The right real estate photography can make a world of difference to your property sale. Great photography could be the difference as to whether you attract a few versus a dozen serious buyers to view your property at inspection.
Real estate photography can cost you anywhere between $150 for basic shots and up to $1,500 for an extensive package (e.g including drone shots or video). You can be charged by the hour, or you can ask for a fixed price. We recommend asking for a fixed price, as editing and retouching can take many additional hours on top of the photoshoot itself.
The cost of hiring a real estate photographer can vary significantly depending on the following factors:
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Your location
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Ease of access
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The type of photography you’re after (e.g. standard stills, aerial shots)
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Preparation prior to shoot
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Image quality and different specs you’re after
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Licensing or usage costs
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Daytime versus dusk photography
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Additional services e.g. virtual staging and digital decluttering
There’s a huge difference between taking a few snaps on your smartphone and having professional real estate photography done to help market your property. Great photographers have years of experience. Remember, you’ll get what you pay for, so it’s worth shopping around for the right person.
How to choose a real estate photographer
Our first recommendation when choosing a photographer would be to ask a local real estate agent if they have any good connections. A good agent will have experience with local photographers who have likely taken photos of properties similar to yours, and will be able to recommend you to them. Or, your real estate agent may have their own in-house photographer. The cost of your photographer if sourced through a real estate agent may come out of your commission that you pay your agent upon successful sale. It’s a good idea to clarify these details with your real estate agent before appointing them. Compare agents now.
Here are some questions to ask a real estate agent photographer:
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How many years experience do they have?
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Have they photographed a property like this before?
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What level of retouching and editing to they provide?
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How long will it take for them to photograph the property?
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What is their delivery time?
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Do they provide additional marketing services (e.g. printing brochures)
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Can they provide a portfolio for review?
What does drone or aerial real estate photography cost?
Aerial photography simply means it’s taken from an aircraft or flying object. Drone photography is taken from a drone (an unmanned aircraft). Aerial and/or drone photography offers potential buyers access to birds-eye view photos, along with the opportunity to showcase different angles of your property.
You can also use drones to take videos of your property that can be featured in your listing. These videos are a great asset you can use to share across social media to promote your property sale.
By using a drone, you can also highlight close by amenities. For example schools, parks and nearby shopping strips, attracting the maximum amount of potential buyers to your property sale. You can also highlight nearby popular destinations such as beaches or sporting ovals.
What photography makes a great real estate listing?
If you’re on a budget, we recommend choosing quality over quantity. Rather than including dozens of photos on your sale listing, we recommend obtaining a small package of extremely high quality photos. For example, if you have 6 photos on your listing that are professional, high quality photos, you’re likely going to attract more buyers than if you have 15 average quality photos.
If you’re looking to spend money on an extensive photography package, we recommend getting still shots done but if your photographer also shoots videos, it might be worth getting a quote on a short video. This way, it can be shared across social media by you, your real estate agency and others.
By using drone videography, you’ll be able to acquire impressive sweeping shots of your property. You can also use drones to create compelling virtual tours.
A good photographer will have all the right equipment to deliver you a high quality set of photos. They’ll know how to use light to maximise the space, and have great set of editing skills to touch up the photos to brighten, soften, sharpen them and more.
Finding a real estate photographer – what’s next?
If you’d like to find a great photographer, a great first step is to find a real estate agent with professional connections to the best photographers in your local area.
You can compare real estate agents at LocalAgentFinder, including their commission information, marketing strategies, sales history and independent homeowner reviews.