Anyone do residential real estate?

manaheim · May 12, 2009

I do a lot of commercial real estate and wonder about residential. I'm willing to trade notes if anyone is interested. I'm curious about what the rates tend to be like, what the work is like, how it is working with the agents, etc.

SarahTomlin · May 12, 2009

Not sure I can help you out on this one. I do a lot of landscape photography.

Big Mike · May 13, 2009

I think we discussed this a while back...see if you can search it out. A member's father (a real estate agent) even came in to offer his opinion on the subject.

The way I see it, there is a market for residential real estate photography...but it's most likely to be high end stuff. An agent is unlikely to want to pay for professional photos of an average priced property when they can just take photos themselves for no extra cost. The photos are probably not great, but many can take adequate photos.
Of course, if it's a million dollar home, they would probably be more willing to go for professional photos.

Also, I have heard of quick & dirty work for residential real estate. Basically a drive by shot...but they pay very little...probably not what you were thinking of.

manaheim · May 13, 2009

Big Mike said:
I think we discussed this a while back...see if you can search it out. A member's father (a real estate agent) even came in to offer his opinion on the subject.

The way I see it, there is a market for residential real estate photography...but it's most likely to be high end stuff. An agent is unlikely to want to pay for professional photos of an average priced property when they can just take photos themselves for no extra cost. The photos are probably not great, but many can take adequate photos.
Of course, if it's a million dollar home, they would probably be more willing to go for professional photos.

Also, I have heard of quick & dirty work for residential real estate. Basically a drive by shot...but they pay very little...probably not what you were thinking of.

I wasn't able to find the discussion on the residential stuff on a search... will try again later... however, what you say is kind of what I suspect. Only the high end stuff is going to be likely to justify my time. I need to do a bit of networking.

I did find the reference to the drive-bys... even at $15... hoo so not worth my time. :lol:

Thanks, Mike.

rub · May 13, 2009

I was recently approached by a real estate agent to do his high end listings. Now we are trying to work out a price. I am thinking the $150 mark is where I would like to be, with that including a CD of the images.

I would love to hear about anyone else doing the same thing as well.

guitarkid · May 14, 2009

I used to do residential real estate and although it was fun, in the end, it wasn't worth the time actually. I think the price was around $150 which included me shooting the entire house inside and out, all angles, etc. I would then edit and do layout of the best 20 shots or so to put on her flyer. I would have kinkos print the flyers on nice paper, which cost me about $50 for 100 flyers in high rez color. They looked awesome but in the end, I was making about $50 a house average, maybe. I stopped getting calls from the 2 realtors a couple years back due to the economy and they started taking the shots themselves, which was fine with me.

manaheim · May 14, 2009

rub said:
I was recently approached by a real estate agent to do his high end listings. Now we are trying to work out a price. I am thinking the $150 mark is where I would like to be, with that including a CD of the images.

I would love to hear about anyone else doing the same thing as well.

guitarkid said:
I used to do residential real estate and although it was fun, in the end, it wasn't worth the time actually. I think the price was around $150 which included me shooting the entire house inside and out, all angles, etc. I would then edit and do layout of the best 20 shots or so to put on her flyer. I would have kinkos print the flyers on nice paper, which cost me about $50 for 100 flyers in high rez color. They looked awesome but in the end, I was making about $50 a house average, maybe. I stopped getting calls from the 2 realtors a couple years back due to the economy and they started taking the shots themselves, which was fine with me.

Yeah this is so waaaaaay too much work for $150. Like to the point of being effectively ripped off, IMO. I mean not actively or literally ripped off, but you have to figure that to do this well... you're going to spend about 1.5-2 hours shooting and at least an hour in post processing... and that's not counting if you decide to do any HDRs (which are SO helpful with these kinds of properties). That's also not including travel time, any adjustments, etc.

Granted, if you don't have anything else to do, I suppose $150 is $150... and I suppose it depends on your income scale. On an hourly rate compared to other things I could do to make money, it just doesn't make sense for me, personally.

This is kind of what I expected to see, but what surprises me is the guy who said he's doing the "high end" stuff for $150. I was kind of hoping for high end you could pull at least $600 or so. I get $600-1000 for commercial real estate exteriors alone, and it probably takes me about 2-3 total hours worth of work, not including travel time... and I'm not the expensive guy.

Please don't get me wrong- I'm not poo-pooing what anyone else wants to do. I'm more thinking out loud. Given the nature of the industry, I'm not that surprised it all works out this way.

BTW, if anyone is interested, here is the listing for my buddy's house that I did. (shots 12 and 14 aren't mine, the rest are)

12 Teele Road, Bolton, MA, 01740 - MLS ID#70918020 - Single Family Home real estate - REALTOR.com®

Johnboy2978 · May 15, 2009

I would also think that given the current state of the economy, realtors are really cutting every corner they can. I would wager that even those who were paying someone to photograph for them are now looking for a "good used camera that takes really nice pictures" so they can do it themselves and save a buck on a house that is still going to just sit. It is really needed though. When I was in the market for a house 5 years ago, there were so many that didn't even get a drive by just because the images were so crappy.

You did a nice job for your buddy. Looks like a lot of HDR on that interior. That kitchen doesn't have much storage space.

manaheim · May 16, 2009

Johnboy2978 said:
I would also think that given the current state of the economy, realtors are really cutting every corner they can. I would wager that even those who were paying someone to photograph for them are now looking for a "good used camera that takes really nice pictures" so they can do it themselves and save a buck on a house that is still going to just sit. It is really needed though. When I was in the market for a house 5 years ago, there were so many that didn't even get a drive by just because the images were so crappy.

You did a nice job for your buddy. Looks like a lot of HDR on that interior. That kitchen doesn't have much storage space.

Yeah, I think that if realtors clued in to the value here that they would be able to differentiate themselves ... esp. in a tough market... but by and large I think they don't realize that there could be value in being better in this space.

Like you said, a lot of houses don't even get a glance because of bad photography... I was horrified at the house I live in now because of the pictures. I said I wouldn't even set foot in it. One room that was in the pictures was literally the ugliest and most horrible room I had ever seen in my life. Now, we wound up looking because it was the only house in this town in our price range... and fell in love with the place as soon as we walked in... oh and the hideous room? It's the most amazing room I've ever been in. :lol:

That says a lot.

Thanks for the compliments on the pics. I did go a bit HDR heavy because they have a lot of windows and it seemed appropriate for the space. You're right... not a ton of storage in that kitchen. It's nice and airy, though.

Johnboy2978 · May 16, 2009

Maybe the key to making yourself invaluable in this market niche is to scan some of the local MLS listings and find the listings with the most horrible photos, then go to the same house, take your own shots and send them to the realtor for a side by side comparison. Leave your phone # and an estimated cost and see if you get a call.

Guido44 · May 29, 2009

Chris,

I'm glad you started this post. Residential real estate is an area I would like to try to get into. Commercial would be great too, but without experience, I thought residential was the way to get a start.

Nearly every listing I look at online has so so, to awful photos of the listings.

** I had my balloon deflated a just a bit by a realtor recently when she told me that she could get a photo service to do a set of photos (inside and out) for $35!

I think she told me she worked for Baird Warner R. E. She thought all the Baird Warner offices could do it for that price. Nationally, I mean.

I'm sure the photos aren't going to be anything special, but it really took me back a bit. I can't image being able to make it worth while for that price. If it's a nation wide price arrangement, ? that means that each photographer is only getting a cut of the $35, and they're working for someone else. ?

While on the phone with her, I was kind of caught off guard a bit. Ticked me off actually.

Sorry for the rant, any inspiring words from anyone, would be appreciated.

dan

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manaheim · Oct 19, 2010

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c.cloudwalker · Oct 19, 2010

Ran across an article recently touting pro photos for residential listings as a great way to raise the sell price. Turns out that on the average listing (ie normal homes), it averaged only $1000 more, lol.

Not much of an incentive to pay big bucks for the pro shots.