When it comes to real estate photography, the old saying that a picture holds a thousand words certainly holds true. Real estate photographers have a unique way of making home seekers fall in love at first sight. And if this is a creative industry that you are looking to tap into, then you can have the peace of mind that your chances of success are high due to the ever-growing demand for such talent.
But as with any real estate photography business pursuit the road to success requires a solid business plan and knowing how much to charge for real estate photography.
How Much To Charge For Real Estate Photography – The Breakdown
First and foremost, you need to ask yourself what types of real estate photography you are going to be offering. Are you going to be offering interior and exterior property photography? Or are you going to also going to offer aerial photos using drones? Perhaps you will offer a combination of services including staging support, and/or 3D products to meet virtual tour objectives.
Whatever your specialties are, the most important thing is to establish what the costs are for your equipment, time, and post-editing are. From there you can create a baseline profit margin (typically 50%) of whatever those costs add up to. Prices can significantly sway based on other driving factors, such as:
Your Location
Location plays a massive role in determining how much to charge for real what real estate photography. For instance, the average cost for a 2-hour real estate photography session in LA is $636 and $422 in Atlanta. If you would like to see the averages within your local area click here. The goal is to find the sweet spot between a 50% profit margin yet remain within the local area averages to stay competitive.
Your Skill Level
Skill and experience is directly reflected in the profit a real estate photographer will make. Overall, a new person within the real estate photography industry will make less than a seasoned professional. The idea is to start low to match your price with your skill level and increase your rates as your experience and reputation evolve. For some more insight, people starting out will charge on the lower end of $90-100 per hour. An experienced professional around $150-$200, and a pro with years of experience would likely charge upward of $250-$500.
Tip: If you are starting and want to make a high tier profit, think about incorporating a quick turnaround time to justify your pricing. Often realtors are eager to place homes on the market and are willing to spend more to get results faster.
Project Extensively
In general, most real estate photographers charge flat rates per hour long session. However, these rates are not always equal across the board. Because the fact of the matter is that some homes or commercial buildings are much larger than others and require more manual labor that entails higher prices. To address this, consider establishing a baseline per square foot of a home. Using fair pricing per service, you can avoid ambiguous pricing that can potentially hinder your reputation.
Summary – It’s All About Balance
Did you know that listers who invested in professional real estate photography sold their homes 32% faster than those who didn’t? All in all, there is a reason why so many realtors and private home sellers see real estate photography as a valuable investment. Not only do they get much more exposure, but those leads ultimately convert to a quick ROI. If you’ve got the skill, the passion, and the perfectly priced services ready to go, then there is just one more thing you need to solidify your long-term success – Your customer facing scheduling software.
fieldd is a highly customizable system that takes care of your scheduling so you can focus on being behind the camera. Overall, real estate photographers may be in high demand, but the competition be fierce. And having the best scheduling system branded to you will support in conjunction with your innate skill and drive, you can be confident that you are well on your way towards leaving your own lasting marks within this creative (and quite lucrative) industry.
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