What Agents Should Confirm Before Booking Listing Photography

For Agents

The shoots that run long almost never run long because of the photography. They run long because of something that could have been settled by an email a week earlier.

Booking a real estate photographer goes more smoothly when access, preparation, deliverables, and timing are settled before shoot day.

Here’s the list of things worth confirming before you book, roughly in order of how much time each one costs when it’s missed.

Booking a Real Estate Photographer: What to Confirm

Not “the seller says it’s fine.” Actually ready.

Cleaning and decluttering finished, not scheduled for that morning
Contractors and painters out, with their tools and drop cloths gone
Furniture in its final position if anything is being moved
Pets arranged for
Somebody with keys who will actually be there

The gap between “we’re pretty much ready” and ready is usually about forty minutes, and it comes out of the shooting time.

The cheapest insurance is sending the seller a prep checklist a week out. It’s written to forward as-is.

Building requirements, which is the New York one

This is the category that stops a shoot cold, and it’s entirely preventable.

Certificate of insurance. Many co-ops and condo boards require one from any vendor before the elevator. COIs can take a day or two to arrange, and where a building requires one, no COI can mean no vendor access. Ask management early.
Permitted hours. Plenty of buildings restrict vendor work to weekday business hours. If you were planning a Saturday shoot, find out now.
Amenity access. Roof deck, gym, lounge, courtyard: confirm they can be photographed, that they’ll be unlocked, and that they’ll be empty. A resident in frame is a photo you can’t use.
Freight elevator and service entrance rules where they apply.
Access details. Doorman name, lockbox code, unit number, and a phone number for someone who can solve a problem at 9am.

What you’re actually ordering

Decide the full deliverable list up front so it happens in one visit rather than two.

Photo count which follows from the size and room count of the property
Floor plan consider one for most properties with more than one bedroom
Virtual staging and specifically which rooms: that has to be decided before the shoot, because vacant rooms get photographed differently when staging is planned

Current options and pricing are here.

What matters about this specific property

Nobody can photograph a feature they walked past. Say what’s worth the extra frame:

The renovation, and what was actually renovated
The view, and which windows have it
Original detail: millwork, mantels, plaster, floors
Custom work that cost real money and doesn’t announce itself
Outdoor space
Anything you’ll want for the brochure specifically

Also worth flagging: the parts of the property that are difficult. The dark bedroom, the bathroom with no window, the room the seller doesn’t want photographed. Better to plan for those than to discover them.

Timing against your launch

Work backwards from your live date. Delivery is typically the next business day, so build in room for a reshoot if something goes sideways, and don’t schedule the shoot for the morning of the day you want the listing up.

Also worth checking: which direction the building faces and when the sun hits the front. A west-facing facade booked for a 9am slot is going to be in shadow, and that’s a scheduling problem rather than a photography problem.

The short version

Ready property, building access sorted, deliverables decided, features flagged, and enough runway before launch. Five things, all handled by email, all of them cheaper to do a week early than to solve on the day.

Hudson Heights RES shoots real estate photography, floor plans, and virtual staging across New York City and the nearby metro area, delivery timing is confirmed when you book. Packages and pricing, or get in touch.

Chris Leary is the founder of Hudson Heights RES, which photographs listings across New York City and the nearby metro area.