Nick Aufiero wrote in post #18556025
do most stick with the easier quicker options
Most realtors have a champagne taste on a beer budget, as the saying goes. Generally speaking, volume is more profitable than quality.
To make any of this profitable for you, you'll need to put on your businessman hat and target the realtor who will pay a fair rate for higher-end offerings, and pitch it in a way that demonstrates that it'll help them sell houses faster and for a higher price.
- Matterport is practically foolproof. The device takes the photos (using an iPad app for control), then the photos are uploaded to Matterport's service where they are automatically assembled into the 3D walkthrough and dollhouse. As long as you pay attention to the iPad app during the scanning process, and give special care to any difficult-to-scan areas such as doorways, large mirrors, and glass doors, there's no difficult post-processing work. There's a monthly subscription fee so you'll need to have a good way to pass that along to your client (you can't just host a 3D walkthrough forever for free, for a house that isn't selling).
- Video montages are not particularly difficult, but they can be time-consuming. They're definitely not for the client who wants the $75 shoot-and-burn treatment. There are some simple video editing programs out there that will work for basic video montages, though if you want any higher-end work you'll have to invest a bit more time and creativity into it. If you have a repeat client who wants to fully integrate their branding into the video, that's going to take some additional setup, which can be time-consuming at first but have meaningful returns later.
--- Huge pitfall when offering video: When the realtor sends you the wrong square footage, or a typo in the address, or just needs you to "just make a quick change," it's not a trivial matter to make small tweaks in a video that has been finalized, rendered, exported, and uploaded.
- Another thing to consider is aerial (drone) photos, and aerial video if you're doing video montages. The equipment investment is not huge (no more than a decent lens), but to provide commercial services you'll need to get the appropriate licensing from the FAA, and of course insurance and other related expenses.
