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Question: Why don't real estate agents hire professional photographers!?
You would think with such a high price of property these days, photographs of houses for sale online could surpass the quality of autos for sale on ebay!. Sadly they don't!.

With house prices over half a million dollars, i would consider spending a few hundred on showcasing the place money well spent!. As much as I love real estate agents they have really dropped the ball on this one!. Full disclosure should be mandatory!. Omitting certain views that may not be desirable to a buyer is as bad as lying!. also: blurred, badly framed, shadowed or too bright, seems to be the norm!.Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
They do!. I have a few friends who shoot for MLS!. It could never be considered a full time occupation with what they pay, but it does provide a decent bit of "extra" cash!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

They do but most of them don't pay very well!. Any photographer that is shooting for a Realtor is supplementing his/her income!.

Then you have photographers who what copyrights!.!.!. for what!?

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because hiring a professional photographer would cut into the agent's profit!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I shoot for MLS agents!. It's not a big part of my income from photography, but it's a nice piece of pocket change for the run of the mill shots (primarily exteriors for rental properties for sale, that being the largest market in my area)!.

In today's market, the profit margins are slim to the agents, so paying for a shooter isn't as attractive as just having the agents go out with a P&S camera and take a picture for many properties!. There are properties that you want covered with higher quality work and they do hire pros (in my area) for that!.

On the high end stuff, which is something over $3,000,000 + here, they do pay for the exterior/interior shots and hire specialists in that field to do the work!. I don't work that in that area!

If I'm accepting RE work because I need the money (nothing more profitable to shoot definitely scheduled) I will group the properties by area as they have come if for the week and shoot them all in a day, usually a weekday!. At this time, it's not worth it for me to do anything more than passively accept (maybe) the few jobs that come in!. It's not worth it for me to 'work' the market!. I can quite literally earn more taking pet pictures!.

It's not a big market for photographers in terms of income, so it's not just that RE agents are dropping the ball!. You could earn a living off it if you worked for a company that had extensive owned properties to list at a high value for lease (or sale), like Prudential's real estate operations (i!.e!., insurance companies)!. Other than that, it's pretty much a sideline!.

Currently, the credit markets are so thoroughly thrashed overall and Real Estate in particular that it's not a viable target market for most photographers!. Bad pictures taken by a real esate agent with a P&S for free are all anyone wants to invest in the properties that make up the bulk of the RE market!.

VanceWww@QuestionHome@Com