Selling million dollar homes is a sure way to bring home a large commission check. But selling “luxury” homes (defined today as those in excess of $1,000,000) takes work to gather all the marketing ingredients necessary to stimulate interest from a selected set of buyers. “What we do is just give the client all the information and they make a decision” says Miami realtor, Mirce Curkoski.
More and more the discussion of luxury home marketing turns to aerial photography as a “need to have” rather than a “nice to have” item in the sales package. This requirement has led the real estate community to quickly educate themselves on the options for capturing promotional aerial views of their homes.
Looking at real estate sales by the numbers (and with a broad “rounding” brush):
– There are 5 million homes sold in the United States annually.
– Of these sales, 100,000 or (2%) are categorized as “luxury” sales, exceeding a price tag of one million dollars.
– Real estate commission rates are five percent or $50,000 (for the one million dollar house)
– Realtors generate more than $5 billion annually from the sale of “luxury” properties.
With $5 billion in commissions in play, realtors will do whatever is necessary to get prospective buyers in the door. DRONELIFE believes that this will translate into over $10 million in aerial photography service fees in 2016 in the United States. DRONELIFE expects that 35% of all “luxury” home sales in 2016 will include drone footage and that all but 5% (where the drone is owned by the realtor) will be through business relationships with aerial photography service providers. The $10 million math: 30,000 drone jobs @ $350/home (average price charged for real estate images and video clips).
So how are realtors finding service providers? Most service providers have a website where a realtor can see their portfolio of images and video in the real estate category. DRONELIFE offers a national service for realtors and other service seekers called JobForDrones.com. This service allows for an immediate introduction to a service provider based on the proximity of the job.
Alan is serial entrepreneur, active angel investor, and a drone enthusiast. He co-founded DRONELIFE.com to address the emerging commercial market for drones and drone technology. Prior to DRONELIFE.com, Alan co-founded Where.com, ThinkingScreen Media, and Nurse.com. Recently, Alan has co-founded Crowditz.com, a leader in Equity Crowdfunding Data, Analytics, and Insights. Alan can be reached at alan(at)dronelife.com
great post, great jobs.
If you charge for the use of your drone for commercial purposes then yes it is illegal…if you charge for the editing of the stills and video you take then you are not breaking any laws! That’s the loophole!
Ps….there are also fine involved….of up to $25,000.00 per incidence…from what I’ve heard!
In reference to the drone footage being sold and marketed….you’d better check the FAA website. It’s not legal unless you are (1) a FAA certificated licensed pilot….that’s just one of MANY of the prerequisites of the legality to sell your footage! Check out(2) section 333 exemption…(3).you also must register the aircraft and get approvals from the FAA? (4)Also you must notify them if you are going to fly it 3 days prior to each flight…address….and a whole lot more!!! (5)a certificate of authorization….just to name a few”!!!! Go to the FAA.gov website! It’s pretty in depth!
Interesting speculation on the near future of UAV aerial photography services demand. I recently contacted a local real estate broker who I know in Santa Barbara, CA to ask about his need for aerial marketing shots. The person he hires for quad shots is the same person who does his still shots; a real estate photographer who is well established in the area.
I’m now wondering if someone like myself without a real estate photography background stands a chance at getting jobs solely for aerial work, when established photographers who own quads are offering this service in addition to the standard still shots portfolio for their clients.
Will it be a matter of undercutting the pro photographers on price? I’m thinking only time will tell and the important thing is to just get myself out there and see what happens. Waiting for the 3DR Solo to come on the market as a possible serious photo quad to purchase. Want to read a few reviews first and compare it to the DJI Inspire. Standing by…but not for long. Ready to jump in!
Good luck! For now, there is certainly room for new people to establish themselves as aerial photographers alongside veterans of the photography industry.