Real Estate Photography

[weka2000]

A real setate agent made a comment to me the other day which got me thinking :lol:

How would you go about pricing this type of work?
Just wondering weather you would charge out at an hourly rate or "per house"

I have the gear so that side of it is ok.

Found a couple of posts that have good tutorials on real estate photography.

I find the business / pricing side a bit daunting.

[Gatorboy]

I think many RE photogs charge by the square footage of the house.

For example ...
under 2600 sq feet: $225
2600-4000 sq feet: $290
4000-5500 sq feet: $395
over 5500: custom pricing

[madspartus]

sorry to pull slightly off topic, but i was showing my uncle who's in realty my new UWA and one of the first things he said was that he hates when people shoot interiors with those things, on account of its deceptive.

So does anyone actually avoid using them for that reason or is it just standard to use the widest you have available. I mean I understand from a photography point of view it captures a preferable image which is more immersive, but does anyone "hold back" a little?

I can't answer the OP sorry, not in for the business. The post above me seem like an appropraite pricing strategy though. Charging by time bracket means people will be reluctant to hire since they have no idea how long you will take, and many will expect you to be done in 10 minutes then get mad when they see the bill. Its better that they know how much they will pay in advance.

[rent]

I usually shoot on the wider end with my 16-35mm for interior shots. I always make perspective corrections in ps so they don't appear excessively uwa.

as for pricing, i think it varies with location/demand. like gatorboy said, you can charge by sq footage. also can charge optional, extra stuff like twilight exterior shots and qtvr.

-alex

[frontiermonkey]

Hey gatorboy i just noticed you are in Bel air md. pretty cool to find someone on the forum is close to me. How did you get into the real estate photography? I think that is a really good idea and can probably help supplement my waning salary. Any help appreciated

[B Erickson]

Just an FYI there is a good site dedicated to RE photography; http://photographyforrealestate.net/

Also a Flicker discussion forum; http://www.flickr.com/groups/photographyforrealestate/discuss/

Between these 2 sites there is lots of information.

[weka2000]

Just an FYI there is a good site dedicated to RE photography; http://photographyforrealestate.net/

Also a Flicker discussion forum; http://www.flickr.com/groups/photographyforrealestate/discuss/

Between these 2 sites there is lots of information.

Yes the top site was great.

[burntpixel]

$30.00 per room with a 5 room minimum get's you complete 360 views in flash output as seen HERE (http://144fmd.com/360_144_foggy_meadow.html)

This is a very difficult market!
The agent is out of pocket the expense of the tour and thus wants quantity and not quality. The likes of Ipix, Obeo and photogs charging $59.00 for a complete home have killed profit margins for the working photog. Not saying it can't be done! But it is a very challenging market.

Recommendations would be to stick with high end real estate when doing real estate photography. If at all possible avoid it all together and shoot rentals, hotels, restaurants, etc. These are the folks that will pay the price to show their product. Because their product does not change so rapidly, they are happy to pay the higher price tag for your services knowing they won't see you again for several years. A very good example of this would be the log cabins listed in my GALLERY (http://360virtuals.com/gallery.html).

This is not meant to upset any agents that may be reading this. It's just the way it is and it's business.

When pricing you have to include ALL the factors. Drive time, wear and tear on vehicle, shoot time, process time, etc. At the end of the day calculate all these things to come up with your hours spent to the job. Now divide this number into the price you quoted, how much did you make per hour? Pretty simple stuff and you (nor any one reading this) should under sale your services.

Think of it this way,
You would gladly drive across town and shoot an entire home for $150.00 (stills and panos). You could do say 1 a day and at the end of the week be $750 to the good. Not bad, but with average drive time, shoot time and process time your putting in a 10 hour day (that's a minimum for stills and panos). Put's you at $15.00 per hour without yet calculating wear and tear on vehicle, gas, insurance, etc.

But now that business is picking up for you and your making a name for yourself and doing 1.5 homes a day. Your agent now tells you they will be using someone else. You say who and why? Agent says it's your competitor he is much cheaper. You know the guy, the guy just like all of us starting out that under sales his service ;)

Your photographer, sale your self as one and sale yourself as a professional one and keep the rates where they need to be.

Moral to the story, do some web searches for your area for real estate photography, virtual tours, etc and see what the market is paying. Price according to your market while maintaining a profitable margin for yourself.

My market is less than $30.00 per room with 5 minimum but I won't do it for any less than that. Those are pano (virtual tour) prices. I keep that same figure in the ball park for stills as well.

Good luck,

[weka2000]

burntpixel ....... that was your sig in action :)

[burntpixel]

burntpixel ....... that was your sig in action :)
haha :lol:, I guess it was. I do hope that it helps you and answers some of your questions.

[weka2000]

Yes its the nutting out the charge out rates.