Real estate agents have taken realty marketing to a whole new level. With competition getting stiffer in pursuit of more sales, visual display of property has become a very key factor that needs the highest touch of excellence for better results. Real estate photography is sowing new heights thanks to the hero of the day, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or better known as drones.

Potential home buyers are looking for more visual information before they can make an investment in their dream homes. UAV technology allows buyers to have a visual aerial tour of the property and the surrounding environment.

What standard cameras wouldn’t be able to capture can now be captured through drones. At 400 feet high height, aerial photographs of homes, landmarks, local scenery, public amenities, roads, and the entire neighborhood at large can now be captured and this is precisely what buyers are looking for in their pursuit to purchase a dream home.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, Vimeo, and LinkedIn have become an active hub with millions of active subscribers, most of whom are triggered to make home purchases driven by perfectly packaged and well-presented visual image marketing portfolios of property.

Email marketing and newsletters, digital flyers and brochures, and blogs of real estate agencies are also key platforms where agents can market their property offer using drone captured aerial photographs.

Drone captured aerial photographs of a neighborhood’s night and day life, traffic, celebrations, events, and culture add more value to a property on sale as buyers are able to visualize the real-life events they will experience while residing there.

Drone aerial photography services are now regulated by established regulatory bodies in different states. Commercial drone operators need to adhere to set out rules. Some of the common rules include:

• A pilot operating a drone shouldn’t be controlling it while in a moving vehicle.
• Drone should not be flown over people.
• Drones should be flown within a visual line of sight at all times.
• Drones can only be flown at daytime.
• The maximum flight speed should be 100mph.
• Drone pilots must be licensed with the relevant authorities before taking to the skies.
• Drones shouldn’t be flown in restricted areas such as airports among other listed restricted areas.

Initially, real estate agents would have to hire choppers to get aerial shots of their properties and this would cost huge sums of money. With drone aerial photography gaining more popularity and proving to be more resourceful and productive, hiring choppers has now become a thing of the past.

Hiring a professional drone photographer costs a few hundred dollars and the quality of shots captured is quite exceptional compared to using choppers.

Gone are the days of top-down standard camera home photographs. Drones can capture a property’s aerial photos from all angles, from the ground up, front and back, over the sides and the entire acreage surrounding the home. Spatial relationships can now be easily determined.

You can now capture roofs, yards, pools, parking lots, playgrounds, house boundaries and fences in great angles that make an urgent appeal to buyers to acquire ownership of that property.

Having said all that, it’s important for real estate agents to understand that getting outstanding photographs for their property relies greatly on the drone photographer they choose to do the job. While hiring a drone photographer, marketing agents should look out for:

• Drone licenses for adherence with state regulations.
• A demo reel or portfolio displaying previous work done.
• Valid certificates proving professional drone flight training.
• A clear understanding of safety rules and operating procedures.
• Excellent planning and implementation skills.
• Drone insurance covers for liabilities.

Needless to say, it’s clear that real estate marketing is improving by the day. Traditional marketing techniques have been overtaken. Drone photography is the present and the future for realty marketing. To the real estate agents, save yourself the hustle. Hire a drone and market your property to the top with outstanding aerial photography.