How to Price Real Estate Photography
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- čas přidán 14. 06. 2024
- The way photographers set up their pricing for real estate is all over the place! In this video I give you a (somewhat) formulaic way to create a structure that's not only easy for your clients to understand, but easily adaptable to each photographer relative to their experience and how much they think they're worth.
My name is Matthew and I'm an architecture & interiors photographer based in Kansas City.
IG @matthewaphoto - / matthewaphoto
www.matthewaphoto.com
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For me, just about to start in real estate, this has been MASSIVELY helpful. Love this structure! Makes me feel 100% comfortable with pricing moving forward.
Man.. Even at 200 dollars a day, that's really only 48k a year. I'm glad i'm the real estate agent in this situation! Honestly really good pictures can increase the value of the property by 10k-30k on average. If you really really went above and beyond with lighting and editing you could easily charge 1k per shoot. But since there's always going to be broke photographers out there willing to under value their time it just wont happen.
$6 per image is ridiculous lol
You can do multiple shoots a day.
@@corbin6936 if youre shorting properly and value your time then no. Proper shoots require proper lighting and experimenting and takes times.and that's not counting time to edit photos.
It's all about how much the real estate agent or the homeowner is willing to lose.
You could be the best RE photographer in the world which helps sells house in 30 mins with his/her photos, but if you charge 3K, that's money that the agent or the homeowner will have to lose from his profit.
Love it! Exactly what I needed to create my pricing structure.
I have seen so many videos on pricing on big CZcamsrs and everything. and this is the best video so far. and I rarely comment on videos
Just discovered your channel through Mike. Very well done! I like your train of thought. Now we have to make this the industry standard.
I shoot very niche architectural and landscape images. I hover around the $200/hour. Most shoots take about 1.5 hours + drive time within a 25 mile radius of home. Anything beyond is mileage +. My base fee is $375 locally. My final images require heavy post processing. I can generally deliver 3 per hour on average. So, my licensed images are $65 for standard aspect ratio and $90 for panoramic blends. I create a quick thumbnail catalog of images with a quick preset applied and allow the client to pick which images they want from the group and I only post process those images vs all of them.
What software do you use to deliver your photos to clients
Most of my 20 years of shooting has been for my Real Estate publication which includes press quality images in the pricing.
The current inventory of homes in my resort area has dropped from an average of 1,200 to less than 70 homes for sale.
Obviously, this presents huge financial challenges to my business model.
Your method is the most sound advice that works as a practical fee structure.
Thanks for passing on this very suitable advice
An extremely smart way of doing things. I will be implementing this into my own business thanks so much!
Great video! Very informative and simple.
An experienced photographer's time is worth more, but their images are worth less? Charging per image brings it's own set of questions such as; what rooms to shoot or not, how many angles per room, etc. Sending proofs before editing is a waste of time in the real estate market. Especially realtors, clients are going to start telling you what and how to shoot if they're paying per image.
Perfect idea!
This is very useful but I would love to see how you work out pricing for the work your concentrating on now. Look forward to your videos thank you.
I believe this is definitely the best pricing strategy for this type of work. This is also how I charge for interior design and architecture. The per image fee sounded extremely low to me, but I only shoot interior design and architecture (not real estate), so perhaps its appropriate for the speedy real estate editors out there.
Definitely works in LA lol Thanks for this. I've been bump it up every year however I came to the conclusion that my knowledge and experience could be value more. So this helps a lot!
I think this is the perfect pricing structure with no confusion. I'm barely starting RE photography and have a test shoot in a few. I join FB groups and SOOOO MANY mix pricing as you said, from sq.ft to number of images no matter size of property and I'm just reading all these and thinking maybe I shouldnt continue this area of photography ahahaha. but yea tnx for this vid even though its a year old.
I'll be shooting RE style and interior design style as well as little broll of this property since its a (show me what you got, add to portfolio) session. :)
Thank you for the content! I'm going to start in real estate photography. Would you do add-on fees for drone work as well? Also if they wanted a walkthrough video. Thank you!
Very helpful information, thank you!
I do not do a lot of Real Estate shoots, I mainly shoot Food, Product and Lifestyle but I like your pricing structure. I will work out my own numbers for the next call.
Good content and great quality video. Subbed! Keep it up brother
Thanks!!!! I've had so many headaches because of this.
This is great, thank you!
Great video i have been shooting in house eventually got the experience and won awards and went solo. Although i would love to charge more or adopt the price per image the problem with most agents is they want one invoice at the end of the month for all listings so A makes it easier for accounts but also the business is all based on monthy sales , instructions and costs which is all clear on the invoice for them. Being able to supply 25 images which they choose to buy they would have to get the accountant to purchase these images right there in order to download them but real estate works so fast they might not have time to choose images then email over to account to purchase then download. Then you need a system in place where clients can download the images which is then tracked and at the end of the month is billed but that would involve a special website built. Its very hard to adapt to a work flow but we also do the floor plans and drone and video as well so sometimes they want a package as well . Nice video with lots if info and i would love to adapt this method. Currently charging by the bedroom size which also has boundaries to footage size which is complicated sometimes but we shoot 3 bed homes for 1.5 million then 3 bed homes for 500k this is in london uk
Thank you for your sharing. really helpful.
Hello Matthew, your recommendation is very interesting! I am an experienced photographer, based in Athens, Greece, where things are complicated in pricing a Real Estate photoshoot, agencies want to have the cheapest price! Or not pay at all, if possible. The Photoshoot per Hour rate, could possible apply, but I do not think that the Image fee would apply as it takes the price even higher. It has been 'helpful' to get another point of view concerning pricing, and try and see how and if I can adapt and apply. Thanx!
Hi Matthew, Sounds like a good approach to me. I have already thought about it. Currently I work with 2 fixed prices, the first for standard houses where I deliver between 16 and 18 images, the second for luxury properties where we quickly reach 30 images. (This is the number of images desired by real estate agents in my market). I have to say that it works pretty well, but sometimes, on the phone, they tell me 16 - 18 images is perfect, and once there, I need this, and that, and that .... and so on. We are quickly beyond what was agreed! I don't like having to discuss contracts and prices on the spot because usually the owner of the house is there too. The main reason why I haven't tried your method yet is: As far as I'm concerned, the broker is not always present during the shoot. So I generally rely on my judgment for the choice of angles to shoot and on a very quick briefing. I do not want to have to send "proofing" for each shoot, nor to have a client who comes back to me saying to me: then this one we do not need, this one either, because they have to pay for them. No time for that. Whatever billing method is chosen, it remains low cost photography. How do you handle this case if it happen?
So to be fully transparent, I typically have avoided this scenario by doing 2 things...1 - work with agents that trust my judgment in photographing a property to market it properly. Granted, I always appreciate an agent's input on the main features/rooms they want to highlight and try to do a quick walkthrough before I even start shooting. If an agent is hovering over you during the entire shoot and nitpicking the cost of one or two photos they feel are unnecessary, this probably isn’t a client you want to work with long term. 2 - If I end up delivering 30 or more images for a single property, I take a “bakers dozen” approach to my invoicing. If I edit and deliver 38 images of a single property, I may only invoice for 35. That way if they do nitpick one or two, I can say “that’s totally fine. Consider them a bonus since I only billed you for 35”.
This is the catch to this pricing structure. It's especially bad if the agent has poor aesthetics.
this is a great help! thank you so much! but how about drone pricing? 🤔
Thanks for the video!
Great video!
Great video Matt! Love the formula logic. With this approach did your realtor clients typically agree to a set amount of photos before hand? Or, did you overshoot, send them proofs, and then let them select as many photos as they wanted to be edited?
I usually would work with agents that trust me knowing I'll adequately take the right amount of images to market the property (not too few, but not overkill). If an agent could at least meet me at the property, I would do a quick walkthrough to get their input on the main features/rooms they want to highlight. We’d briefly discuss certain shots and angles. That way they’d have a rough idea of how many images I’m going to take. AND - If I end up delivering 30 or more images for a single property, I would take a “baker's dozen” approach to my invoicing. If I edit and deliver 38 images of a single property, I may only invoice for 35. That way if they do nitpick one or two, I can say “that’s totally fine. Consider them a bonus since I only billed you for 35”.
@@MatthewAPhoto Makes sense! Thanks for the reply!
Hey Matt. I find this pricing interesting, but have a couple questions. I’m just starting out. How do I know what my averages will be? It doesn’t seem like you can implement this without doing 8-12 homes first. Also, thinking about “if I were the client”, how do they know how much a shoot will cost them in this scenario? I suppose you could give some examples, but the rate will still be variable for them. My current structure was taken from another RE photographer that is also a CZcamsr that made his pricing around square footage, which seemed to make sense to me because different square footages will be roughly the same number of pictures. His pricing was way low in my opinion though and I basically bumped them up by 150-200%. I just got a job for a 2600 sqft house where I am charging $450 for photos and a video. The agent was fine with that pricing quickly (which made me think I may need to bump up the prices before too long lol) but it also works for how much work I think I’ll need to put in. I’m definitely going to keep your method in mind once I get more homes under my belt though. Photo editing is getting so much easier and faster in 2023 that I think I’ll make more just because I’ll have to spend less time in post. Thanks for the videos!
Super helpful video. I was based in omaha neb til recent move to Houston and I’m blown away at how much more business there is for me down here. This helps me immensely as I’ve always just done flat fees regardless of house size. This is so much better
Hello iHunterF1, I'm currently based in Omaha, NE and am just starting out. Can I ask how you gained realtors and how many shoots were you doing? Is it worth it?
Thanks!
@@kylem5348 for me personally, I found in Omaha that most realtors were quite stubborn with their current photographer/videographers (not wanting to switch) and a lot of real estate teams in omaha are provided photographers by their teams (pj Morgan, berkshire etc) my advice would be to work on your videography skills because eventually a realtor will want you to do more than just photos, and get used to cold calling/emailing. It was tough for me to get clients, at most I had 2 or 3 shoots a week in omaha. Out here In Houston I get 8-12 a week
@@IHunterF1 Thank you very much! I totally get what you are saying. In the past 5 weeks I have shot 8 houses for 5 different realtors. Not a lot but a good start. I hope it continues but you are right! Most are committed to their photographer and it makes it hard for people like myself. I even upped my price to $150 due to inflation and realtors wanting photos back the same day and I already have an agent that isn't thrilled about it. $150 is too much for same day shoot and delivery? Really?
Is there a way I can follow your work or keep in touch? I would like to get some more insight from you if possible.
Thanks again!
@@kylem5348 that was another problem, 150 IS NOT too much, it’s no where near too much, I charged around the same in omaha. Now I charge 2x. If you think about most realtors get 5-15% of house sale, 300 is nothing compared to the commission they’ll bring home. Some are just stingy which is expected
@@kylem5348 and definitely work on having “packages” and “add ons” streamlining the process and your realtor having a good idea about price without needing to ask is very useful. I offer 360 photos of bedrooms, walkthrough videos, a lot of realtors only sell apartments and they usually require video on top of photography. As you go on it’ll become easier an easier to be confident about your pricing.
Hi Matt. I'm pradumna from India and I do interiors and product photography, this pricing approach of yours and some different approaches from the commenters really made my job easier. I am glad to find people facing the same issue across the globe as I am. lol XD thanks for the amazing vid man!!
You’re very welcome! I’m glad the video was helpful 👍
@@MatthewAPhoto just followed you on IG, would love to connect with you there, if you do so!
Matthew's pricing photo scale sounds great per image for still photos, but how does one go about pricing for videos?
Videos are continuous flow of information without interruption, and so how is pricing achieved? Does the pricing structure remain the same?
Matthew, I see this video from 2 years ago and I'm curious how this pricing structure adapts to the current real estate photography market which is saturated with add-on services. For example, let's consider a $200 photoshoot fee and with the per image fee and amount of photos the total comes to around $300. In my market, $300 to hire a real estate photographer is only attracting probably 15% of available realtors. If I were to start at $300 and then offer add-ons from there, we are talking an easy $400 or $500 which would probably reduce the available returns to maybe 5%. I would love to work exclusively in the luxury market but tapping into that market eludes me in my area.
Hello and thank you for your video! This is very helpful!
I am trying to set a pricing per hour depends on the photoshoot method. For example, different price for hdr and different for Flambient. Any Ideas for that?
Thank you!
If the photoshoot itself doesn't take any longer shooting HDR or flambient, then charge a higher per-image fee for the one that takes longer to edit. But if there's more skill (an possibly time) used to shoot one over the other, then create a higher shoot fee for that type of shooting.
Honestly you have go with the listing price. These realtors are making real bank on million dollar plus homes. Back in 2002( I was 21 years), I got my real estate license and was mentally way to young to be devoting my time to real estate. The good thing is I got to see how much commissions are and how much photos sell a home. So I say go with the listing price. Your photos sell and its all about 1st impressions. Your images are selling this property because the images are always seen first. That's just my opinion and love the vids keep them coming. Thanks for all you do for the photography world.
Yeah I'd love to hear some of the cons of tying rate to listing price. It seems like a fair way to judge the amount of work we need to do or should do. I just shot a tiny 2 bedroom house and feel terrible that i could barely get a dozen shots. But if the fee was based on listing price it would be obvious I wouldn't be getting many shots. But I love this base price idea too because most of my time is driving so there should be a fee just to get me to a property.
I charge .1% (or 3% of the agent commision) of the listing price. Its the only way to keep up with inflation. I wish I could get all real estage agents to do this. It would keep the agents honest
Also just an anecdote, I shot a 2million dollar listing (i got $2,000). 12 hours on shoot over two days to get the best light (High bank waterfront, with stairs to dock, mountain views, droning required, matterport). The house sold in 2 weeks for 3milllion!!! The agent confessed that the pictures did all the work. The agent made $90,000 dollars in two weeks.
@@lacohido that’s great if your market lets you charge a percentage. I would think most agents would try to find someone doing the pics based on house size. I have found that doing pricing by sqft works 90 percent of the time. And since home prices are not directly tied to inflation it’s been working well. We just add if it’s a lot on the outside and for the drone pics.
I don’t know about you guys but here locally there are several options out there that are very competitive so it’s like unless you’re locked in with a certain group through relationships. You have to be competitive as far as pricing or you would end up with no gigs lol
amazing boss
I like it? Thanks for the insights.
How about editing? If I make shoots and edit it after for another hours, how to count it up together. Add some h rate for editing? But that can vary depending on pics/house. If have to drive long way should that be counted in too? Like fuel and time? Put that I photoshoot price? In my city there’s not much jobs would need to travel far.. bigger cities are 1,5h drive 🤔 how you guys do it?
I am always interested in understanding different pricing models. From the beginning of my career, I have priced by listing price with no pushback from agents. I have 6 price tiers and anything above $3mm is a quoted price after a walkthrough. With the recent home appreciation, it has worked quit well. My pricing model comes out to ~1% of a listing agent's commission. I point that out when the opportunity presents.
I do this as well. A straight .1% of the listing price. if its 500k I get $500. If I shoot a $1mill, I get $1000. I wish all real estate photographers did this. It would keep the real estate agents honest. And its the most realistic way of keeping up with inflation. Plus it works out to 3% of the the real estate agents 3% commission. So the agent knows there overall photo budget is 3% overhead.
@@lacohido You charge more for a 2,500 sqft property just because it's in a more expensive area? Makes zero sense. I would never hire you.
I keep things simple. $235 for condos and mobiles, $285 for single family under $1M, and $385 for single family over $1M (in my market I shoot about 50/50 over and under $1M, and not as many condos or mobiles). Along with Matterport and cinematic video I have different packages up to ~$1000 for luxury homes, and even higher for some builder homes. Although I have a minimum number of photos I guarantee, it almost always goes over that which makes my clients feel good. I decided several years ago not to have a per image pricing structure after hearing several real estate photographers' problems with that structure. Agents that only want to pay 300 bucks for a mansion so will only request 20 photos, just to have the seller get pissed which all of a sudden becomes YOUR emergency to go out there and reshoot...and guess what, it'll probably be at a different time of day/different weather too so none of the light is the same as the first time you were out. Good luck with that in post. No thanks..I'm good. 😇
As someone new to r/e photography, the pricing model seems sound and consistent.
But how do you get the agents to pay promptly ? Do you require payment before turning over the photos or videos ?
I'm sure a full video could be done on payment.
Sign a contract. Ask for deposit after shoot, and full payment by agreed upon time by whatver date
Yeah I like it
That is a very interesting and useful video ! But I got a question that is, when you shoot for a client, how do you know before coming how many photos you'll take ? Because this has to be written on the contract right ? What do you think about it ?
Do a walkthrough and discuss shots with the client first and/or work with clients who trust your judgment as a professional
@@MatthewAPhoto Okey, then I'll try to apply that !
Question: I am currently pricing myself at $150 base for up to 20 photos, plus $5 per photo additional above that number. I do feel like I am undercharging and trying to price match other photographers in my market, even though I do not want to be considered at their level (when it comes to doing everything they don't do). I want to be considered a boutique firm that tailors to those who value my work, those in the luxury real estate market, and interior designers. I would like to branch out into Interior Design and Architecture Photography eventually.
Please clarify, for pricing work, is this exactly what you explained above or is there a base rate just to come out without any minimum guarantee of photos?
Thank you.
My realtor clients knew that my photoshoot fee was my charge to simply arrive on-site and shoot. Sometimes I would have an agent request me to photograph just the exteriors (because the interior wasn't ready yet) and then shoot the inside a few weeks later. I would charge my regular photoshoot + per-image fee for the exteriors, then when I would shoot the rest, I would only charge 50% of the shoot fee but the per-image cost would stay the same.
@@MatthewAPhoto Oh so it's $150 and no guarantee of a set minimum of photos? Then would you add your per photo fee after that $150? If I charged $150 just to come out, no minimum, I'd be driven out of the market, or so I think.
Thanks You
This is all well and good but you are only as valuable as your competition values themselves.
I wish It would work but I got some people telling me 200$ was too expensive for an average size house. I can't imagine telling them it is 150$ plus let's say 5$ per picture(25 photos ish) and I am talking Canadian money.
Do you know any professional outsourcing company? I'm working with edithere, it looks like they only specialize in regular photo editing. I am in dire need of an outsourcing company with a full range of services related to real estate.
Would you keep the same process for commercial properties?
I would do the same structure, but scale up the pricing. Especially the per-image cost.
I wonder how this would go over in my market… The cynic in me thinks they’ll also be cynical and get frustrated with bargaining over each image, or think you’ll deliver more than necessary to make more money. I also don’t want to have to remind them of my pricing every time they ask for an additional shot of this or that. I charge by square footage but I just lump houses into blocks by size: 2000 sq. ft. and under, 2000-3000, etc. Price goes up for each block, and I have add ons like twilight images, floorplans, virtual tours, etc.
Yeah, this "adaptive" pricing really only works with agents that trust you as a professional, and know you'll provide just the right amount of photos to market the property. If you market yourself as more of a quality-over-quantity photographer, this way of pricing goes hand in hand.
Colin Robertson, same here. 100% agree!
i would love too get into photography im going to school for social work but after i finish or still in school for my bachelors program for social work i wanna go head in do real estate to rent in sell to people with disabilities and elderly who are looking for housing and i want to get into photography as a hobby but maybe this can be a busniess i can do i looked on google what real estate busniess are out there in real estate photography popped up
How do you work around people that just want the cheapest prices? One thing I struggle with esp in expensive cities is the fact that everyone seems to be shooting for next to nothing.
Real Estate has a market price how can you adapt this to a market that already has a set price?
how does anyone shoot one property in an hour?
thanks Matt! if every real estate photographers can apply this pricing, the agent can't take advantage of us anymore
I agree 100% RE photographers should structure their pricing on what THEY think they’re worth….not what a real estate agent tells them.
@@MatthewAPhoto in Singapore, sadly, the package is $250 for 10 of still images + 5 of 360 cam images.
the market is tough in here. there are about 30k RE agents, and only 1% or less that really can afford $500-$600 photography services. hahaha.
The only real way of keeping real estate agents honest is to charge a percentage of the list price. 0.1% works perfectly
@@lacohido exactly
Realtors generally want the photos for their listing under 24 hours. How does this model work when now you need to send proofs out for them to select photos and then edit and return them all within 24 hrs? Realtors do not want to spend that time calling you proofs and they need the finished photos asap. I charge a flat fee by size of the house and after watching this video, I did the math and it basically breaks down to the same amount .. maybe slightly more $$ your way .. but the workflow just wouldn’t work .. too much back and forth needs to happen within 24 hrs.
Got it… Adjusted for 2022 inflation I will charge $5,000 per photo
Well, now I know that at least ONE person understands what I’m trying to say! 🤣
I think per room sounds good to me for a beginner
That is enough to make my head explode. That would never work with the cheap realtors of Florida. What do they review the images before they buy them? But congratulations Ion getting away from real estate photography, Because for the most part it sucks.
Yeah, I'm in South Florida and for sure this pricing model would not work here for Real Estate shoots, but it is a good model for "architectural photography (builders, designers, architects)" That said, I charge $195 for interior, exterior and drone up to 3,000 sf, then $75 per 1,000sf over 3000. All in it takes me a little over 90 minutes to shoot, edit and deliver an average job (1 hour on site, 30 minutes to edit/deliver). I make a little extra by offering Matterport, video and twilight shoots. I shoot about 500 homes a year and work and average of 5-6 hours a day depending on traffic. I roll out around 10:30AM and I'm usually home by 2:30- 3:00...For me, it's an easy $2K a week (before gas and wear on my car). Really cant complain, but it did take a while to get to this point. After a couple thousand shoots everything just becomes second nature and you know exactly how to handle just about every situation.
Dunno. This might work with architectural work but in real-world RE; not so much. Problem is, there are too many RE photogs doing shoots for less than $200 and including drone etc. Even with smartphones and no tripods. Race-to-the bottom, easy entry pricing.
This keeps pricing down in major areas and sets expectations for agents, who MANY are fine with blown out windows, color casts and wonky verticals. Run-and-gun cheap crap.
So, the truth to pricing RE photography is what the market will bear in your area and the mindset of the local agents.
However... if you have awesome skills at creating amazing photos, you will get the attention of the agents that appreciate good work and will pay for it usually on higher priced homes.
I’m confused, $200 shooting fee + $5 per image, 10 images =$50, don’t you add the shooting fee so it’s $250, so you’re making $250 not just $50?
Yes
@@MatthewAPhoto phew haha
Charge a percentage of the property plus your fee. If a property is worth 1 million and the agent is getting a massive cut, he's not getting away with 200 dollar pictures lol
50images in 1.5 hour shoot, that’s 1.8 min per image, there’s no way any photographer can do that
Disagree with this concept 100%. Much like Architects and Real Estate Agents, Photographers should be chraging a percentage. For Photographers, a percentage of the list price is the best practice and is the only way to keep up with inflation without racing to the bottom (by doing more volume). If every real estate photographer charged 0.1% the list price (Photos, Drone, Matterport included), us photographers would all benefit from higher quality instead of higher output, and we would keep real estate agents honest. Remember, the Real Estate Agent makes $15,000 dollars on 500k list (30k on 1mill)... What did you make again?
Would not work in my market lol. I’m working on homes that are selling up for up to 20 - 50 million. No way would an agent pay me $20 - $50k for photo, video & drone photo/video
Isn't it weird tho to say: "I charge $200 just for existing and the actual photos are priced at $5 each" ? How do you justify those $200 for the client? $200 just because I studied to be a professional? I mean, you better have studied 😄 The client doesn't care about that. In his / her eyes it's not justified because it's not something that will be directly part of the service you're offering, you're not offering him/her nothing for those $200.
You can't just charge for what you're worth without your worth being put into action. It's extremely narcisistic.
It would be like "I cut your hair for $50, but you have to add $100 because I studied how to do it"
If you want to include your experience as part of the price it has to be part of the service, for example $10 per photo instead of $5.
Don't like this idea. This causes a lot of potential for back and fourth that's not worth it in the RE market. For my arch work, yeah there is dialog that I want to engage in but for RE agents and new RE clients having to go over the same issues like, "how many images are you going to shoot* "what if I don't want one of the images you shot" or parsing through the work later to save 15 bucks or worse inviting an agent to hover over your shoulder to ensure they really want an image as your trying to do your job in site. No thanks. Way more hassle than it's worth. I just break things down by the sq ft cut and dry. Every 500sq ft it goes up as does the image count (albeit very minimally for small and medium homes) so much less work for something that's not worth much in the first place. Arch is an entirely different realm and those clients that spendings multiple thousands on 10 images pay for all the extra hand holding and time I spend on sight. My arch is a premium service and I can devote more to them.