Real Estate Drones 101

Benefits of Drones in Real Estate

Reexaming how drone photography is used

It's important for Real Estate Professionals to move away from the idea that drone images of a home are supposed to be taken from 400 feet in the air. With a good drone photographer, he/she should be able to take all images on the outside of the home, thus eliminating the need for another photographer for the exterior. As you can see from the above image, drone photography should be up-close-and-personal. This is what will elevate your listing to the next level. A professional drone photographer can capture beautiful, intimate shots of your listing that cannot be done from the ground. Reexamining drone photography as the primary course to showcase your listing, is something we should all take a more serious look at going forward.

Homes with real estate drone photography sell faster

Whether we're in a buyers or a seller’s market, you’ll still want to market your home as best you can to get the highest possible offers. According to MLS data, homes that incorporated aerial photos in a real estate listing sold at a 68% faster rate. Homes with normal photographs sold at a 32% higher rate than one's with no pictures. With this in mind, hiring a professional drone photographer to take aerial photos of your home will likely attract the attention of more buyers, increase your chance of selling your home faster and get you asking price or more.

Real estate drone photography provides a comprehensive look at the build

One of the best things about drone photography is the chance to show off the love you put into your home’s build. Maybe you’ve invested in imported tile on the roof, have solar panels installed, or had custom backing added. Real estate drone photography not only highlights these intricate features, but also provides greater justification if you are listing at a higher price point.

Aerial photography can highlight an amazing view

If your home is located near the water, mountains or valleys, capturing the view with real estate drone photography will help make your listing stand out. For example, if you own a home with a view of the Cascade mountains or backs up to BLM land, you can include a photo of those in the background. Having a listing that feature views can show potential buyers what makes the home so special.

Special Features

If your home is located near the water, mountains or valleys, capturing the view with real estate drone photography will help make your listing stand out. For example, if you own a home near the Umpqua River, you can include a photo of the river in the background as an obvious selling point. The property may backup to BLM land. That's something you'll want to show with an aerial photo or video. Having a listing that features views can show potential buyers what makes the home so special.

Video Tours of the Property

Although it's nice to have several still images of a large rural property from high in the air, it can sometimes be difficult to put it all together and make sense of which way is up if you're not familiar with the property. Taking advantage of a video tour can put everything in perspective. Whether piecing together some short videos into one or watching a "fly-by" or "orbit" around the the property can make all the difference.

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), real estate videos result in more property inquiries:

Property listings with videos get 403% more inquiries than those without them.

Beyond real estate photographers and Realtors, consumers know that video is an effective marketing tool too. Home sellers prefer to list with agents who will use video to sell their homes.

73% of homeowners say they are more likely to list with an agent who uses video than one who doesn't.

Real estate drone photography is overall better marketing

While you can choose to go with a professional photographer inside the home, real estate drone photography may take your listing to the next level on the outside. By incorporating drone photography, you are able to position your listing in a way that’s unique to its competitors, potentially close at a faster rate, and showcase what makes your home perfect for buyers – overall taking your real estate listing from ordinary to extraordinary.

Photo provided by Seattle Home Photography

Accuracy

Arguably, one of the most critical steps in selling a home is taking pictures. These shots are traditionally taken from the perspective of a person standing in a driveway, garden, back yard, etc. When combined with some textual descriptions, these photos can give potential home buyers a basic idea of what the property looks like and how it is laid out, but still leaving some of these relationships to the imagination. Using drones for aerial photography in real estate can show the buyer a much more accurate, and way cooler depiction of what the property is actually like.

Storytelling

Better storytelling is the key to winning more listings and selling more homes. Buyers want to know what they are getting into and sellers want to list their property with winning agents who have all of the latest tools of the trade. The most widely known database of properties for sale is the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) which references several details about using aerial shots as the, “Featured” photo. From a professional standpoint, organizations like the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) indicate that using drones for real estate is quickly becoming the industry’s new normal and innovative companies are using drones for real estate to attract savvy clientele. If you haven’t considered using drones for real estate yet, achieve the competitive advantage now by hiring a professional.