Go Drone Video Productions

This video was created by Wendy Cole and Sam Silverstein. Wendy Cole is editor and managing director of REALTOR® Magazine. Sam Silverstein is a writer-producer for the

National Association of REALTORS® based in Washington. He develops articles and videos for NAR's members and others interested in its activities, statistics and research.

According to the former National Association of Realtors President Tom Salomone, Drone technology offers a tremendous opportunity for the business of real estate and the broader economy. One day soon, drone aerial photography in real estate listings may be a minimum requirement in many markets.

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Today, the latest marketing weapon in real estate is the use of dramatic camera drone photography & video tours in online listings. Some agents claim that drones are the most important new technology to enter real estate marketing since the internet. 

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They are also taking shots of homes never before imagined, Like… flying down onto a property from 1,000 feet in the air; highlighting the details of a large, expensive property in dramatic form; then, flying fast 2 feet above a driveway right up to the front door!

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According to MLS statistics, homes with aerial images sold 68 percent faster than homes with standard images. Video tours that incorporate drone footage are also a great way to make your property stand out and to attract new listings. According to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), 73 percent of homeowners say that they are more likely to list with a real estate agent who uses video to market their home; however, only 9 percent of agents create listing videos. An Australian real estate group reported seeing a 403 percent increase in traffic for listings that included video as compared to listings without.

 

Are Drones Worth It?
Some of you might be thinking, “Is it really worth it for me to pay someone to take aerial photos and video of my listing?” Let’s look at some numbers.

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Let’s keep things simple and assume the price of the average home you sell is $350,000 (the approximate average as of October 2016), the total commission is 6 percent, your brokerage gets 3 percent, and you end up with 1.5 percent (half of the 3 percent). That’s $5,250 for you per transaction. Let’s also assume you close 11 transactions per year (NAR average for 2015). That’s an annual salary of $57,750.

Now let’s say you begin to incorporate aerial photos and videos into your marketing plan for your listings. If we go off of the statistic that homes sell 68 percent faster when using aerial imagery and that 73 percent of homeowners prefer to list with an agent who uses video, we can be conservative and say that you could attract 50 percent more listings and close 50 percent more deals—pushing the 11 transactions to approximately 17, which would result in an annual income of $89,250 in our scenario, an increase of $31,500.

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The average cost of hiring a drone pilot to shoot and edit varies by the size of the property and the area you are in, but the average is about $500. If you use a drone pilot for each of the 17 listings, it will cost you approximately $8,500. That is a net increase of $23,000 per year ($31,500 minus $8,500) from deciding to incorporate drones, a return on investment of 270 percent.

Drone Real Estate Service Features in Georgia:

• Create more dramatic and compelling images

• Create more interesting virtual tours

• Highlight more property features

• Generate new business

• Out-market the competition

• Buyers of multi-million dollar homes often shop online first, so they expect high-quality photography and video in the online listing or they won’t bite

• It’s hard to argue that in the luxury property market, drone photography has upped the real estate marketing game in a big way.