Beginners Guide

Why Every Real Estate Photographer Needs to Offer Drone Services

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Why Every Real Estate Photographer Needs to Offer Drone Services

Drone photography and videography have become a very important aspect of real estate marketing. Aerial services are helpful for both realtors and real estate photographers and are becoming a standard offered service in the real estate industry.

In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of drone photography for real estate and why every real estate photographer needs to offer drone services to stay competitive in the industry.

Table of Contents

Drone Images are Becoming Expected

In many markets drone images are starting to be expected with every listing. This means that if you currently aren’t offering aerial photography, you could be losing out on potential new customers

Some properties frankly need aerial images. Think about a farmhouse that may not be too impressive on its own, but a drone images showing the 10 acres it sits on certainly is a major selling factor.

Or a humble suburban home that is close to a golf course, but isn’t directly on the course itself. An aerial image showing that just 1 block away is a beautiful course will absolutely help draw some attention.

Even if the property might not need drone photography, many house hunters and realtors alike just love seeing drone images. They offer the viewer different angles of the property and can help to highlight features that might be 2 or 3 stories up.

Although drone images aren’t expected in every market, it does seem like that’s the way things are trending. You might as well get ahead of the curve and start offering aerial photography if you aren’t already.

Drones are More Affordable than You Think

While it’s true that 5 or so years ago quality drones were quite expensive, drones have become more affordable in recent years making them far more accessible. As technology has advanced and the demand for drones has increased, prices have come down significantly.

Take a look at our article The 7 Best Drones for Real Estate Photography and you’ll see several affordable options that produce quality photos and video. The DJI Mini 3 Pro for example captures stunning photos and videos for less than $1000.

This increased affordability has made it possible for real estate photographers to offer drone services without a significant investment. That makes it easier to make back your money within only a few flights.

Separate Yourself from Your Competition

If you happen to live in a place where real estate drone photography isn’t that common, then congratulations! You can be the first to offer this service and reap all the rewards.

Even if realtors aren’t requesting aerial photography and it’s not used at all in your market, it’s only going to take 1 or 2 realtors to start hiring you for drone services for everyone else to jump on board.

That’s one of the best parts about drone photography; it offers such a different perspective from traditional real estate photography that once a realtor starts including drone photography in their listings, they’ll want to keep featuring it.

Half of the time I have homeowners requesting drone photography to the agent because they think that it will sell their house faster. And they’re actually right! According to MLS statistics, homes with aerial images sold 68 percent faster than homes with standard images.

It’s only a matter of time until drone photography catches on in your market, so you might as well put yourself ahead of the curve and start offering aerial photography now.

Drone Services are a Great Way to Increase Sales

Becoming a drone pilot means that you can start legally offering aerial images to your real estate clients, which of course will increase your sales every time a client purchases them. But it also opens the door to other photography work as well.

If you are one of the only people offering drone photography in your area, you will be able to get a lot more jobs than just real estate. Whether its commercial jobs or roof inspections, drone photography has a wide range of uses.

I’ve been hired for a number of different jobs that aren’t exactly real estate related simply because I offer drone services. Here’s a few examples:

  • Out-of-town buyers wanting to see the state of the roof
  • An apartment complex that’s close to a hospital, where the owners of the complex expect many of their residents to work
  • A company that’s considering building a new facility that wants a few images showing the entire plot of land

To get a better idea of just how much you can increase your overall sales, check out our article Guide to Drone Real Estate Photography Pricing. You might be surprised that, depending on your market, you can charge up to $200 per flight.

Additional Resources

Here’s a few more articles that talk about using drones in real estate photography:

How to Deal With Nosey Neighbors While Flying a Drone

Drone Preflight Checklist for Real Estate Photographers

If you’re just getting started in real estate photography, check out our Beginners Guide. It’s full of helpful articles and tips that will guide you in the right direction as you begin your real estate photography journey.

You can check out our Gear section as well to see reviews and recommendations on the latest real estate photography gear.

If you’re more interested in other resources that can help your real estate photography business, check out our Business Resources page.

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About author
Matthew Digati is a professional Real Estate and Architectural Photographer. Matthew has worked as a Real Estate and Architectural Photographer since 2015 and has photographed properties and projects all over the United States.
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