First impressions matter! Especially if you are buying a home! If you enjoy using the camera to be creative and using tools like photoshop or gimp. You will enjoy becoming a Real Estate Photographer.
Real Estate Photography could be a great side hustle and doesn’t require you to spend money upfront because you can use your phone’s camera initially and most of the software that edit the photos have great free alternatives!
Let’s learn more!
What Is A Real Estate Photographer?
A real estate photographer is a professional photographer who specializes in taking pictures of homes and other properties for the purpose of marketing and selling the property. They are responsible for making homes look good so that people will call up the agent to inquire or to see the home.
Requirements
To become a real estate photographer, We suggest you start off by using the phone that you already have instead of buying a new camera.
Here is what you will need:
- An iPhone Or Android Phone With a Decent Camera
- Photo Editing Tools Like Photoshop
- AI Touchup Tool ( To Automate the Entire Process)
- Stripe.com Account or PayPal, Zelle To Accept Payments
- Small Portfolio
Free Alternatives of Photoshop: GIMP, Adobe Photoshop Express Editor, Paint.NET, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop Elements
Learn The Basics
Before you can start charging people, you need to learn the basics of home photography. You should know how to take photos of homes from inside and out. You should practice this in your own home and with friends and create a small portfolio. This portfolio can be your Instagram page.
Finding Customers
Finding customers is the part that you should focus on but i am going to show you how to do this very easily. There are several ways that i recommend:
- Realtor.com
- FaceBook Marketplace
- Thumbtack
- Craigslist (uhhh sometimes, low baller customers )
Please Watch This Video, I show You How to Find Customers
How Much To Charge?
Because of your good photos, the realtor is going to get more leads and sell the house, so your work is VERY VERY Important! You should charge at least $500 Per session and as you get better, it should increase. I charge about $1.5K Per session and spend about 2 hrs total on taking photos and editing. I also have a DRONE, and that’s extra if they want that footage.
Is Real Estate Photography Profitable?
Yes! Since real estate is a booming market & everyone and their cousin becoming a realtor, there will always be a need for a real estate photographer. There is not much overhead cost and most of the time, you will spend no more than 2-3 hrs for taking photos and editing them & as you get better, you will start spending even less time because you know exactly how to take those photos and editing them can be automated using AI tools.
Can You Make a Living Off Real Estate Photography?
Yes, You can because even if you get 3-4 customers, you are likely to make about 4-5K a month, which is not bad and could even replace your full-time job, but we suggest you start by doing it in the weekends then slowly convert it into your full-time job.
How Do You Make Money From Real Estate Photography?
The most common is to charge a fee for each photo that is taken or package of number of photos. This can be a per photo fee or a per project fee. There are also a number of companies that offer real estate photography services on a subscription basis. These companies typically charge a monthly or annual fee for unlimited use of their services.