Why Real Estate Agents Think Drone Photos Should Cost $20 (And How to Educate Them)

Hello fellow pilots! How are you doing today? This article of today, let me tell you, is harder to write for one very specific and special condition that I have and I CAN BET that no other writer on DroneXL.co shares with me: I am a registered real estate agent here in Ecuador.

Surprised?

Well, since I moved here to Ecuador in 2017, I’ve tried many different kinds of jobs. Of course I’ve been a photographer since 1997, but usually when you flee into another country because your life is at risk in your original one, you’re not exactly “picky” regarding what you do for a living. I’ve been a line cook (and in Norway too, but that’s another story for another article), salesman, bodyguard, chauffeur, real estate agent, photographer, videographer and—of course—drone pilot.

During the first few years as a drone pilot, my main source of income came from doing aerial photography and video of land for sale! My first videos were close to awful, as you can see here

I was basically the aerial equivalent of a toddler with a disposable camera—lots of enthusiasm, questionable results. But eventually, when I started studying, I got better

It’s like that old saying: “Practice makes perfect.” Although in drone photography, it’s more like “Practice means fewer tree collisions and less footage of your own shadow running around like a panicked ant.”

And while shooting those properties, an offer from the owners of the agency came to me: “Would you like to be a real estate agent?” And I just said: “Why not?” 6 months later I was here sporting a shiny new real estate license and wondering if I should get business cards with “Jack of All Trades, Master of Flying Things” printed on them.

And when I tell you that I know firsthand the reason why Real Estate Agents think Drone Photos should cost $20, TRUST me: I’m one of them.

But not one of the ones that think the work of drone pilots should be paid that low, just one of their species. Like that weird cousin at family reunions who everyone is related to but nobody quite understands.

And actually, there are a lot of “valid” reasons why they think that:

The reasons

First of all, usually when drone pilots start looking for clients, they offer a free sample. In a place with lots of pilots, that could create a fake sense of excessive offerings to shoot a property (or various) for the incredible amount of 0 dollars. It’s the aerial photography equivalent of those sample cheese cubes at the grocery store—once everyone’s had a free taste, they’re shocked when asked to pay for the whole block.

Second: desperation brings starvation. A starving pilot that just wants to put food on his table will not charge for what he knows and the benefits he’s providing to the agency or the realtor, but will charge any amount that will help him feed his family. Even if that number is as low as 20 bucks. We’ve all been there—counting our drone batteries AND our pennies at the same time.

Third: many people just charge:

• For the hour
• For the amount of pictures

But have never thought about the VALUE

For me, it’s absolutely unacceptable to sell a house using cell phone shots where you can’t choose aperture of the diaphragm, bracketing or even raw shooting. Or changing the lens to a specific focal length for a special take. Using a smartphone to sell luxury real estate is like trying to win a Formula 1 race with a golf cart—technically, it has wheels, but come on!

And it’s the sum of these factors, adding, of course, composition and storytelling, that creates the real value that you give them… because what you’re giving them are not just photos. They’re images crafted to make the client drool and to help the agent be a step closer to closing on the property. We’re not just “taking pictures”—we’re creating the visual equivalent of real estate poetry that makes viewers think, “I need to live there or my life is incomplete.”

But we, as artists, need to learn how to explain that to RE agents. We need to educate them. We need to show them how much of a super asset to their business we can be. Think about it: the average real estate commission on a $500,000 house might be $15,000. If our drone work helps sell that house even ONE DAY faster, how much is that worth? A lot more than twenty bucks and a “thanks, Rafa” text message!

The irony is that the same agent who balks at paying $200 for professional drone work won’t think twice about spending $300 on dinner with a potential client. One lasts a few hours, the other lives forever in their marketing materials. Go figure!

We need to learn HOW TO SPEAK TO THE AGENT

In the end, for us it’s way easier to tell them, “Oh yeah, flying a drone is SO easy, why don’t YOU try it?” and watch them crash their Mini SE in sport mode against their own car… but isn’t it better when we do our job and are well paid? The sound of a drone propeller is nice, but the sound of proper payment hitting your bank account is even sweeter.

If we learn how to show them our value, they will think twice about those $20 and start adding one, maybe two more zeros to that number. After all, we’re not just drone pilots—we’re airborne artists, flying marketers, and hovering storytellers all rolled into one incredibly efficient package.

And what has been the worst RE agent that you have worked with? Let me know in the comments. My bet is they probably asked if you could “just add a swimming pool” to the backyard photos or “make the neighbors’ junk pile disappear” with your “drone Photoshop.”