Is pay-at-closing a good idea for real estate photographers?

Yes, with rules: a higher pay-at-close price, paid through title on the closing statement and due the day a listing expires or is withdrawn, and a cap on open invoices per agent. Without the rules it's a loan.

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Should I offer pay-when-the-house-sells to real estate agents?

An agent asked if she can pay me at closing instead of up front. Everybody in the group says never. But she has eight listings. Is pay-at-close ever smart?Asked by a photographer on Facebook, real estate photographers group (80-comment thread)

Yes, and I do it. Say no and she books the guy who said yes. Say yes with no terms and you’re the bank for a house that sits until spring. Cineminn runs a nothing-today, pay-at-close option, and busy agents book us for it. It has three rules, and the thread skipped every one.

She’s not asking for credit. She’s asking you to think like an agent

Look at how she gets paid. An agent pays for photos, signs and staging out of pocket, and gets paid once, at closing. Every vendor on her listing is a bill she carries until the house sells.

So from her side, pay-at-close isn’t a loan request. It means "you’re on my team until the sale." She’s asking whether you’ll carry the listing with her the way she carries it for the seller.

Say it back to her: "Nothing today. It clears on the closing statement." She hears a partner. Partners get the next listing.

Three rules turn pay-at-close from a loan into a product

I fronted the marketing on every listing for ten years as an agent, and the vendors who waited with me got the next one. That’s why we offer it. Skip one of these rules, though, and you’re the thread’s cautionary tale.

One: a price for waiting. The pay-at-close price is the package price plus a waiting fee you set. She isn’t getting credit. She’s buying time, and time has a price on the sheet like everything else.

Two: paid through title, on the closing statement. Not a check from her; a line on the settlement. And if the listing expires or is withdrawn, it’s due that day. No house, no waiting.

Three: a cap. A fixed number of open pay-at-close invoices per agent, no exceptions. Pick the number before anyone asks, and hold it when the eighth listing comes in.

Pay-at-close isn’t a loan. It’s a product with a price for waiting.

Pay-at-close is earned, not offered on the first listing

Now, who never gets it. That’s where the 80 comments came from. New-to-you agent: card on file, paid today. Pay-at-close opens on the third booking, not the first conversation.

Overpriced and expired twice: no. The house is the collateral, and it isn’t selling. You’d be waiting on a listing the market has already voted on.

Eight listings and she’s paid on time before: offer it on the next one. It’s why she never calls anyone else. The photographer who waits with her is the one a cheaper guy can’t replace.

Here’s the sentence: "Yes. Nothing today. It goes on the closing statement at the pay-at-close price, due if the listing comes off the market." Say it like it’s normal. At our studio it is.

The line

Yes. Nothing today. It goes on the closing statement at the pay-at-close price, due if the listing comes off the market.

The big lesson

The group says never because they priced it like a favor. Price it like a product and it’s why busy agents pick you.

Do this

This week: put your pay-at-close price and the three rules on your price list. Offer it to one agent who has paid on time twice.

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 pay-at-closing a good idea for real estate photographers?: Yes, with rules: a higher pay-at-close price, paid through title on the closing statement and due the day a listing expires or is withdrawn, and a cap on open invoices per agent. Without the rules it’s a loan.
Which agents should get pay-at-close terms?: Agents who have paid on time at least twice. A new-to-you agent is card on file, paid today; pay-at-close opens on the third booking. An overpriced listing that has expired twice never gets it.
How do I offer pay-at-close to an agent?: "Yes. Nothing today. It goes on the closing statement at the pay-at-close price, due if the listing comes off the market." Say it like it’s normal.