Ask the agent
No real estate photography clients yet. Where do I start this week?
It’s a list, not a portfolio. Your camera is ready and four friend shoots is plenty. What’s missing is a sheet of 100 names and a daily number, because a blank Monday turns into a blank week, and a few blank weeks convince you the portfolio is the problem. It isn’t.
Build the 100-name sheet before you touch the portfolio
Type your zip into Zillow and filter Coming Soon. Every listing on it is an agent about to need photos.
Coming Soon is the deadline filter. The house isn’t live yet, the agent is about to need photos, and most of them haven’t booked anyone. That’s the window.
Flag the phone photos and the price cuts. Those agents are on a deadline.
A phone photo on a Coming Soon listing is an agent who hasn’t decided. A price cut on an active one is an agent who decided wrong. Both are on your list.
One row per agent: name, listing, one contact. Stop at 100. Nashville has more than that, and you don’t need them yet.
The sheet is the week’s work. The portfolio is a tab you’ll open later, when someone asks.
Ten first touches a day. That’s the whole rhythm
A list of 100 does nothing sitting in a spreadsheet. Here’s the number that makes it move.
Ten a day is 50 a week and 200 in four weeks. Cold replies run about 1 in 10 to 20. Volume is the game, and the daily number is what keeps the volume honest.
Your four friend shoots didn’t come from a list. They came from people who already knew you. That well has four shoots in it, and you’ve used them.
No daily number means next Monday is blank again.
The number is the only thing that makes Monday different from last Monday. Not a better camera, not a better edit. Ten.
If she can’t answer it in four words from a driveway, it’s too long
The message has to pass one test, and I learned it on the agent side. Every photographer message I answered in ten years, I could answer in four words from a driveway. That’s the bar.
One observation about her listing, one question. "Saw the Maple Ave listing go up with phone photos. You shooting those yourself, or is that the brokerage’s guy?"
No portfolio link, no price. The four friend shoots come out when she asks, not before.
Four shoots is enough to show. It’s not enough to lead with, and you don’t need to. The listing is the subject. You’re the one who noticed it.
The week: Monday, build the sheet. Every weekday, ten messages. Tuesday, one broker open. Calls Monday to Wednesday, never Friday or Sunday.
Friday and Sunday she’s in showings, which is why they’re off the list.
Saw the Maple Ave listing go up with phone photos. You shooting those yourself, or is that the brokerage’s guy?
A blank Monday isn’t a skill problem. It’s a list you haven’t built yet.
Build the 100-name sheet Monday, send ten first touches every weekday, and walk into one broker open on Tuesday.
The agent opener scripts
One observation, one question, and the day 3 and day 10 follow-ups. Free. Then take the sixty-second roadmap quiz and I tell you what to fix first.
Get the scriptsGet my roadmapStraight answers
- How do I get my first real estate photography client?
- Build a list first. Zillow, your zip, Coming Soon filter, flag phone photos and price cuts, 100 rows. Then ten messages a day.
- How many agents should I contact per day as a new real estate photographer?
- Ten first touches a day. That’s 50 a week and 200 in four weeks, against a reply rate of about 1 in 10 to 20.
- Do I need a portfolio before messaging real estate agents?
- No. Four shoots is enough, and they come out when she asks. The message is one observation about her listing and one question, nothing attached.
Related questions
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.