Photography For Real Estate

52 Responses to “My Formula For Pricing Real Estate Photography”

• Real Estate/Buisness News » Blog Archive » My Formula For Pricing Real Estate Photography April 5th, 2008 at 3:33 pm #

  [...] Original post by larry [...]

• Scott Pruett April 5th, 2008 at 8:18 pm #

  It’s a little obscure, but I suppose I see your logic. If the numbers fit within your cost of doing business calculations, then sure, go for it.

• Linda Sabiston April 5th, 2008 at 9:07 pm #

  Interesting theory. I’ll investigate my local area and see what numbers I come up with.
  But, I like to round up instead of down.

• Dale Charles April 6th, 2008 at 9:12 am #

  I was just doing the same thing this week! I usually charge a flat rate and work with many different Realtors at many levels – but I though I’d try something different as I do hear some clients moan about how much they spend on marketing (as I meet them in their new BMW’s) so I thought I’d use the “Average Realtors Commission” (ARC) as a starting point.
  I find your comparison…interesting. I’m aiming a little higher but I understand your thinking, a lot. I use to use the “carpenter comparison” as I was a carpenter for 3 years – most guys make around $300/day, the hacks, less. Painters price about $200/room with materials, and anybody can paint a wall. Plumbers get $90/hr, more or less and I know some rich plumbers!

  I usually price around $250 for anything given my current equipment and lighting (and my tripod just took it’s “last stand..”), and a website is $100-150 more.

  Here’s my new pricing-theory math:

  Home price – $500,000
  Realtors Commission – 6 % or $30,000
  1% of Realtors Commission – $300
  .05% of ARC – $150

  I just shot a $1.7M 5000′ for a new client and I want her business as she works in a really upscale neighborhood. I charged her $295 for 24 photos and I’m giving her a website to look at for a month. That should have been $510 for photography only at 1% of her 3% gross commission – I assume its 3% rather than 6% at $1.7M?

  Six percent of $1.7M is $102,000..seems a lot, I wouldn’t pay that as a seller, but I simply do not know where the break is, I mean 6% of a $5M house is $300,000 and if I’m shooting that I want $1-2000 for AD quality photos, for sure.

  The average sub $1M prop Realtor takes home what, about 65-75% after marketing costs, expenses, fees, taxes? Larry what does your Realtor wife charge for a commission for $1M and up props?

  * That would be a great thread / chart – what Realtors actually spend and earn with a list-item of all expenses! Anyone???

  Dale Charles
  compago.net

• fred danziger April 6th, 2008 at 10:49 am #

  hi dale, what state and city do you live/work?

• fred danziger April 6th, 2008 at 10:51 am #

  hi dale, what state and city do you live/work?
  i think that might play a role in your fees

• larry April 6th, 2008 at 10:52 am #

  @Dale – It’s virtually impossible these days to generalize about how much Realtor commissions are. The standard until the last few years was the seller payed a total of 6% to sell their home. 3% went to the buyer’s agent and 3% went to the listing agent. Because 3% becomes so obscene as the sale price gets over $1M the commissions have always been more negotiable with higher-end listings.

  In the last few years commissions have become much more negotiable. Some agents do it for 1% some for 2% what ever they choose. It’s totally negotiable between the agent and the seller. The large brokers try to discourage discounting but in fact they don’t stop it. Companies like zillow.com and redfin.com are putting pressure on Realtors commissions (at least in the NW and I think it’s happening all over).

  For these reasons, I don’t think it makes sense to try to base photography prices on the listing agents commissions.

• Scott April 6th, 2008 at 10:54 am #

  Larry, I love that formula. I’ll look into it in this area and see if it holds up!

  @ Dale — the trouble with your approach is that no realtor I’ve ever met or heard of gets a 6% commission. At best, the 6% is split between the selling agent and the buyer’s agent, and that’s before any discounting takes place, which in the current highly competitive market is happening more and more, I think. So figure on something between 2% – 3% as the upper end of the gross for the agents. Still a considerable sum, but you also have to remember that they may or may not get anything at all, depending on whether they can actually sell the place before the listing agreement expires – again a common experience in this market.

• Dale Charles April 6th, 2008 at 11:33 am #

  Fred – I work from Sacramento to San Francisco…

  Thanks for the heads up Larry. Luckily my approach is NOT the 1% of 6% theory I was crunching this week, as I wrote before I always charge $2-300 for any $500K-1M listing.

  Strangely I advertise “Photography starts at $65..” on my website and no-one asks for that rate, I am finding many average Realtors sadly have Rebel Xti’s or D40′s and just go take snapshots so I really dont bother with them anymore although I’ll shoot any prop if I’m not busy!

  It doesn’t matter what the Realtors commission is, my rates will always vary as I never turn down work. I always negotiate anyways to get the client at any level. I tried the “First shoot free” approach someone wrote about on this board a while back and I did not get one taker!

  A month ago I drove 102 miles for a cheapo shoot but got to drive through some Norcal vineyards so the experience was righteous, and the cheapo Realtor keeps giving me work. Plus the client’s house was cool, and an interesting person for sure.

  Question – what’s the best tripod under $300???

• Dale Charles April 6th, 2008 at 11:56 am #

  Scott Hargis –

  really like your strobism…do you use any diffusers on your Flashes – or umbrellas? How long does it take for you to set up 5 Flashes and get the right placement?

  Thanks for the inspiration.

• Ken Hawkins April 6th, 2008 at 2:02 pm #

  Hi Larry,
  I’m learning so much from your blog and your talented contributors but I had to check the date of your post twice to see if it was dated April 1st. I’ve heard a lot of pricing strategies over my 38 years in photojournalism…but I’ve never even considered your furnace repair schema.
  Let me suggest – humbly as a newcomer to REP – that there are several options that may assist any photographer in determining a baseline Cost of Doing Business (CoDB).
  One of my professional associations , NPPA- The National Press Photographers Association, has a CoDB calculator that can be found at http://nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/cdb/cdbcalc.cfm (You may have to copy and paste the link into your browser url window).
  This interactive asset may give the REP a good idea of the financial realities that impact us all no matter which specialty you work in.
  Thanks again for your efforts Larry…now I gotta go check my furnace filter…

  Ken Hawkins
  http://www.kenhawkins.com

• Gar April 6th, 2008 at 8:05 pm #

  @Dale,

  I have a Bogen Manfrotto 3021N Tripod ($175) and a Manfrotto Pan & Tilt HD Blk Head ($60) and I love it. They have all different kinds of heads for that tripod. It is sturdy, light (relative) easy to use and easy and fast to adjust. They have a newer version of the same tripod that allows you to take the center adjustment pole and remove it and use it horizontally, kool. Not sure of the model number but if you go to the Bogen site you can most likely find it.

  @Larry,

  I too will take a look at that pricing scenario in my area. Interesting concept.

  Cheers!
  Gar

• David Davis April 7th, 2008 at 4:19 am #

  I am a realtor in Utah. I’d like to clarify some things about commissions. First, 6 percent is the standard amount a seller would pay to sell their home. However, as has been said earlier, that is split between the seller’s agent and the buyer’s agent 50/50. But this is not the end. The broker for the agent often gets a cut of that. For example: at Prudential I currently get 80 percent of the three percent, and from that I pay a transaction coordinator and for marketing materials bringing my net income to about 78 percent. So, on a 500K home my broker gets $15K and at 80 percent I would net $12K before my expenses.

  As for calculating what to charge for a photo shoot, I would compare what Obeo or Circle Pix charges and go from there (keep in mind these rank amatuers are the “in and out” types that will finish a job without extra lighting in about 30 minutes – and it shows in their work). I’ve also used the per square foot formula but have since adopted a basic shoot cost around the $200 to $300 range depending on the distance I have to travel for the shoot. Usually I’m only shooting main living areas; foyer, livingroom, family room, kitchen/dining room, and master bedroom at different angles. I’ll throw in the theater room if they have one. Using this formula, it doesn’t matter how big or little the home is. The seller/agent gets these main living areas for a set price. I add on pole mounted aerials, twilight shots of the exterior, and may include some general neighborhood features (parks, etc.). All this being said, if you were to schedule one photo shoot per day for five days each week at $250 (average), you’re making a mere $65,250. But, that’s not a bad income for doing something you love to do. Lastly, check out ActiveRain.com and search photography. I was impressed to find some talent over there and some insight on shooting exteriors; look for a fellow in Texas – his name I think is Clark Coots. Here is a shameless plug: if you decide you’d like to join AR, please mention me as the referral source; iPhotoHomes.
  Thanks for this wonderful blog and great community.

• 360House April 7th, 2008 at 12:48 pm #

  “I would compare what Obeo or Circle Pix charges and go from there (keep in mind these rank amatuers are the “in and out” types that will finish a job without extra lighting in about 30 minutes – and it shows in their work).”

  Hey! I resemble that!!!

  No, really — it doesn’t make sense for me to put a ton of time into shooting a tour, because I’m only making around $35 per house. (drive time + shooting + post-processing + uploading = underpaid @ $35 per house)

  Nice thing is, I’m usually shooting 4-6 homes per day.

• Chester Bullock April 8th, 2008 at 10:54 am #

  @360House,

  Given your statement of 4-6 houses per day at $35/ house, I am assuming a constant average of 5 houses per day. 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year, that comes to $45,500/ year. After taxes and such, that hardly seems a fitting income for all the time you are putting in…

• 360House April 8th, 2008 at 12:12 pm #

  Chester

  I get to work from home, shoot only 3-4 hours per day, post-process for only 1-2 hours per day, and the best part is that someone else is doing the selling, marketing and website maintenance for me.

  Getting a repeat base of customers on my own in a market that is owned by Circlepix/obeo would be difficult.

  Your estimate for my yearly pay is high, but I’m not looking to get rich doing this. I’ll take this instead of sitting in an office 40+ hrs per week, thankyouverymuch.

• Lee April 14th, 2008 at 11:10 am #

  You really need to charge what you are worth and not base it on what someone else is getting paid for a totally different service. Photographers starting out will find it difficult to command the type of money a seasoned photographer gets. This is not only because of the skill and quality of the product the seasoned photographer produces, but you must also factor in the client base they have built up over time.
  As a REALTOR, I won’t pay a photographer 1% of my gross proceeds if I can get acceptable product for less. On the other hand, if it costs me more than 1% of my gross proceeds to get the quality photographs that will get the house sold, then I must pay up. I don’t get paid until the home sells.
  Once you prove your worth to me, it will be difficult for me to take a chance on the next photographer who offers me the same service for less. At this point, you have become the seasoned photographer.

• larry April 14th, 2008 at 11:35 am #

  @Lee – You raise good points. As much as anything my pricing formula is intended to help real estate photographers find a lower bound for their pricing. I know photographers that are charging $100 to photograph the same home that it costs $130 to get the furnace maintained. This means that photographers are loosing money big time!

• Bob Copp January 11th, 2009 at 5:40 am #

  I think this is sound rationale to use to calculate travel and labor costs. But why would you use a 1.7 multiplier when you say you are going to put in 4 times as much work as the furnace guy (2 hours vs. 30 minutes)? Sure, the travel is the same, but this multiplier does not consider the differing marketing time requirements (phone book for the furnace guy, personal visits, discussions, delivery of material, and picking out shots with the real estate person or homeowner/client) or post-shoot presentation work, including post processing, for the photographer. So far, I do very little real estate photography but I charge $300 for a three hour, three outfit portrait shoot, done at my studio (no travel, no dragging equipment, no resulting extra wear and tear on my equipment and no need of a special vehicle, such as a van). All prints, books, retouching, etc. are added to this price. And these usually do not generate income for anyone but me — for instance, they are not the driving force for a commission of thousands of dollars like good real estate photography can be! I have never charged less than $500 for a finished set of prop shots. It is the same as portraiture to me: if it is not worth that, or for very inexpensive homes (are there any?) then go for it with your RebelXt. But it won’t look anything like what I do. As the great John Todman said, “You get what you pay for and often substantially less.”

• Patrick Robinson February 23rd, 2009 at 11:32 am #

  I would usually charge like this.
  I specialize in wedding photography and I charge $150-$200 an hour. With Real Estate I charge half of my hourly rate which is roughly $75 an hour because I don’t have to deal with a bunch of annoying people. It’s just me and the peacefulness of the House. That 75 is for my pocket. I then charge $5 per room and another $75.00 for editing and all the images on CD; hi-res and web images. So for a basic 3 bed 2 bath, kitchen, living, dining, formal living and dining and the exterior front and rear of the House would be at roughly $210.00

• Rebel with a Cause April 14th, 2009 at 4:39 pm #

  I thought I would throw out my pricing structure and get some feedback. I have two basic “packages” that I offer: one is photography only – I charge $50/hr shooting and anywhere from $75-150 for post-production prints on CD (price increases with homes list price).

  The second package includes a bit more – I do the photography, design a postcard/flier layout (normally MUCH more appealing than what they usually get – i’m a graphic designer at heart), and include 100 prints on 100lb glossy paper (I have a way of getting prints for cheaper than most do so a good chunk of profit comes from this). I charge $1 for each print over that 100. For this I charge anywhere from $250 to to $500 depending on list price. They can buy the prints on CD for an additional $50 as well.

  Thats basically it. I have found packaging the three services together for a pretty cheap price works great. Any input or advice???

• Sherry Watkins July 17th, 2009 at 5:52 am #

  My pricing structure is a bit different from everyone’s and is based on the sq.ft. of the home, varying from $65-$500. I offer brochure and/or virtual tour with all my shoots. With the current condition of the real estate market, your average Realtor can/will only pay so much.

  Additional real estate marketing services include: postcards, websites, posting to RE listing sites, e-flyers, text flyers, social networking, blogging, and others.

  I also offer a $25 credit for new client referrals, this has really helped to get both repeat business and new clients. A WIN WIN for everyone.

• Jennifer July 21st, 2009 at 9:07 pm #

  I am so happy to find a knowledgable blog about Real Estate Photography! I am working on starting up a business in northern Colorado and I’m still figuring out all of the important details to get everything going. Would anyone be willing to give me some advice on starting up the business?

• Robert Hatch July 27th, 2009 at 2:07 pm #

  I guess everyone charges different in terms of where the money is devided. Some people charge less for photography and more for editing, some people more for photography and less for editing. I was raised with a fine art perspective that I know what the shot looks like before I touch the button so I don’t do a lot of after editing, but I do charge more for my photo work because I feel I’m getting a fair amount for what my time, work, effort, education, equipment, blood sweat and tears over the past twelve years is worth. I charge 50.00 a rm. 75.00 for pano. 5.00ea. for detail shot so I come out of a 5,000 sq. ft home with about $6-700.00 on a good day. Now I’m looking to get on the preferred list of a certain Co. and they’re wanting me to get my rates to 1/4 of that but bring lots more work. Now I know it’s the nature of the beast but what’s a broke ass to do?

• Robert Hatch July 27th, 2009 at 2:11 pm #

  P.S Dale your work is amazing!!

• Circle_W August 10th, 2009 at 4:34 am #

  Robert, is the Pano fee in addition to the rm fee or in place of it. ie do you charge $125 for a pano of a room or is it just 75$ for the room done in a pano?

• Donna Dotan September 29th, 2009 at 8:37 am #

  I do real estate photography in Manhattan and wanted to mention my pricing to get some feedback on whether people think I am over or under-charging…I typically shoot anything from studio to 5-bedroom luxury apartments in the millions of dollars. But I do not charge based on the price of the apartment.

  My rate is $75 for 6 photos, and $25 for each additional photograph. This also includes views, building amenities, exteriors, neighborhood shots, etc.

  So far I have not had any complaints regarding my pricing from other brokers. And please feel free to check out my website to see the quality of my work. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

  Thanks!

  Donna

• Whitney October 29th, 2009 at 1:08 pm #

  Just found this site to help with determining my rates. I was with a company that paid me, per their determination, on 3 levels. condos/twnhomes/apts for $250, under $1,000,000 for $400, and Overs for $600. This was for web size and print photos, web slide show and for overs a DVD and suited me fine while it lasted. Now, I’m not sue what to charge. I have set up a provisional price list and would love some feed back. I am working out of Charleston,SC and have come up with – $100-$150 for C.T.&A., $150-$200 for under, and $250-$500 for overs. i just don’t know. I don’t want to over-charge, but certainly want it to be worth my while. Comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Whitney

• Nancy Girvin November 16th, 2009 at 12:24 am #

  A friend (Rebecca), who does wedding and animal photography, recently was contacted by a business dealing with REO’s. Since she was busy at the time she referred the job to Bob. Bob was a broker at one time and did all his own photography for his listings, so he has the expertise in both real estate and photography. Rebecca, was originally contacted because she was listed as a photographer in the area where the listing occurred, (no personal relationship) has no real estate expertise. My question is . .
  Rebecca asked for a 30% referral fee for each of the jobs Bob got after the first shoot. The firm is in Southern California and the homes to be photographed are in Northern Calif. The firm will only pay a maximum of $200 for REO’s. Is the 30% fee reasonable for all shoots with this firm? If not, what terms would be reasonable. Thanks for help with this issue.

• larry November 16th, 2009 at 10:06 am #

  @Nancy- Here is my shot at answering your question:
  In my experience there is no standard convention for referral fees for work real estate photography. I think the reason is because the per shoot profit margin on real estate shoots is small compared to say the profit margin on a real estate transaction where a 30% per transaction referral fee is standard.

  I have to say I’m conflicted about the whole referral for dollars concept when the profit margins on photography are so small. I make a lot of referrals every month with no expectation of reimbursement. I look at referrals as sending good will out into the universe. What happens is the more good will you send out into the universe the more good will the universe sends your way. And what you’ll find is that you don’t always get paid in dollars. I say, give you referral to Bob and wish him good luck… He may refer a wedding shoot to you. You will probably make more on one wedding he refers to you than 5 or 10 home shoots.

• scott December 2nd, 2009 at 10:48 am #

  Now, does your price include usage fee? Do they get the photo for an undetermined amount of time for just that price?

• larry December 2nd, 2009 at 11:41 am #

  Scott, They are allowed to use the photos for the duration of the listing. You need to explain this in a written handout because agents do not have a clue about usage… if you don’t tell them, they will assume that they own the photos and give them to owners etc.

• Janelle December 26th, 2009 at 5:28 am #

  I have a small photography business trying to advance and make a little more money doing real estate HDR images and panoramic photos. I think it really depends on the place you are… ALOT of places think they are a photographer because they bought a DSLR at best buy on sale, and just use auto settings, so you will get alot of people who just try to do it themselves. I charge 30$ a house with editing, then 10$ per image that they chose with a copyright contract giving over advertising rights, and I keeping the full rights.

  you gotta start somewhere… alot of people are NOT going to pay ridicoulous fee’s.

  pick out a day your not doing anything and go shoot houses instead… yea its alot of work, but it builds a client base, and more of a portfolio so why not? if its your passion, its should be something you crave to do anyway

  just a thought <3
  Janelle.

• Live From the Inbox « Interiors Photographer Scott Hargis May 17th, 2010 at 10:04 am #

  [...] Larry Lohrman once opined that you could estimate the fair value of real estate photography by pegging it to the cost of a furnace inspection, multiplied by 1.7. I thought this was wacky as hell when I first read it, but it actually works pretty good. While you’re finding out the cost of furnace inspections, check into window washing, too. What do they charge? How about the cleaning service? Landscape/lawn care guy? Termite inspector? You need to know what the typical expenditures are that your clients are making, and you need to know where you fit in terms of value. I can tell you, I was shocked to find out what the window washers charge around here, and it emboldened me to raise my rates. I mean no disrespect to the window washing crew, but dammit, my overhead is a little higher than theirs is! [...]

• Abe June 26th, 2010 at 9:30 am #

  Question for all the experienced guys in this field, supose you get get an assigment to shot a home for a realtor
  after both parties agree, when is the right time to collect ffor your service ? is it between the same day, a week
  after or when ? what is the usual ? and How ? check, cash, or credit card ? I would hate to get a surprise, and be told “you will get your check in two weeks ” so what will be the proper way to establish that situation ? in summary, what works better ? thank you in advance for your kind answer Abe

• larry June 26th, 2010 at 9:47 am #

  @Abe- I suggest that you ask for payment up front either a check when the Realtor meets you at the home to let you in or via credit card online when they place the order.

  Paying up front is a well established convention for ALL home inspectors I’ve ever hired and there is a reason, if you don’t there can be a bunch of reasons you may not get paid. Even home inspectors that we have used for years and have done literally 100s of inspections for want their money up front. It’s just good business.

• Mark October 3rd, 2010 at 1:43 pm #

  I find it’s difficult to demand payment up front. Especially when you’re new in the business. They havent seen the product so are reluctant to pay upfront. I’ve just done my first couple of paid photo shoots this week and used paypal to create invoices. Seems to be a pretty easy system to use. You do pay Paypal a small fee though.

• Mike Barber October 6th, 2010 at 1:30 pm #

  I’m exploring this forum cause I love looking at houses and am appalled at the lack of quality of the pics. I really enjoy photography and have the time and interest to develop required skills without having to make anything from it…for now. So…why are realtors the clients? They seem to be cheap, lousy photogs, and are approached by zillions of newbies like me to do the work for little to nothing. On the other hand, it’s really easy to figure out who owns a home that is for sale and, at a minimum, shoot them a postcard suggesting they might be better served working with someone who specializes in glamor shots of homes. Some will be interested and a good website might be the hook to get the conversation started. My thought is anyone who is selling needs to move the property sooner rather than later and should be willing to pay $200-300 for a quality set of pics that can sell the house. Opinions please!!

• Mark October 6th, 2010 at 1:52 pm #

  Interesting thought Mike. Personally I had never thought of this approach because I’m a Realtor too and don’t think it would be appropriate to approach another agents clients. If you convince the seller that your pictures will help sell the home, they will pressure their agent to hire a photographer.

• larry October 6th, 2010 at 2:06 pm #

  @Mike- You have to be careful marketing home owners directly because in the long run your customers will be agents and you don’t want to get all the agents in your area pissed off at you. I talked to many that have tried marketing directly to home owners and everyone seems to give it up in the long run. The effective approach is to win over the top agents in your area because they can have 30 to 50 listings a year or more.

• Paul December 14th, 2010 at 8:59 pm #

  Intersting dialog. I know what my overhead for the year is (based on last years expendures) or you could use your budget. I figure that I only shoot 20% of the hours I work (80% to “other” business activities). Therefore, I know that for each hour that I work I my overhead is about $31.00 / hour. I add what I think my time is worth ($60.00 / hour – and considering SE Tax, and other benefits that actually comes out to about $45.00 / hr). I figure about one 1 hour post processing and posting to my website for delivery. I deliver 15 – 20 images in high res (for printing on flyers / postcards) and low res for web / MLS posting. If they are to be run as an advertisment in a magazine I charge more.
  Typically if I’m using only strobes I can complete a house in about 2 hours inside and outside. If I’m doing a house that requires me to use portable flash on light stands or other time consuming set-ups I’ll double the time gestumate.
  Real Estate agents are use to paying for services such as home inspectors, well inspections, enviromental inspections, MLS services, etc. in advance. I require payment at the time services are rendered, i.e. when I show up to do the photos. We get all the “paperwork” out of the way including payment.
  So, what this means is that a 2 hour on site job goes for about $275.00 for 15 – 20 pictures in high & low res downloadable from my website. Yes, I do turn down work if the price is below what I expect. I don’t work on spec or wait till the property is sold for payment. Other professionals that RE Agents contract with expect payment and so do I.

• Jane Haas January 9th, 2011 at 10:11 pm #

  Okay, being a Realtor for several years, i’ll clear up what everyone thinks Realtors make.

  That commission, usually around 4-5% now is actually divided 4 ways – it’s split in half between the buyer and seller’s brokers, then the broker splits it with the agent depending on the size of the agent’s split which can be anywhere from 48% to 80%. Then out of those commissions they pay E&O insurance, Local MLS Dues, State MLS dues, National MLS dues, they now have to update their education in many states which means more fees, most advertising and websites and well just about all their phone and technology is out of pocket, health insurance… all out of pocket. They will usually lease a car because that helps with tax write offs after the gov’t takes their HUGE chunk out of their teeny checks. Trust me, unless they are married and have a second income, in this market, most aren’t making all millions – 2% usually do most of the business!

  So if they complain about all the fees- that’s why! And guess what! They don’t get paid unless the house sells! If it doesn’t it’s pretty much charity work! lol

• Rebecca, a realtor January 10th, 2011 at 7:51 am #

  Your commissions are off base.

  There are four parties to each real estate transaction. Listing agent, listing agent’s broker, buyer’s agent, buyer’s agent broker.

  Divide the gross commission by four before you start your calculations.

  Also… each real estate office has “desk fees” that vary from 1% – 5% of the gross commission. Desk fees account for payments to National chains, use of telephone, office equipment, etc.

  Also keep in mind that we only get paid when the home sells. It could take months… so any money paid out for a listing would be a loss, if the home doesn’t sell, or expires and another agency picks up the listing.

  Rebecca

• RealtyCheck January 10th, 2011 at 1:52 pm #

  “Divide the gross commission by four before you start your calculations.”

  I’m not buying that. I don’t know of a single real estate brokerage that takes 50% of an agent’s commission on every transaction. And then a separate “desk fee?” Yikes! Time to find a new brokerage.

  Nowadays, the 5% – 6% commission is split between the listing agent and the selling agent. Sometimes it’s 3% to the listing agent and 2% to the selling agent depending on how the listing agent has worded the listing agreement. Then the agent’s brokerage will take a cut from the agent’s commission. For some brokerages this is a fixed percentage for every listing. 15% for example. If your brokerage is taking half of every single transaction then you are being ripped off in a big way. Seriously. It’d be cheaper to start your own brokerage.

  Other brokerages will take half of the agent’s commission until the agent has paid their “desk fee” for the year and then the agent gets to keep their full commission on all remaining transactions. For example, Windermere’s desk fee is about $25,000 a year. They take half of your commission on every transaction until you’ve paid them that amount for the year. Once you’ve paid your “split” then you keep 100% of your commissions until a new year begins.

  Some brokerages will take a percentage of every commission and then charge a separate “desk fee” but it’s usually only a few hundred bucks a year and it’s usually the less successful brokerages that do this because most of their agent’s aren’t doing enough business to take a desk fee out of their commission.

  So on a $500,000 home a listing agent might get $15,000 in gross commission (3%). Then the brokerage takes their cut: maybe $1,500 (if they’re taking 10%) or $7,500 (if they’re taking half), leaving the agent with $7,500 to $13,500. For our calculations let’s say $10,000. A decent real estate photographer costs $250 – $500. For our calculations let’s say $300.

  So hiring a decent real estate photographer will cost you 3% of your net commission on a single $500k sale. So is it worth it? I’m not going to comment, suffice it to say that an agent’s answer to this question says a whole lot about his/her business acumen….

• Walt January 19th, 2011 at 11:57 pm #

  Good information!

  The theory is probably quite different for apartment real estate…correct? How would you ballpark that? Or…say it was for a property management company dealing in apartment/townhomes? As rentals?

  My other question is on usage (off topic?)…if the later were true, when would be good for usage end? calendar year?

• Jeremiah True February 12th, 2011 at 3:52 am #

  This was a really interesting article and one of the first in the search engines, kudos!

  I am just entering this market and found your article to be informative and provided a good base line for where I could start looking at pricing realistically but competitively. In my eyes, for the service I would be providing, $100 – $200 seems a little low but time will tell.

  Thanks for the great information and keep it up.

• Phil February 22nd, 2011 at 8:00 pm #

  Whoaaa! All the formulas in the world regarding what YOU, or WE think it’s worth are useless unless we have an exclusive on our area. As long as there are folks out there who give their work away…they will set the standard with which us quality shooters will have to struggle with. I shoot in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metro area, and there are lots of so called photographers around pulling us down. Some will shoot any home, any size, anywhere for $50. I cashed in…put the word out that I’m out of that race. I placed a fee based on sq footage (directly related to time involved) plus mileage, and it dang sure’s not some of the figures I have seen here. YOU CAN NOT BASE YOUR FEE ON ANY FRACTION OF THE AGENT’S COMMISSION…where in the hell did that idea come from? Do you have a real estate license? Do you pay to advertise the properties?

  Hey…I’m all for getting the most I can for my work, but our fees are directly related to what the competition in our area dictates, and what the agents will pay. If we don’t like that we find another handle.

• David Eichler February 22nd, 2011 at 9:07 pm #

  I agree with Phil. Unlike plumbers and electricians, who must be licensed and serve an apprenticeship, there is no bar to entry for real estate photography. In fact, the standards and the skill set to get started with real estate photography seem to be just about the lowest of any type of professional photography. I have a sneaking suspicion that the value of a professional photographer to the majority of real estate agents is less than that of the people who clean the house and wash the windows, that is, less than a service that uses the most basic kind of unskilled labor. However, it is usually the homeowner who pays for cleaning and washing the windows, as well as other maintenance and repairs of the house, in preparation for putting the house on the market. If those costs had to come out of the agent’s pocket, I would guess that many agents wouldn’t see much value in those services either. One more reason why it would be preferable for the homeowners in the US to foot some or all of the marketing costs for selling the home, as is customary in other countries.

• Anne On Ymous February 23rd, 2011 at 4:41 pm #

  “One more reason why it would be preferable for the homeowners in the US to foot some or all of the marketing costs for selling the home, as is customary in other countries.”

  A small number of my high end listing agent clients are now charging their clients a “listing set-up fee” of $500 to $1,000. This covers the initial photography and basic print flyer costs for the agent and is refundable at closing. If the home owners aren’t willing to commit to the fee it’s usually a pretty good indication that they’re not fully committed to selling their house.

  In the last month I have asked two different home owners both putting multi-million dollar homes on the market
  where they were moving to and each replied “Oh, not sure really. We thought we’d just list our house and see if it sells….”

  I’ll let you guys take a wild guess if their homes were priced realistically or not…..

• Mstolt October 28th, 2011 at 5:44 pm #

  What an awesome websit. Great discussion on pricing. With all due respect, in reference to setting the price to the commision I think many of you are missing the point. I think Dale was trying to show a realtor that his “new charge theory” is very reasonable, just 1 percent of the total commission. If you would rather, his calulation is .0006% of the listing price. Either way, that seems a reasonable price to charge no matter how you calculate it.

• sacramento photographers April 4th, 2012 at 7:42 pm #

  Can I simply say what a comfort to find somebody that really understands what they’re talking about online. You actually realize how to bring a problem to light and make it important. More and more people need to read this and understand this side of your story. It’s surprising you are not more popular since you definitely possess the gift.

• Covershots April 24th, 2012 at 5:45 pm #

  The million dollar question, “How Much to Charge”
  After five years of RE Photography and still making cost changes…………….I have to take into consideration my investment of cameras I have 3 that I use ,lens,lighting, software,computers,camera equipment and last but not least my ” VALVE”.
  • I use a cost per square ft of .12cts / condo,Townhouse approx. 2000 sqft $240.00 and so one. The Realtor gets 30 HDR photos resized for web and print, my processing time on something like this is about 60min. my time at the house maybe 60min. usually a 2 hr turn around depending on travel /distance from start to finish back home and ready to process. I hope this helps Great Luck all.
  remember Realtors are cheappies and if they want you they will pay……….You better be REALLY GREAT at taking photos.