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Real Estate videography

wkang87

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Hi guys,

I'm pretty new in this field. I'm pretty decent at filming with my Mavic 2 Pro and would like to start offering services to real Estates. I'm studying right now for my part 107 certificate so that I can start making money out of my footage.

If anyone experience in this field. What would you recommend in approaching to the local real estate agency and may be get paid for the footage they want me to take for them?
Do you generally do edited and Color graded footage all at once? Or does it add up $$$ as you edit and/or color grade.

How much do you typically charge your clients?

any tips would be super helpful thanks a bunch!
 
I do real estate photography professionally. I'm sure it's a little different in every city, but if it's anything like where I live, the market is way over saturated by people trying to get into the business (including realtors themselves who are too cheap to pay $150 for some photos on a $1M+ property because it cuts into their $30K+ commission). It is not lucrative unless you are the owner of a full time operation, and is much more suited to a side gig. It's also very time consuming if you want to do a really good job, so the $/hr is pretty bad. Not a big deal if you're doing it for fun though.

If you want anyone to take you seriously, you will need a good, robust portfolio. That is the first thing they will ask to see if you approach someone offering services like that (especially if they already have someone they're happy with), and you had better either be as good or better as the competition (of which there is probably a lot of), or way cheaper. Remember that they probably get approached a lot by people who buy a DSLR or drone from Costco with zero experience thinking they can do professional work for professional money because they have professional equipment. An outstanding portfolio along with references is how you break through that initial barrier. Try to find some friends with really nice houses and start building a portfolio, or offer to work for free until you have built one up (and ask to use them as references if they are happy).

Another really important thing to consider is that most real estate photography companies do both the standard indoor/outdoor photography and the video/drone shots - realtors do not want to deal with and schedule two or more separate companies when they can just deal with one (and get a package deal as well), so if you are only offering video/aerial services and not traditional photography services, you are going to dramatically reduce your potential client base. Lots of realtors also want walk-through videos and virtual tours now, so maybe brush up on your indoor flying as well if that is not something you already do.

In my experience, finding one or more realtors and becoming their "go to guy" is the way to do it if you're just looking for side jobs. You also need to make yourself readily available, because they are busy too and if they have to fight you for scheduling because you work a 'day job', they are just going to use someone who is more reliable and does this full time. This can be especially difficult if you live somewhere that gets dark before a normal workday ends during certain times of year. I have found that contacting people with existing listings to offer services is met with offense 9/10 times, because the only reason you would be offering them your services is because you don't think their current listing is good enough, and chances are the agent took their own photos/video that you are offering to replace. It didn't matter how polite I was or how I worded it, they seemed to hate this and I learned the hard way. The realty business is extremely shady, and in my experience most realtors ignore their fiduciary duty to the client any time it benefits them financially.

Your biggest challenge will be entry barriers. Most realtors and/or agencies already will have photographers/videographers they work with, and there will need to be a heck of an incentive for them to switch, which will be difficult to provide if this is just a side gig for you and with pricing already so low for professional work. Your best bet will be to try and find one or two realtors (or any friends/family that are realtors) and link up with them so that they just call you whenever they have a new listing.

Pricing is different in every area. Just start Googling all the real estate photography companies in your area (most of them probably already offer aerial / video / virtual tour services) and that will give you a pricing indication. Be honest with yourself when determining a price, which should be determined by your experience and quality of the final product relative to your competition, and not as much by how long it takes you. Again, I think if you don't also offer traditional interior/exterior photography services you are going to have a much harder time.

Personally I would never deliver anything other than a fully edited/graded product unless specifically requested otherwise. Realtors want something with a short turnaround time that is ready to put directly into their listing.
 
I do real estate photography professionally. I'm sure it's a little different in every city, but if it's anything like where I live, the market is way over saturated by people trying to get into the business (including realtors themselves who are too cheap to pay $150 for some photos on a $1M+ property because it cuts into their $30K+ commission). It is not lucrative unless you are the owner of a full time operation, and is much more suited to a side gig. It's also very time consuming if you want to do a really good job, so the $/hr is pretty bad. Not a big deal if you're doing it for fun though.

If you want anyone to take you seriously, you will need a good, robust portfolio. That is the first thing they will ask to see if you approach someone offering services like that (especially if they already have someone they're happy with), and you had better either be as good or better as the competition (of which there is probably a lot of), or way cheaper. Remember that they probably get approached a lot by people who buy a DSLR or drone from Costco with zero experience thinking they can do professional work for professional money because they have professional equipment. An outstanding portfolio along with references is how you break through that initial barrier. Try to find some friends with really nice houses and start building a portfolio, or offer to work for free until you have built one up (and ask to use them as references if they are happy).

Another really important thing to consider is that most real estate photography companies do both the standard indoor/outdoor photography and the video/drone shots - realtors do not want to deal with and schedule two or more separate companies when they can just deal with one (and get a package deal as well), so if you are only offering video/aerial services and not traditional photography services, you are going to dramatically reduce your potential client base. Lots of realtors also want walk-through videos and virtual tours now, so maybe brush up on your indoor flying as well if that is not something you already do.

In my experience, finding one or more realtors and becoming their "go to guy" is the way to do it if you're just looking for side jobs. You also need to make yourself readily available, because they are busy too and if they have to fight you for scheduling because you work a 'day job', they are just going to use someone who is more reliable and does this full time. This can be especially difficult if you live somewhere that gets dark before a normal workday ends during certain times of year. I have found that contacting people with existing listings to offer services is met with offense 9/10 times, because the only reason you would be offering them your services is because you don't think their current listing is good enough, and chances are the agent took their own photos/video that you are offering to replace. It didn't matter how polite I was or how I worded it, they seemed to hate this and I learned the hard way. The realty business is extremely shady, and in my experience most realtors ignore their fiduciary duty to the client any time it benefits them financially.

Your biggest challenge will be entry barriers. Most realtors and/or agencies already will have photographers/videographers they work with, and there will need to be a heck of an incentive for them to switch, which will be difficult to provide if this is just a side gig for you and with pricing already so low for professional work. Your best bet will be to try and find one or two realtors (or any friends/family that are realtors) and link up with them so that they just call you whenever they have a new listing.

Pricing is different in every area. Just start Googling all the real estate photography companies in your area (most of them probably already offer aerial / video / virtual tour services) and that will give you a pricing indication. Be honest with yourself when determining a price, which should be determined by your experience and quality of the final product relative to your competition, and not as much by how long it takes you. Again, I think if you don't also offer traditional interior/exterior photography services you are going to have a much harder time.

Personally I would never deliver anything other than a fully edited/graded product unless specifically requested otherwise. Realtors want something with a short turnaround time that is ready to put directly into their listing.

This was so helpful! I really appreciate the very in depth reply you did here for me. I have an osmo pocket for very steady in-door videography as well that can shoot 4k @ 60 FPS or 25 FPS for more cinematic effect for creating a story within them. Do you think that will get me a better chance? Drone for outdoor and Osmo Pocket for indoor.

I'll take your advice and start building a website for my portfolio and see if I can find a way to make some sample videos for my portfolio
 
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This was so helpful! I really appreciate the very in depth reply you did here for me. I have an osmo pocket for very steady in-door videography as well that can shoot 4k @ 60 FPS or 25 FPS for more cinematic effect for creating a story within them. Do you think that will get me a better chance? Drone for outdoor and Osmo Pocket for indoor.

I'll take your advice and start building a website for my portfolio and see if I can find a way to make some sample videos for my portfolio

You're welcome, and hopefully it didn't discourage you too much haha - just make sure you have a realistic view of what you're getting into. If it's not your primary job, stop if it ever isn't fun for you anymore.

The Osmo pocket would probably be fine for walk throughs/virtual tours. You can also use your M2P either in flight or on rig that lets you use it without flying. What I was getting at with the indoor stuff though was that if you don't also do all the traditional still photos (DSLR, wide angle lens on a tripod, HDR shots of every room inside & out, etc.) you are going to have a much harder time because real estate agents don't want to have to book multiple people and pay full price for 2-3 separate jobs (photos, video, virtual tour, aerial shots, etc. They need the still photos regardless as a priority - the video stuff is always secondary. If you only offer video, I think you are going to have a much harder time because if realtors want video will just go to a one stop shop where they can get the same guy/team to do the photos as well as the videos.
 
Gone are the days I was the only one in town flying a phantom with a static go pro mounted and the timer set to take photos every 5 seconds. I did work for a couple real-estate companies. I could shoot 3-4 homes on a Saturday morning and walk away with a grand. This was all pre FAA, 107 etc....
 
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You're welcome, and hopefully it didn't discourage you too much haha - just make sure you have a realistic view of what you're getting into. If it's not your primary job, stop if it ever isn't fun for you anymore.

The Osmo pocket would probably be fine for walk throughs/virtual tours. You can also use your M2P either in flight or on rig that lets you use it without flying. What I was getting at with the indoor stuff though was that if you don't also do all the traditional still photos (DSLR, wide angle lens on a tripod, HDR shots of every room inside & out, etc.) you are going to have a much harder time because real estate agents don't want to have to book multiple people and pay full price for 2-3 separate jobs (photos, video, virtual tour, aerial shots, etc. They need the still photos regardless as a priority - the video stuff is always secondary. If you only offer video, I think you are going to have a much harder time because if realtors want video will just go to a one stop shop where they can get the same guy/team to do the photos as well as the videos.

It's all good! I need to see the reality! Like you said this is a side job but I still want to put some time and effort to see how this turns out. It did kind of spooked me out a bit and had me second thoughts because of the still shots and virtual room but wonder if I can achieve the virtual room with my osmo pocket. I'll have to look into this. Thank you for the advice!!


Gone are the days I was the only one in town flying a phantom with a static go pro mounted and the timer set to take photos every 5 seconds. I did work for a couple real-estate companies. I could shoot 3-4 homes on a Saturday morning and walk away with a grand. This was all pre FAA, 107 etc....

How's business now? Do you still get to get some jobs done?
 
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It's all good! I need to see the reality! Like you said this is a side job but I still want to put some time and effort to see how this turns out. It did kind of spooked me out a bit and had me second thoughts because of the still shots and virtual room but wonder if I can achieve the virtual room with my osmo pocket. I'll have to look into this. Thank you for the advice!!




How's business now? Do you still get to get some jobs done?
Check out the Insta360 One X on YouTube as some real estate agents are now going 360. Also check out the Matterport - download the app and see examples.
 
It's all good! I need to see the reality! Like you said this is a side job but I still want to put some time and effort to see how this turns out. It did kind of spooked me out a bit and had me second thoughts because of the still shots and virtual room but wonder if I can achieve the virtual room with my osmo pocket. I'll have to look into this. Thank you for the advice!!




How's business now? Do you still get to get some jobs done?

I flew jobs for 3? years. Soon some of the real estate companies got smart and started to buy their own drones. My best weekend was $3500, I don't think anyone is seeing close to that. I have a great full time job as a graphic artist, I started doing the real estate for [Language Removed by Moderator] and giggles Lol, I handed out a few business cards and bam.....Now the big thing is 360. I wasn't interested in taking the 107 test when that went into place. I take that back, back in December I almost had a job with the CoStar Group. They were looking for full-time drone pilots in the larger cities who had 107. Starting pay was 75K a year company car and all the latest gear. I actually had a date to take the test but then we had the government shutdown and that screwed up everything.
 
Check out the Insta360 One X on YouTube as some real estate agents are now going 360. Also check out the Matterport - download the app and see examples.

Will definitely have a look at it! thanks for the suggestion!


I flew jobs for 3? years. Soon some of the real estate companies got smart and started to buy their own drones. My best weekend was $3500, I don't think anyone is seeing close to that. I have a great full time job as a graphic artist, I started doing the real estate for ***** and giggles Lol, I handed out a few business cards and bam.....Now the big thing is 360. I wasn't interested in taking the 107 test when that went into place. I take that back, back in December I almost had a job with the CoStar Group. They were looking for full-time drone pilots in the larger cities who had 107. Starting pay was 75K a year company car and all the latest gear. I actually had a date to take the test but then we had the government shutdown and that screwed up everything.

That's amazing!! I hope I get something out of my first request.

Do you all do 360 virtual + Aerial Drone + Interior cinematic video all at once? or will it depend on the real estate asking for specifics.

Also, What do you do after taking the footage? Do you just delete them once you are done with the final product? or do you keep them in a hard drive for a while and delete them later? or don't delete them at all.

Thank you guys so much for all the replies!
 
I have done real estate photography for a few years. I added drone work to it a year and a half ago. There are so many cookie cutter outfits doing RE photography that I started throwing in aerial work for free to beat them out. It worked great for a while but now they are offering it too. Instead of taking jobs for $150, which is all the realtors here seem to want to pay I started to focus on just high end properties and bidding on those jobs. Rather than doing 15 average residential properties a week, I do maybe 2-3 high end properties a week for usually at least $1100 or so depending on what they want. It's much easier narrowing it down rather than competing with the guys paying college kids $15 an hour to move a tripod around a house and take cookie cutter shots. I work about 1/3 rd as much and 3-5 times as much. Try to set yourself apart rather than competing with mass market.
 
I do real estate photography professionally. I'm sure it's a little different in every city, but if it's anything like where I live, the market is way over saturated by people trying to get into the business (including realtors themselves who are too cheap to pay $150 for some photos on a $1M+ property because it cuts into their $30K+ commission). It is not lucrative unless you are the owner of a full time operation, and is much more suited to a side gig. It's also very time consuming if you want to do a really good job, so the $/hr is pretty bad. Not a big deal if you're doing it for fun though.

If you want anyone to take you seriously, you will need a good, robust portfolio. That is the first thing they will ask to see if you approach someone offering services like that (especially if they already have someone they're happy with), and you had better either be as good or better as the competition (of which there is probably a lot of), or way cheaper. Remember that they probably get approached a lot by people who buy a DSLR or drone from Costco with zero experience thinking they can do professional work for professional money because they have professional equipment. An outstanding portfolio along with references is how you break through that initial barrier. Try to find some friends with really nice houses and start building a portfolio, or offer to work for free until you have built one up (and ask to use them as references if they are happy).

Another really important thing to consider is that most real estate photography companies do both the standard indoor/outdoor photography and the video/drone shots - realtors do not want to deal with and schedule two or more separate companies when they can just deal with one (and get a package deal as well), so if you are only offering video/aerial services and not traditional photography services, you are going to dramatically reduce your potential client base. Lots of realtors also want walk-through videos and virtual tours now, so maybe brush up on your indoor flying as well if that is not something you already do.

In my experience, finding one or more realtors and becoming their "go to guy" is the way to do it if you're just looking for side jobs. You also need to make yourself readily available, because they are busy too and if they have to fight you for scheduling because you work a 'day job', they are just going to use someone who is more reliable and does this full time. This can be especially difficult if you live somewhere that gets dark before a normal workday ends during certain times of year. I have found that contacting people with existing listings to offer services is met with offense 9/10 times, because the only reason you would be offering them your services is because you don't think their current listing is good enough, and chances are the agent took their own photos/video that you are offering to replace. It didn't matter how polite I was or how I worded it, they seemed to hate this and I learned the hard way. The realty business is extremely shady, and in my experience most realtors ignore their fiduciary duty to the client any time it benefits them financially.

Your biggest challenge will be entry barriers. Most realtors and/or agencies already will have photographers/videographers they work with, and there will need to be a heck of an incentive for them to switch, which will be difficult to provide if this is just a side gig for you and with pricing already so low for professional work. Your best bet will be to try and find one or two realtors (or any friends/family that are realtors) and link up with them so that they just call you whenever they have a new listing.

Pricing is different in every area. Just start Googling all the real estate photography companies in your area (most of them probably already offer aerial / video / virtual tour services) and that will give you a pricing indication. Be honest with yourself when determining a price, which should be determined by your experience and quality of the final product relative to your competition, and not as much by how long it takes you. Again, I think if you don't also offer traditional interior/exterior photography services you are going to have a much harder time.

Personally I would never deliver anything other than a fully edited/graded product unless specifically requested otherwise. Realtors want something with a short turnaround time that is ready to put directly into their listing.

Lots of useful information! Thanks a bunch!
 
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I have done real estate photography for a few years. I added drone work to it a year and a half ago. There are so many cookie cutter outfits doing RE photography that I started throwing in aerial work for free to beat them out. It worked great for a while but now they are offering it too. Instead of taking jobs for $150, which is all the realtors here seem to want to pay I started to focus on just high end properties and bidding on those jobs. Rather than doing 15 average residential properties a week, I do maybe 2-3 high end properties a week for usually at least $1100 or so depending on what they want. It's much easier narrowing it down rather than competing with the guys paying college kids $15 an hour to move a tripod around a house and take cookie cutter shots. I work about 1/3 rd as much and 3-5 times as much. Try to set yourself apart rather than competing with mass market.

My last
 
From reading some of the post.....Wow, looks like I got in and out at the right time Lol. FYI, my first drone shots for a company I did for free;)
 
I have done real estate photography for a few years. I added drone work to it a year and a half ago. There are so many cookie cutter outfits doing RE photography that I started throwing in aerial work for free to beat them out. It worked great for a while but now they are offering it too. Instead of taking jobs for $150, which is all the realtors here seem to want to pay I started to focus on just high end properties and bidding on those jobs. Rather than doing 15 average residential properties a week, I do maybe 2-3 high end properties a week for usually at least $1100 or so depending on what they want. It's much easier narrowing it down rather than competing with the guys paying college kids $15 an hour to move a tripod around a house and take cookie cutter shots. I work about 1/3 rd as much and 3-5 times as much. Try to set yourself apart rather than competing with mass market.

Thank you all so much for the very detailed replies. Man it is almost discouraging to even get my feet into this business. Question, do you need any other licensing to sell your photos and video footage (Drone) other than the part 107 for commercial drone purpose?
 
Thank you all so much for the very detailed replies. Man it is almost discouraging to even get my feet into this business. Question, do you need any other licensing to sell your photos and video footage (Drone) other than the part 107 for commercial drone purpose?


It depends on your location. In the state of North Carolina you also have to have a NC DOT Aviation Div Commercial UAS permit but it's free and a VERY simple ONLINE test.

I hate to be a DOWNER but if I had a kid wanting to start a new business I can tell you without a doubt I would not suggest him/her to start a business based off of Real Estate imaging at all. Maybe have that as part of their portfolio but you'll go broke in that particular sector unless you are either an AMAZING photographer and/or you have a list of clientele willing to use you and only you. Anything else and you're going to be very hungry.
 
I do drone videography and photography for a local real estate firm. I usually offer both the photo and the video, because I'm already out there getting it. If you're a certified pilot, I would work on offering as much as possible (i.e. photos and video, because it doesn't cost you anything more to get both). The important thing is understanding your intended clientele too; real estate agents usually have a very fast turn around (just because of the nature of the market) and they usually have pretty big egos and usually spend a lot of money on marketing. I would suggest offering a free marketing class or assessment for agents at a local firm you're trying to get work at, or maybe shooting a few houses for free to get people addicted to your work. Good luck!

Here's a video I just made for my people:
 
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I started this techniques thread a while ago that died, but it has links to excellent real estate video examples and tips:

 
As a help to others potentially following in your footsteps it might be good to post your experience; the outcomes of your business venture in Real Estate Photography & Videography.

Good or bad, successful or not, the experience and outcomes might prove useful to others starting out.

In our experience we would advise that Real Estate is not a fruitful business sector for professional drone services companies. At least not in the UK.

We have some excellent capabilities suited to the sector, and even when focusing on the high-end high-value real estate sector we have found that returns are insufficient to warrant any significant focus.

An examples of our work in the sector can be viewed via the link:

We do still operate in the sector, but it isn't a core focus for us.
 
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