Earn extra money as a real estate photographer

Increasing your real estate photography income by 400% is achievable. Investing in equipment, targeting a niche market and maintaining communication can have you turning 3D tours for real estate into three times your income. Plenty of agents are on the hunt for a team player to boost their marketing efforts and get their listings in front of consumers. Agents often list multiple properties over a busy weekend and need services quickly. The problem is, how can you shoot more than a couple of properties in a day? Fortunately, you can earn extra money with help from iGUIDE. Here are the A, B and Cs of real estate photography.

A.

Choose your niche market

• Residential

The residential real estate market consists of single-family homes, duplexes, attached homes and condominium properties. According to NAR, up to 6.6 million homes get sold annually. That is a huge opportunity to earn extra money as a real estate photographer. Agents need marketing material for all those listings. With a little networking, you can have your share of the proverbial pie.

• Commercial

Commercial properties are large-scale buildings, lease space, warehouses and industrial buildings. Choosing this niche market can have a substantial impact on your income. Accurately measured floor plans and advanced measurements are crucial to commercial agents. Documenting space through floor plans in addition to virtual tours meets the demand.

• Acreage Properties

Acreages encompass a wide variety of properties located outside a city’s metro zone. Sprawling luxury homes, farms and secluded residences are often located in remote areas. Agents focused on this niche require dynamic photos, 3D tours for real estate and 360˚ images. Acreage properties benefit from additional services like aerial footage taken from a drone.

B.

Focus on the needs of your niche market

• Industry standards

Familiarize yourself with industry standards in your chosen area. MLS photo sizes, requirements for residential measurement standards (RMS) and regulations regarding branding. Many real estate boards do not allow branding of any type on photos published on the MLS. Your real estate photography income increases with every floor plan, schematic rendering and virtual tour. Ensuring data meets regional regulations can be accomplished through technology offered by iGUIDE.

• Accuracy

Representation of a property must be clear and accurate. When virtual staging or editing a photo, be careful not to distort the truth. 3D tours for real estate offer potential buyers an understanding of the floor plan and consumers use listing information to compare value. Measurements are useful for pricing as well as determining the usage of each space. 

• Speed of delivery

How you can improve your real estate photography income is very dependent on timing. How many properties do you regularly capture in a day? Use technology that allows for the speed of capturing both measurements and photos in a single shoot. Spending less time in a building helps you to provide 3D immersive tours, laser-accurate floor plans and measurements for more clients in a day. Turnaround time is as fast as 24 hours for most iGUIDEs, which equates to satisfied agents.

C.

Pricing services

• Size

Real estate photography fees are often determined by size. That means if you shoot a large floor plan, you charge accordingly. Pricing your services according to square footage is a way to organize your daily schedule. You can capture data up to 3000 square feet in about 20 minutes. With the median size home sold in 2022 averaging 1,900 square feet, there is an opportunity to visit several properties in a single day.

• Packaged services

How do you group services to increase your real estate photography income? Packaging complimentary services that make it simple for an agent to place an order. Photos, 3D tours for real estate, floor plans and measurements combine well as a basic offering. Create more extensive service packages to meet the needs of your niche market. Items like twilight photography and social media reels are perfect add-ons for any real estate photography package.

• Travel time

The cost of travel is going up. Don’t be afraid to add in fees for travel time or distance travelled when taking on a job outside your base area. You can increase your real estate photography income by decreasing your costs for driving large distances.

Real estate photography is all about value. Providing the best value for your agent clients helps the consumer make informed decisions. While marketing is at the core of your services, it is important to understand why accuracy makes a difference. Increasing your real estate photography income comes from increasing consumer confidence in an industry that can always use a boost. Communicating through technology can make it happen. Communicate value with iGUIDE.