Question on Real Estate Photography

[bdavis]

Agreed, you've made many good points that I never thought of before.

 

[Rokson]

Hmm this is definitely something to think about. I have never thought about this.

 

[SnowNow12]

Hi. Not sure if this is helpful, but I'm a property photographer in Lake Tahoe, CA and have been a real estate professional for many years.

I have several packages available and we "suggest" them to realtors based on the square footage of a home. For instance, if you have a 3000 s.f. home with more bedrooms/baths/living spaces to shoot you charge more money (especially if studio lights are needed for vaulted ceilings, etc). More rooms to shoot + large s.f. + larger asking price = More $ for more of your time

If you're shooting a smaller house with less square footage the inverse applies. However, all I do is recommend packages to the realtor based on my experience shooting houses. If an RE agent wants to spend $99 (our current sale package of 8 still photos and 2 virtual tours+ eflyer) for a $4 million house, you don't get $4 service. That simple. It works the same for them; a lot more involved with a $4 million house than a $400k house.

I would suggest looking into doing virtual tours. They are really useful to realtors and we generate the majority of our income from doing them.

Hope that helped.

 

[Big Bully]

Now, in defense of Realtors (as cheapskates) - More than likely the listing agent is going to end up with 1/4 of the total commission. So it the commission rate is 6%, on a $200,000 house, the agent gets $3000. Out of that comes Federal (including Social Security), state taxes, association dues, MLS dues, advertising, sometimes office rent, mandated continuing education, and an equivalent of of malpractice insurance called "errors and ommissions" insurance. Then factor in the amount of time that it takes to get a house sold and the risk of being sued or fined for not following the law to the letter and you see that not many Realtors are making a fortune. That being said, I would advise you to state your rate and if you get resistance, ask your customer "What do you think would be fair?" That puts it on them. And one more thing. I would get them to sign a work order that is pretty specific in what they want you to do. Set their expectations when you start so you don't get into a peeing contest when you come to collect your money. Good luck with this - it's something that I think the real estate industry needs badly.

I agree with you.. I have taken real estate courses and could have gotten my license but for some reason or another didn't. There are a lot of fee's that Realtor's have to pay out of their commissions. And there are a lot of agents out there who are starving because of the lack of business.
Being someone who has taken the Real estate courses, and who is a photographer, there are several things that realtors need help on. The main being their photography. You wouldn't believe what passes for a house, room, or yard photograph, it is embarrassing!

But the realtors here would rather take a lousy picture than have a good one taken. Pictures are necessary to sell a house, but to them it is not a high priority to take a good quality picture, as long as one is taken.

 

[wporterfield]

I'm a commercial realtor in Little Rock... but have been keeping my eye out for a residential property. The following picture has to be my favorite, terrible, MLS picture. Enjoy... and yes that's a wig.

 

[Big Bully]

I'm a commercial realtor in Little Rock... but have been keeping my eye out for a residential property. The following picture has to be my favorite, terrible, MLS picture. Enjoy... and yes that's a wig.

OMG that is classic. I have to find some of the ones that we have up here. I found one the other day that had the counters full of stuff and junk all over the couches... :gah:

 

[Guido44]

Great Post.

I am currently looking into R.E. photography as well.

I work with a woman who is a Realtor. I asked her about the virtual tour fees. Her listing was approx. $250K. She paid (what I thought was) a very modest fee of $115.

For those of you who do virtual tours: How does that work exactly?
(I have emailed 2 companies without a response.)

Do you take the photos, and they stitch them into 360 tours? Or is the photographer expected to have the software AND all the equipment to shoot as well?

Thanks,

dan

 

[bdavis]

a camera that shoots video would be a good option. My D90 does so I have that capability, but don't really like doing video that much, however if they wanted it, I would definitely do it.