Ask the agent

Going rate for real estate photography in a small market?

The cheapest guy with a drone isn’t your competition. The commission is.

Photos-only in a lot of small markets runs $150 to $200. That is real, and that is the floor. It is not what you are priced against.

The numbers you see online are somebody else’s market. The one that matters in yours is the median sale and what 3% of it looks like.

Take Dom’s market, Waco, where the median sale is about $350K. A 3% price cut on that house is $10,500 out of the seller’s equity. Hold $10,500 next to $390, my starting package. The shoot is the small number on the table.

Guess wrong here and the cheapest guy with a drone sets your price for the whole year. Not because he is good. Because you let his number be the one you measured against. The agent is not comparing you to him. She is comparing your package to the conversation where she tells a seller to drop the price.

Small markets have gaps. Build your middle package around yours.

Waco has something Austin does not: holes. In a big market every service is covered three times over and the only thing left to compete on is price. In a small one, if nobody does drone, drone is your whole pitch.

Pull up the last 20 listings in your town and write down what is missing. Drone, twilight, floor plan, video. Whatever only two of 20 have, that is your gap.

Put the missing thing inside the middle package, not on an add-on list. An add-on is a decision she skips. Inside the package, it is the reason she picks you.

Tier your list. A gets the first calls.

A small market has fewer agents, so the order you call them in matters more than the price. Tier the list. A is 15-plus listings a year. B is five to 14. C is everyone else.

A gets the middle package quoted first, with your gap in it. B gets the sheet and a follow-up. C does not get chased. C gets the sheet when she asks. That is not being rude to C. It is where your first calls go when the town is small.

I sat at the seller’s kitchen table for ten years. A 3% cut is a number the agent has to say out loud there. Your package is what keeps her from saying it.

Winning the cheapest race still loses. You get the job at a price that cannot pay you.

Straight answers

What do real estate photographers charge in a small town?

Photos-only often runs $150 to $200 in small markets. That is the floor. Price your middle package against the agent’s commission, not against the cheapest guy.

How do I compete with cheaper real estate photographers in a small market?

Find the gap. Look at the last 20 listings in your town, note what is missing (drone, twilight, floor plan, video), and put it inside your middle package.

Which agents should I contact first in a small market?

Tier them. A is 15-plus listings a year, B is five to 14, C is everyone else. Quote the middle package to A first. Give C the sheet only when she asks.

Related questions

• An agent says I’m too expensive. Am I?
• How do I compete with the $99 real estate photographer?
• Is real estate photography too saturated to start in my market?

Julian Lundgren sold real estate for ten years before he shot a listing for money. He runs Cineminn, a Minneapolis real estate photography studio, and writes these answers from the agent’s side of the table. Send a question to info@cineminn.com.