Pricing for Real Estate Photography
This article will layout how to price your real estate photography services perfectly for your market. I’ll also share my own pricing structure with a description of the market I live in as a reference guide.
Pricing for real estate photography all comes down to knowing your market and properly valuing your skill set. In addition to this article, we’ve also created a Real Estate Photography Pricing Calculator to help you evaluate your market and skill level.
Table of Contents
Pricing for Real Estate Photography
Introduction to Pricing for Real Estate Photography
First of all, there isn’t a simple answer like “$150 per shoot” or “$20 per photo.” However, with just a little bit of research and guidance you’ll be able to create your own competitive pricing for real estate photography model.
Many new real estate photographers come into the industry with very low prices. I’ll admit, when I first started, I was pricing myself too low as well. It wasn’t until a very kind realtor told me that I could easily be charging $30 more per shoot that I realized the true value of my skill set.
Most real estate agents will earn around 3% – 6% commission on every sale. If they are selling a $300k house, that’s $9k- $18k profit. Your photos play a vital role in helping them sell the home. I like to say this to realtors I work with: “My photos get people in the door. You make the sale.”
This Redfin Study proves that your photos hold tremendous value. Remember this when your deciding on your pricing structure. Real estate photography is only growing in demand as well. Just look at how much Zillow has grown over the past decade and you can see the true power of real estate photography.
Knowing that real estate photography is not just currently in demand but growing as well means that pricing for real estate photography should continue to rise.
Know Your Market: It Determines the Pricing for Real Estate Photography
The first step in figuring out how much to charge for your real estate photography services is researching your market. The amount of money charged for a 3000 sqft house in San Fransisco, California is going to be quite a bit more than a 3000 sqft house in Toledo, Ohio.
You need an understanding of your market rather than just trusting a random person online sharing their prices. You can learn your market with these 2 easy tips:
- Research your competition
- Ask any realtors or real estate industry professionals you might know
Research Your Competition
A quick Google search for “Real Estate Photographers Near me” can help you find out how much real estate photographers in your area are charging. In my experience, it’s about 50/50 whether real estate photographers will have their prices listed.
Any sort of pricing you can find will help since it will show you the range that your competition is charging. If you can’t find a real estate photographer listing their prices in your area, branch your search out to a similar sized city or town that’s relatively close to you.
As you search for the prices of other photographers make sure to take note of their skill level and the quality of their photos as well. You’ll be pricing your services on both your market and the quality of your photos.
Do not simply research the competition and undercut all the photographers in your area. Price yourself exactly where your skill level puts you in the market. You’ll need to be critical of your work, but it will be worth it in the long run.
If you put in the work to produce great images, your prices should indicate that. Likewise, if you just plan to offer basic services and aren’t looking to blow anyone away with your image quality, price yourself accordingly.
Ask Realtors and Industry Professionals
If you happen to know a real estate agent in your area, then you’re probably in luck. Ask them what they usually pay for professional photography and you’ll have another reference for your markets pricing.
Make sure you know this realtor well enough to ask this question though. Reaching out to pseudo acquaintances and asking how much they pay for photography could easily backfire if they decided to tell their realtor friends.
If you don’t know any real estate agents, look to other industry professionals. It’s not just realtors that pay for real estate photography. Plenty of people need photos of their homes for various reasons.
Know anyone that owns and rents out an apartment? Someone that works for a corporate real estate company? Think about your network of friends and family and see if anybody deals with real estate. If they do, chances are they’ll have some idea of pricing, or they’ll know who to ask.
Creating Your Real Estate Photography Pricing and Packages
After you’ve finished your research and nailed down your market value, it’s time to put together your own pricing and packages. I’d urge against charging per hour and instead offer a list of services. I think it will be easiest and the most helpful if I simply share my prices and packages with you.
For market context, I live and work in a midsized U.S. city of roughly 300k and offer my services the greater area totaling roughly 1 million. I’ve slowly increased my prices over the years and consider my images to be high quality compared to my competition, allowing me to charge more.
Real Estate Photography Pricing and Packages
Photography:
Basic (10 photos) – $100
Standard (20-25 photos) – $140
Premium (Full Photo Coverage) – $165
Drone:
Basic (1 photo) – $50
Standard (3 photos) – $85
Premium (Full Aerial Photo Coverage) – $120
Video (30 – 60 second video) – $145
Videography:
Basic (Highlight Main Living Areas) – $175
Standard – (Full Video Walkthrough) – $225
Premium – (Full Video Walkthrough + Aerial Video) – $275
Packages:
Basic (12 photo + 1 aerial photo) – $150
Standard (20-25 photos + 3 aerial photos) – $200
Premium (Full Photo Coverage + Full Aerial Coverage) – $250
Elite (Full Photo, Video, and Aerial Coverage) – $500
Twilight:
Basic (Exterior Only) – $100
Standard (Exterior + Main Living Areas) – $200
As you can see, I put the most value in my packages. With aerial photography becoming a must have in real estate listings, I wanted to package that together with traditional photography, offering the client a way to save some money.
The most popular shoots for my clients are my Photography: Standard and my Packages: Premium. The standard photography is usually for properties like townhomes and condos. The premium package is very common for my higher end realtor clients.
Additional Resources
My top recommendation would be to not undervalue yourself. Likewise, undercutting your competition only lowers the overall value of real estate photography in general. Check out our Real Estate Photography Pricing Calculator to get a good starting point.
Be sure to check out our Beginners Guide. It’s full of articles with helpful ideas and tips exactly like this one. Our Business Resources page has all the resources you’ll need to get your Real Estate Photography business started on the right path.
Additionally, if you are looking for real estate photography courses to help you learn more, check out our article Best Real Estate Photography Classes.
Finally, go check out our Gear page to get up-to-date reviews and recommendations on todays best gear for Real Estate Photography.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a fair price to charge for photography?
In terms of real estate photography, the minimum that should be charge is likely to be around $100 and the maximum could be around $1000. It all depends on what the client wants.
How do I price my photography?
Photography pricing is determined by a mix of the market and the photographers skill set. Larger markets mean higher prices. The same can be said about photographers that produce higher quality images.