For regular listings, it is a professional photographer. Not for BPO/REO.

Ashley -- also forgot to mention that offering professional photography at a listing appointment is a big incentive to many sellers who see second rate photos on the web.

We are professionals, and sometimes we hire others to take the photos, really depends on the property.

Professional photographer.

I take my own.

Professional

I hire a professional photographer every time if I have a listing for a luxury home. In our market and in my opinion, that would be anything above the $600,000 market. I would consider hiring a professional photographer for any home that is unusual and priced to sell, especially with a Seller that will do staging and is otherwise cooperative. I would not hire a professional photographer to show off a home that is not in top showing condition.

I do all my own photography for listings that are remote or when the cost of a professional photographer is out of line with the potential commission.

I have a listing for a piece of land that is ALL boulders and rock outcroppings. It is 17+ acres and I cannot get to all of it to photograph it. Here is a blog post I wrote about it.

In the blog post, the big boulder with the cracks in it is around 60 feet tall.

Now that I am just getting it renewed, I am hiring a professional photographer with a drone to fly over it to show it off.

I hire a professional for $149.00.  Includes virtural tour, traffic report, fliers, 25 photos.  I used to take my own photots but I get so much more with the service.

I hire a professional always, no matter the property or the price point.  I use different services depending on the uniqueness of the property and the price point, but it's always a professional taking the photos and videos.

Take my own...not hard if you take your time.

I always, but always do professional photography. I use Tour Factory. I pay $30/month and about $75/photo session on average (more if a much larger home). They do all the work for me and my time cost would be much higher than what I pay them to do it myself and I would never have photos half as good as what they do for me.

I take my own. Sometimes the owners take some they want me to use, but some owners aren't very good photographers, so I have to explain the importance of using quality photos.

One of the Realtors on my team is a professional photographer. He does an excellent job. He also does marketing and is paid through the escrow when the property is sold.

Ashley,

Our clients negotiate a flat price per house, no per photo, and not by the hour.  They also own the photos.  I would recommend a professional.

It's usually a flat fee that we have negotiated before our first home.

Ashley Alred - I hire professional to take pictures. The fees depend on the size of the home and number of pictures, including Panoramas.

I hire a professional to photograph my for sale listings.  I photograph my lease listings.  On occasion, the property owner will supply photos they've taken.  This can sometimes be good or not so good.

When I hire a professional, it is for a flat fee.  Hourly can tend to make people work at a more leisurely pace.

I take my own photos and do my own editing.  I teach other agents how to take listing photos, so this is routine for me.

Regardless of who you hire, you get what you pay for.  I'd start by finding out if real estate photos are the specialty of whatever professional you are interviewing for the job.  I've met "professionals" who specialized in wedding photos or wildlife photography and didn't have a clue about how to do real estate shots or architectural photography.

I use to take my own photos, but the photographers here only charge $35-$40 for about 30 photos.  They look better than mine so I pay for it.

i take my own and take really good ones. I use professional equipment and editing and my sellers are very happy. I know exactly how I want it presented and leaving it to the paid professionals, they do it their way or I have to be their showing them and so decided to learn to do it myself.

Ashley, we take our own photos now with a Nikon D-5200 and it gives us the exact shots that we want.  We found unless we tagged along and suggested certain shots we were not quite getting the photos we wanted for the money.  Also many sellers are notorious for not being ready with their house when they say they will be and time is money with a professional photographer when you have to move clutter out of the way.