenty of lake buyers are shopping from out of town. For The Cove we cut a full length film and a 47 second vertical version for Instagram and Facebook. The full film walks a buyer through the house inside and out, so they can picture the layout before they ever book a showing. The vertical cut is built to stop the scroll and send people to the listing.
One shoot, every channel
A listing like this deserves more than an MLS gallery. From the same shoot, The Cove gets a photo carousel and a vertical Reel for Instagram and Facebook, a post for LinkedIn, this article, and a feature in our email to agents across Charleston, the Upstate and Brevard. Every piece credits Kim and Smith Spencer and points back to the listing.
What to ask for on your next lake listing
Aerials that show the lot, the water and the view. Twilight or golden hour on the lake side of the house. The outdoor levels shot like rooms. Dedicated dock photos. A video, even a short one. Every one of those is part of how we shoot waterfront homes, from Lake Keowee to the Charleston marsh.
Listing on the lake or anywhere in the Upstate? See our Lake Keowee photography and Greenville and Upstate pages, look at our listing video options, or book your shoot online anytime.