Lance Selgo
I’ve mentioned before that it’s always a good idea to set expectations up front. When you bring on a new client, it’s important for you and the client to understand how you operate. What can they expect you to do or not do at the property? What’s the next step after the photos are taken? How do they make the requested payment for your services?
These and other questions can be answered up front to kick off a successful business relationship with new Realtor clients.
I’ve been asked a couple of times through email about the usage of contracts in real estate photography. What do I use for contracts to bind my Realtors to my services? As a real estate photographer, how do I protect myself from an agent that may not pay for the services I provided? What about exclusivity or maybe agreeing to reserve a day of the week for an agent on retainer?
Have you seen the video with a naked guy walking around a property filmed in black and white? Or the home owner selling her ranch because of a sickness she was diagnosed with so she has to give up her dream property? These are examples of lifestyle real estate videos – videos that show buyers what it’s like to live at a property. They tend to draw on emotion more than showcasing the property itself. While you and I may never produce something so extravagant, we do have options on providing this type of service to our client base.
If you are like me and don’t have any staff to help you, the Spring, Summer and early Fall can be very hectic for you. As a small business owner we find ourselves wearing all hats to keep our businesses running. On top of our busy days shooting and processing real estate photos, we have to extend outstanding customer service to our valued clients through communication and scheduling. Here are some of the things I do to stay on top of my schedule and keep clients happy.
Real estate twilight photography has many advantages. It can help you build your business and client base, and it can add a high-value product to your services. Let’s first take a look at some of the pros and cons of twilights for real estate photography. Then we’ll look at a video where I show how I edited a recent twilight photo for a property.
Getting your camera gear from one shoot to the next may seem trivial. But we need to think of ways to keep our camera gear safe and protected. It also helps to be efficient and minimize the number of camera bags we carry around, and just make it easier in our day-to-day journeys. Here is how I carry my real estate photography equipment around.
Staging a home for sale should not be taken lightly. In fact, I would argue that a real estate photographer should not have any involvement at all when staging a home for sale. As part of a team effort when marketing a property, every member should focus on their strength. The Realtor should lead the team in organizing the marketing process. The stager should provide a consult at minimum to give the seller the knowledge they need to prepare their home. The photographer should then take photos when the home is photo-ready and shining in its best light.
A photographer is NOT a stager and should not be expected to act as one in the process of photographing the home. For agents who put a photographer in that position on site it is also very unprofessional in the eyes of a client.
- Karen Otto, Home Star Staging
Pole aerial photography is a service real estate photographers can have in their arsenal that can set themselves apart from …
We have already looked at a HDR real estate photography tutorial using the Enfuse method of blending brackets. When I first started my business it was one of two options. The other option for blending multiple exposures together was strict HDR software like Photomatix. At the time, Photomatix didn’t have an Enfuse option so the result was over-saturated, overly tone mapped images. I see different variations of HDR photos online for property listings and thought we could go through a couple and look at their strengths and weaknesses.
You have probably read about it on the web. The hot thing right now in real estate is taking aerial images with UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). Some times they are referred to as “drones”. Where do you begin when trying to put a camera in the air? Do you focus on aerial photos, aerial video or both? Let’s see what might be the best RC helicopter with video camera for real estate photography.