so ive been flying for about two years now, mostly just recreational stuff and some landscape photography for fun. recently a friend who does real estate suggested i look into shooting properties on the side and i honestly hadnt thought about it much before that conversation.

i got my part 107 last spring which i know is the main thing you need, and my gear is decent enough ? flying a mini 3 pro right now which i know some people say isnt good enough for professional work but the image quality seems fine to me? anyway im just wondering if anyone here actually does real estate drone work and whether its a sustainable side income or more of a hustle that never really takes off (no pun intended lol). also curious how you even find clients, like do you just cold call agencies or is there a better way to get in the door

i did real estate work for about 18 months and honestly it depends heavily on your market. if youre in a mid to large city with a lot of listings moving, you can absolutely pull decent side income ? i was doing maybe $400-600 extra a month after a few months of building contacts. the mini 3 pro is totally fine by the way, agents arent asking for spec sheets, they just want clean footage that makes the house look good.

the way i got most of my clients was just reaching out directly to agents on instagram and linkedin honestly. felt awkward at first but a few said yes pretty quick. the main thing nobody tells you is how last minute the requests come in, like youll get a text at 9pm asking if you can shoot at 8am tomorrow and if you say no too many times they move on to someone else. that scheduling thing burned me out a little which is why i shifted to doing more commercial work eventually but as a starting point its solid

yeah my brother in law does this, he says the mini 3 pro is fine for 90% of real estate clients. some of the higher end luxury listings want something with a bigger sensor but that market is smaller anyway