Realestate Photography

[JohnRushing]

Got a quick questtion about a possible side business. Do any of you do photography for realestate companies. I have been looking at some of the photo ads of the local realestate companies and , well they suck! I'm talking bad! Probably 95% of the photos are so dark that you can't even see the house and the ones you can see are out of focus, the angles are bad and it looks like they tried to use a 200mm for interior shots. I was thinking of talking to some of them about me taking the photos for their web sites but have no idea what would be a decent/fair price. Any ideas? I don't know if I will be able to check this post before i leave on my trip but I will when when I get back in two weeks.

[Daniel Bates]

I'd be interested in hearing the responses to this as well; it's something I've thought of doing. I think Kasey used to work in this line of photography...

[xjben]

The exact thought had crossed my mind before, but I hadn't tried yet. I am guessing the larger firms won't be interested, but if you can find the smaller shops that don't have the resources or time or interest or skill seems like you might be able to do something. I would think something like a set price per house for exterior only, and then an higher price for interior and exterior. Just guessing for a fair price, maybe $25 for outside, $50 for both. Could offer a discount if they do a bunch per month, etc...

[timbertoes]

Suggest you also do a search on the portrait places that do the Agents Business cards, etc.
I think if they could get the house pics, they do or would. Personally I think you will find the agents take the pics, and they wont go out of pockect.
I have asked these questions to about half dozen agents a few I knew well enough I was getting straight answers ! but then again maybe I gave up to easily, LOL

Now the Agents who represent Million dollar homes...that is probably where the money is.

[xjben]

I would think that the savvy portrait photographer studio, might have asked about that, if they had a relationship with the agent or had worked with them several time before, but I would be shocked if every one of them asked, or even more than a handful.

You might have to offer a low price (as a 30 day special, etc.) to get in the door and try a few, let them see the results. Maybe first 20 houses for $100 even...see if you can get them hooked on the convenience and quality of work.

And, while I'd agree that many will take their own pictures, I think the fact that any of us can go online right now and find dozens of terribly photographed houses means that with the right sales pitch and price point there's a possible opportunity there...especially as a buyer, if you are looking online at houses, you are very very likely to skip the ones with bad images.

Hey, another thought...go to the SELLER. If the agent doesn't want to provide high quality images, the seller might be willing to pony up some money for images, or could put pressure on the agent to pay for them. :-)

[Steelsun]

I've checked into this before with alot of realtor friends I have - there are some cheap agencies (more like an association of amateurs) that do it, but most realtors just use their own point & shoots. They are loathe to spend money on a speculative project like a house sale, and the issues of timing the tour/photo session are a hassle.

You'll be running all around town, wasting gas, and end up waiting 30 mins to get a house for $25-50. Not really worth it.

Some of the cheapie firms also offer the 360 degree shots for VR, and even they are low $.

So in the end, most agents buy a $200 P&S and take the shots themselves.

The exception is for High End house (like $1 Million +), where they will hire a pro to shoot it, but those don't usually go on the web, they are more for custom brochures, etc.

[Jim]

I did some real estate photography in the Round Rock area for a while. Competition is fierce and realtors usually want more than pictures. I was offering digital photos of the living area + up to 3 rooms, 100 flyers, and a virtual tour on CD for use on their website. I stopped a while back, though. Too much driving and not enough money.

[JohnRushing]

You have to consider the area I live in. I can drive from one side of town to the other and then back and my gas gauge won't even move. Some of the houses are out of town but the distance isn't that far so gas doesn't really worry me, now it was somewhere like Dallas or Austin gas usage would be a different story.

I can't think of any of the agents around here that have their photo on their business cards, remember we're backwoods around here. And the two photographers in the area are to busy with school and sports portraits to bother with realestate.

I've talked to two of the agents from two different companies here locally and both said to get back with them when I get my prices and everything fixed. I don't expect to get rich doing this but instead just get my foot in the door and get a little experiance and hopefuly make a buck or two in the process. Who knows it might get me a reputation that will get me other work also.

I was thinking of maybe offering each company something like three houses each for free as a test and if they like it then we can enter into a contract. Right now the realestate business in our area is really booming. Trying to find a house is hard right now and when you do find one you have to jump on it because they go quick and at a good price. We sold our house last year that we had lived in for four years and made $54,000 profit on it. We didn't do anything to the house except clean the yard a do about $3500 worth of landscaping, not a bad four year investment. We have a lot of new busnesses comeing to our town which means new people. We had six families move here when they where tranfered to our plant last year and four of those families bought houses in towns close to ours. One of them bought a house in Marshall without even seeing it in person, only what he saw from photos. I sure the crapy photos on the realors web site are costing them some sells or at least slowing the sells down a little. When I get back I think I'm gonna go ahed and do a few for free and see where it goes.

Thanks for all the relpies, keep em coming. I've already got a few new ideas from all the post.

[ShaneKislack]

Good article on very subject

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/re...prod=permalink

[timbertoes]

BTW, you mentioned another business to hit on.... Landscapers. "before and after pics" :)

[L Stegall]

I think it depends on your market. I know the realtor that sold my sister's home last year in Winnetka (i.e., very upscale), did an incredible brochure and had someone out to do lots of pictures, etc. I'm sure this wasn't some little $50 or so quick job. This was more like a magazine shoot. So yes, there definitely is some market out there.

[zepp]

One suggestion....

Don't start off to cheap. It's sure hard to convince your clients afterwards that the work your putting into it deserves more money just to stay afloat.

[john s]

Originally Posted by JohnRushing

Got a quick questtion about a possible side business. Do any of you do photography for realestate companies. I have been looking at some of the photo ads of the local realestate companies and , well they suck! I'm talking bad! Probably 95% of the photos are so dark that you can't even see the house and the ones you can see are out of focus, the angles are bad and it looks like they tried to use a 200mm for interior shots. I was thinking of talking to some of them about me taking the photos for their web sites but have no idea what would be a decent/fair price. Any ideas? I don't know if I will be able to check this post before i leave on my trip but I will when when I get back in two weeks.

John,

I have doing real estate photography since 1983.
I hardly do any more real eastate photography any more. About 97% of the realtors
shoot with their own little point and shoots, ot they use virtual reality companies
to do their photography. Also, realtors are normally pretty cheap on what they
pay you. If I try to go up say $5, the gripe that I am getting to expensive. I shoot for
a few realtors here in Dallas, but have pretty much gotten out of the out of the
real estate business.

John yates

[DeLeon]

I have done this kind of work before, and hated it. My biggest problem was that I actually worked for the local news paper doing photos for the ads that the realtors placed. LINK HERE. Most of the home I shot were new construction, in new neighborhoods, on new streets that were not on the map yet. SO I drove alot looking for where the places might be. In a smaller town I don't think this would be a problem, but Amarillo is growing like wildfire, and there is almost no such place as "out in the boonies" anymore.

[john s]

Originally Posted by JohnRushing

Got a quick questtion about a possible side business. Do any of you do photography for realestate companies. I have been looking at some of the photo ads of the local realestate companies and , well they suck! I'm talking bad! Probably 95% of the photos are so dark that you can't even see the house and the ones you can see are out of focus, the angles are bad and it looks like they tried to use a 200mm for interior shots. I was thinking of talking to some of them about me taking the photos for their web sites but have no idea what would be a decent/fair price. Any ideas? I don't know if I will be able to check this post before i leave on my trip but I will when when I get back in two weeks.

John,

I have doing real estate photography since 1983.
I hardly do any more real eastate photography any more. About 97% of the realtors
shoot with their own little point and shoots, ot they use virtual reality companies
to do their photography. Also, realtors are normally pretty cheap on what they
pay you. If I try to go up say $5, the gripe that I am getting to expensive. I shoot for
a few realtors here in Dallas, but have pretty much gotten out of the out of the
real estate business.

John yates