Thought I would tell you what the photography forum has done for me...

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Spit

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Joined
8 Nov 2003
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Location
Yorkshire
I have been an active member on here for about 3 years since I had a Kodak digital compact LS633. I had no interest in photography before then and found a great forum (here) to show my photos off and get feedback.

I then progreesed to a Canon 300d, 20d and now a 30d. I have entered every round of the competition for the last 2 years and won the "scale" round and have had good marks in various other rounds.

About a year ago me and my GF decided to use our skills that we have developed to set up a business. We decided that we would set up an online estate agency covering Beverley and the surrounding villages. We would offer all traditional services but most of all decent PHOTOGRAPHY!

We launched in January with 1 property and at the end of this week we will have 52 (on the website, in the pipeline and with about 15 sold) properties which is a phenomenal achievement.

I have taken all the photos for our business and we are at:

www.help2move.co.uk

When I see photos like this at our competitors it just amazes me. Selling your biggest asset, would you be happy with a photo like this PHOTO

Anyway, just wanted to say thank you to everyone on the board that has given advice and happy snapping.
 
Yeah I forgot to mention that I use the Canon 10-22mm on all the shots. We have a disclaimer on there so we are not deceiving anyone.

To say its most peoples biggest asset the quality of the coverage is appalling.

Thanks :)
 
I know what you mean. The reason it goes to an IP address is because we use Vebra software for our property management. They host the properties and everytime you go to a property is goes to their website. If you look at estate agents in your area you will notice the majority use Vebra and unfortunately we do loose a bit of control there.

I will check the floor plan issue, thank you.
 
mrk said:
Congrats on that, on a similar note I have been planning (still ongoing) for a while now to get together a similar sort of venture but involving cars!

A toast to the future!
Click to expand...

Go for it!
 
Rikki said:
I had the same initial thought (self pimping) but then thought "well its not like this guy is trying to sell things to people on here" :D
Click to expand...

Thanks.

It is a genuine post about something Im passionate about. Sorry if it looks any different.
 
Great stuff! There is definitely a market for this stuff. We have proved it ourselves. Anyone with good photography, IT skills and communication skills can run a successful estate agency and the big boys just cant compete.
 
Cheers for the encouragement.

We launched on the 1st December last year with an advert in the local paper telling everyone we were new. We put a false property on to start with. Basically the phone did not ring all December! A lady down the road we know had had her house on with another agent for 9 months with no luck. We called to see her and she basically said her have a go and sacked the other agent. We got her house early January and came up with a plan to tidy up and we did the viewings. We sold it in 3 weeks! During that time another couple of people asked what we were doing and we got them. We also advertised every fortnight in the local press(every week now).

The biggest draw that we used was to charge 0.5% commision.

Since then it has just snowballed really.

If you have any other questions let me know.
 
Just launching 3 more today!

We work from a log cabin in the garden. It has everything in there (filing cabinets, laptop, desks, phone, big 100Kg A3 colour laser printer, shelfing etc) and if we go out anywhere we divert the phone to mobiles.

We started about 5 months before we launched preparing. Getting qualifications for the NAEA, OFT, Ombudsman etc as we wanted to do it right. Got our stationary done to a very high standard. The watercolour on the front of the website is on all our stationary, that was commisioned to a local artist and we bought the copyright. Got the FOR SALE boards manufactured and ready.

I already have another business but I believe if you put the time in to begin with it will pay off as people see you are professional.

I must say that Rightmove is the king for enquiries we get. The For sale boards come 2nd, then press and then other portals. Considering the amount of properties we have its fairly cheap to run each month (overheads) for an estate agency.

Its hard work but enjoyable.

Sorry if its a bit rambling but im just putting it down as it comes to mind.

Let me know of you want anything else.

Ps. We also make our brochures look 10 times better than anyone else. I always put my own blue sky in peoples photos as well to brighten them up.
 
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