Advice needed - Real Estate photography

[W00DY]

Hi All,

I have been approached by a local Real Estate agent about using me as their photographer for new listings. They want me to send through my rates.

Problem is I have no idea how this type of photography is charged?
Is there a flat rate per house?
Is it hourly based?

Are there any photogs here that shot for Real Estate Agents who could provide some info regarding the fees?

Appreciate any help you can provide.

Cheers,
W00DY

[Glen]

Andrew, a mate of mine who is an agent pays $800 to $1,000 per house. I would expect it to be lower in your area, but gives you an upper price range.

[W00DY]

Andrew, a mate of mine who is an agent pays $800 to $1,000 per house. I would expect it to be lower in your area, but gives you an upper price range.

WOW... That is a lot more than I was thinking

I was thinking the priceing structure should have been per house, so it is good to see that is possibly the case.

Thanks Glen for the range, anyone else do this type of photography?

[ozimax]

Andrew, a mate of mine who is an agent pays $800 to $1,000 per house. I would expect it to be lower in your area, but gives you an upper price range.

$800 for the house, or for the photos?

[Killakoala]

Real estate photography is in general quite crappy. I base this assumption on my search for a new house where i have seen lots of really poor quality images that are more focussed on furniture rather than the room it is in or are not a wide enough coverage to actually see the room properly.

So if you can get into this market and do a good job, which i imagine you will, then it could be quite lucrative. I wish you the best with your endeavours.

[W00DY]

Real estate photography is in general quite crappy. I base this assumption on my search for a new house where i have seen lots of really poor quality images that are more focussed on furniture rather than the room it is in or are not a wide enough coverage to actually see the room properly.

So if you can get into this market and do a good job, which i imagine you will, then it could be quite lucrative. I wish you the best with your endeavours.

Hi Steve,

I agree.. We have just sold our house (well the contracts get signed today) and I offered to take the photos for the real estate agent. When she saw them she was very happy and commented (a few times) how much better thay were to the ones she would have taken (This was not meant to sound like a self compliment ).

Maybe the fact that the house sold after one open home and that we had lot's of people through helped her think it was the images

Now just to work out what a fair price would be per house?

[Bindii]

Up this way there are a few guys that charge a basic rate of $350 a house... and they are booked out weeks in advance...

obviously if they want more that than the standard shots (ie nightime etc) then they have to pay a lot more...

hope this helps...

[skyva]

I am not sure about Sydney, but I have been looking at houses in Richmond Melbourne, and one agent in particular, Jellis Craig has some good photos. I believe they are pretty heavily worked, but the lighting looks well done and they also seem to have gotten the house into a good arrangement before taking the shots.
It would seem that to take good real estate shots you need to:
Have some good portable lighting
An appreciateion of how to arrange the house (remove junk, make it apear open and inviting etc)
Some photoshop skills.

Maybe have a look at http://www.jelliscraig.com.au and see what you think.

[W00DY]

Up this way there are a few guys that charge a basic rate of $350 a house... and they are booked out weeks in advance...

obviously if they want more that than the standard shots (ie nightime etc) then they have to pay a lot more...

hope this helps...

Thanks Bindi, That helps a LOT...

It would seem that to take good real estate shots you need to:
Have some good portable lighting
An appreciateion of how to arrange the house (remove junk, make it apear open and inviting etc)
Some photoshop skills.

Lighting - Check
Appreciation of arrangements - Check
Photoshop skills - Interesting!!! Whatever happened to getting it right in the camera? (This si just a joke referring to another thread I started AGES ago... so no need for a reply!!!)

If I get this gig I am looking forward to the challenge to create something differnent but not to artsy for each individual house.

For our house one of the images I took was of the bathroom and I lined up some rubber ducks along the bath tub for some fun The agent loved it!!!!

We also drew a nice little picture on the kids blackboard for the backroom (obviously we were targetting the family market for our house)

[Underload]

I have no idea on the prices, but these links were passed on to be a while back. More about technique and that kind of thing (not suggesting you need help though! Maybe they'll be of some use to you.

http://www.all-things-photography.com/i ... raphy.html

http://www.goldcoastrealestatephotograp ... icing.html

http://photographyforrealestate.net/

[Ivanerrol]

Real estate photography is in general quite crappy. I base this assumption on my search for a new house where i have seen lots of really poor quality images that are more focussed on furniture rather than the room it is in or are not a wide enough coverage to actually see the room properly.

There's generally a pretty good reason for this. You check out the furniture and miss the cracks in the walls or the shoddy paint job or general workmanship etc etc etc.

In my area the agents like you to remove all your own furniture, get an interior decorator in and refurnish the house with leased stuff and paintings and prints to create the right ''ambiance " for a prospective sale.

How many houses are sold on the right ' feeling' than actual practical reasons? This is obviously related to the area the property is in, the price range and the target customers of the agent.

The right images are required from the photographer according to what the salesman wants to convey.

In Melbourne, there are current customer targeted ads for lake style country living for suburbs that are out on the treeless volcanic plains.

[moz]

A workmate who just bought a unit experienced a drive-by valuation... the mortgage lender demanded a valuation, sent someone out who didn't have access to the security building at all, and that was apparently acceptable. So it's not just buyer that are doing the no-look stuff.

[Glen]

A workmate who just bought a unit experienced a drive-by valuation... the mortgage lender demanded a valuation, sent someone out who didn't have access to the security building at all, and that was apparently acceptable. So it's not just buyer that are doing the no-look stuff.

Moz, they get worse. Sometimes a desk valuation is done ie get a street average, rather than looking at your new kitchen/bathroom etc

[Ivanerrol]

Desk Valuations??

Check out the council valuation on your property rate notice against the 'real' valuation on which you can sell your property for.

[DanINqld]

I know open2view.com.au generally charge $200-$300 depending on the number of photos and extra's they sell you. They like to advertise their 'aerial' photography ability. <-- telescopic pole on the back of a van.

If you are shooting premium properties then price is a different story.. but the bread and butter general work is quite cut-throat.

[MSF]

http://www.dinography.com.au

Mate of mine in melbourne that specialises in this sort of photography.

I mentioned this thread to him and he commented that whist he is always pretty busy (he is looking to employ another photog shortly by the looks of the workload he has, it's very rare that he would be booked out weeks in advance as no agent would wait that long for images before listing a property. As soon as it is on the books, he is called.. Maybe a day at most delay depending on workload..

Pricing depends on the agent, but $350 to $650 is the usual range - (depending on the agent and the property)

[Bindii]

it's very rare that he would be booked out weeks in advance as no agent would wait that long for images before listing a property. As soon as it is on the books, he is called.. Maybe a day at most delay depending on workload..

It might be rare down there... but maybe not so rare up here... friends of mine just waited two and half weeks cause the estate tog was booked solid...