Is a Part 107 license worth it for real estate photographers?

Yes, eventually, and it pays for itself the month you stop paying a hired pilot $75 a shoot. It isn't worth stopping bookings for. Hire a pilot now and book the exam for next month.

How much should I charge for drone photos in real estate?

Drone alone should be $200 to $300, and agents mostly won't pay it as an add-on. Put the aerials inside the package instead, with no separate drone line.

Can I offer drone photos without a Part 107 license?

Yes, by hiring a licensed pilot. Post in a local group for a Part 107 pilot at $75 a shoot, check the certificate, and confirm your insurance covers a hired pilot.

Answers › Running the business

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Is Part 107 worth it for real estate photography?

Every agent asks ’do you do drone?’ No drone, no license. Do I stop everything for my Part 107?Asked by a photographer on Dominic, central Texas (strategy call)

No. Stop everything for the license and you stop booking the shoots you could take this week, over a four-word question. The license isn’t what’s worth money. The gap in your market is, and you can cover it this week without owning a drone.

It’s the gap that’s worth something, not the license

Nobody near you doing drone: that’s worth moving on fast, because you’d be the only package with aerials in it.

Everybody doing it: drone is a bonus inside the package, not a reason to hire you. The license gets you to even, not ahead.

Tonight, open 20 new listings near you and count the ones with aerials. That number tells you more about whether Part 107 is worth it than any thread will.

Dominic’s market is central Texas. Yours might look nothing like it. The count is the only thing that tells you which market you’re in, and it takes twenty minutes.

Agents don’t buy drone. They buy the package with drone in it.

Here’s why selling drone on its own is the wrong move, even after you’re licensed.

Drone alone should be $200 to $300. A pilot runs $100 an hour, minimum. And agents still won’t pay a $199 add-on. They’ll skip it and wonder why the photographer up the road includes it.

The $199 add-on is the trap. It turns drone into a decision she has to make, and the decision she makes is no.

So it goes inside the package. My sheet is $390, $999 and $1,499. There’s no drone line on it. The aerials are just in there, and nobody has to decide whether to pay for them.

In ten years of listing houses I never asked whether the drone shots were legal. I asked whether they were in the package. That’s the only question she’s actually asking you.

I never asked whether the drone shots were legal. I asked whether they were in the package.

Hire a Part 107 pilot at $75 a shoot

Now how to have drone in your package this week without owning a drone.

Post in a local Facebook group: anyone near you with a Part 107, $75 a shoot. Two plain sentences. You’ll get replies.

See their certificate, and ask your insurance agent whether your policy covers a hired pilot. Their five drone shots go in your package. Never tell an agent you have a gear gap; she doesn’t need to know who flew.

Five shots is enough. She wants the house from above and the lot around it, not a highlight reel.

The license pays for itself the month you stop handing $75 a shoot to somebody else. Book the exam for next month, not this week, and keep booking shoots in the meantime.

Don’t stop everything for the license. Hire a pilot at $75 a shoot and book the exam.

The big lesson

"Do you do drone?" is a question about your package, not your license.

Do this

This week: find one Part 107 pilot at $75 a shoot and put five drone shots in your package. Book the exam for next month.

The three-package sheet I send agents

Put your numbers in it before your next booking. Free. Then take the sixty-second roadmap quiz and I tell you what to fix first.

Get the sheet Get my roadmap

Straight answers

Is a Part 107 license worth it for real estate photographers?: Yes, eventually, and it pays for itself the month you stop paying a hired pilot $75 a shoot. It isn’t worth stopping bookings for. Hire a pilot now and book the exam for next month.
How much should I charge for drone photos in real estate?: Drone alone should be $200 to $300, and agents mostly won’t pay it as an add-on. Put the aerials inside the package instead, with no separate drone line.
Can I offer drone photos without a Part 107 license?: Yes, by hiring a licensed pilot. Post in a local group for a Part 107 pilot at $75 a shoot, check the certificate, and confirm your insurance covers a hired pilot.