sabrina huang's photo blog

Flash Photography For Real Estate

I have been looking for a Real Estate Photography workshop since two years ago when I started to become more serious about Photography.  No luck.  I did find a couple of Architectural Photography workshops but they were all out of state and some of them even require previous experience.  Although I did have a Photographer willing to have a private class for me, the class didn’t happen because I couldn’t find seven Realtors who wanted to sign up for it.  It was very discouraging but I was not ready to give it up.  I see that many Realtors and sellers today are widely accepting the fact that Staging is very important for today’s real estate market, and I believe it won’t be long for them to realize that good photos are equally important.  How could you sell a house for more money in the shortest time if buyers can’t see the values of the house from the photos online?

I came across a blog called Photography For Real Estate (PFRE) – the blog owner Larry is based in Seattle and he helps his Realtor wife shoot all of her listing.  His original target readers were other Realtors but recent surveys have shown that the majority were Photographers, which surprised him (I wasn’t surprised).   Then he started the PFRE Flickr group, where people from all over the world could share their experiences and opinions.

Last month I noticed that he is going to have a one-day flash light photography for real estate with Photographer Scott Hargis and Thomas Grubba in Seattle in April -- I signup right away.  I know that using multiple flash lights will be more efficient, easy to carry and setup, and also more economical than using a softbox.

There was a cocktail gathering the night before the workshop for people to meet and chat, especially since some people already “know” each other from all their Flickr discussions.  We had 30 people coming from all over the country for this workshop (two from Canada), 4 females and I am guessing that more than 2/3 were Photographers.

The day of workshop started at 8am for breakfast where organizer Ron Kenney told us the schedule.  Basically we will carpool to a model home in a newly built community.  We will then divide into three groups – one group goes with Scott and Thomas to see the demo of how the flash is setup and the results, one group goes with Phil Meadows for Photoshop and Lightroom demo, and one group goes with the equipment sponsor Bruce from Glaziers to try different cameras and lenses.  Every group has one hour and then rotates.  What I like the most is, of course, the actual flash light setup because I have no idea about flash.  They show us how they would setup the lights and why, and we could see the actual results with different settings.

We were taken back to the hotel for lunch around 1pm.  After lunch, we have another sponsor Stephen Anderson from open2view to show us his services (including photos, virtual tour, elevated photo shoots, floor plan) that was very interesting.  Then Scott answered the most common questions that we have, and Larry shared the business side experiences and the license agreement conflict with MLS.  In the end, Larry asked our thoughts about certain features and plans for the Flickr group.  The schedule ran a little longer than my time allows since I have a plane to catch so I left before the discussion ended.  I am very thankful for Larry, Ron, Scott and Thomas for this wonderful workshop because I got to meet some wonderful people, and I am hoping we will have more workshops in the near future.

ps. The breakfast and lunch in the hotel were great but I forgot to take photos, sorry.

Interior REdesign

I just came back from a 5-day Interior Redesign Course with Ruthanne and Charlie Hatfield of Interior Placement in Napa.  It was an intense but wonderful week because I made some good friends and learned a lot from first-hand experience.

Our base for the class is the Bel Abri Inn, a 15-room B & B style hotel.  It is a great place to stay the next time you are in Napa because it gives you personal services and attention.  They serve you breakfast in bed, and everyday’s breakfast will be different.  They also serve wine and cheese from 5 to 7pm everyday in the lobby.  I met different people in the lobby to share our Napa experience while enjoying some wine.  The room is very nice too - the room is clean and big, the bed is comfortable, the towels are white and soft, they have DVDs that you can borrow from the front desk to watch in your room, and they even have a fireplace in the room.   The hotel is centrally located in a safe area where you can go walking in the early morning.

We have four students and two instructors for this class – Ruthanne teaches the redesign part of the class and Charlie teaches the business part of the class; LoMae and Pam are from Washington, and Kelly is from D.C..  We have in classroom session on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday morning, and all day Wednesday; then we have hands-on redesign activities on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday afternoon.  We transformed three different houses’ living room and the results were amazing.

It wasn’t until I took this class that I realized the differences between Interior Design, Home Staging, and Interior Redesign (or Interior Decorating).  The Interior Design involves manipulating the architectural integrity of the interior space.  The Home Staging focuses on improving a property to make it appeal to the largest number of buyers by transforming it into a welcoming, appealing, and attractive product for sale.  The Interior Redesign focused on using what home owner already have in the house and by rearrange existing furniture, lighting and accessories within a space, create a fresh and inviting new look without buying anything new.

Interior Redesign is a labor-intensive work but within a half day you can transform a room from bad to good, and good to great.  We make a room homier, more inviting and functional by de-cluttering, defining the focal point, rearranging the furniture, and adding lighting and accessories.  The results are always breathtaking and unbelievable, especially when you realized that you didn’t need to buy anything.

We learned many things about Interior Redesign, both the design part and the business part.  Most artistic people have great talent on design but are not really good on how to actually run a business.  This class covers all aspects that you need to know to start an Interior Redesign and Staging business.  This is predominately a women driven business, and we as women should help and support each other to grow and be successful.  If you believe what I believe, which is that the biggest competition is within myself, then I feel free to share information about this business with others. 

This business is not like being a Realtor where you only get paid when the transaction is closed, which can take three months or longer.  Being an Interior Redesigner gets paid by the hour or by the project, and it doesn’t require a huge inventory of furniture or accessories to start a business.  I think it is a good idea to add it on my Real Estate Concierge Service since I think many people who own a house need some help to rearrange or decorate their house or they need help to shop for new furniture.  I also think this is a good career for people who have the talent and want to have their own business.  Everything is possible if you want it bad enough. 

Ps. If you are a home owner and interested in redesigning your home or you are a seller and interested to stage your house for sale, and your home is within 45 minutes of Napa Valley, please contact Ruthanne Hatfield of Interior Placement for the details about a complimentary redesign or staging.