Real estate is a tough business, and Ryan Halset* is always looking for that something that will give him an edge.
For one Everett home, that something is a state-of-the-art unmanned aircraft — a drone.
A few months ago, Halset began hiring a photographer to fly a drone over some of the high-end homes he lists, capturing high-definition aerial footage that then can be incorporated into marketing videos.
“I’m trying to be on the front end of the trend,” Halset said.
Halset already uses a variety of marketing strategies to help sell his properties, including professional photos and a video choreographed to a stirring soundtrack.
The Everett home he’s listing now even has its own webpage: www.3431GlacierPeak.com. The drone can swoop over properties, giving a bird’s-eye view and some perspective to the area around a home.
It’s a particularly helpful tool when Halset is working with buyers from other states or overseas, who don’t know the area.
He’s not the first real estate agent to use drones, but it remains a fairly unusual perk he can offer potential sellers.
This listing is a $1.2 million home on 7.5 acres overlooking the Snohomish Valley.
It’s the perfect candidate for drone footage. Potential buyers can see the surrounding property far better from the air.
He hired a Seattle company that specializes in photographing real estate, HD Estates. The company owns the drone, and the pilot is photographer John Gregorits.
“This is one of my favorite parts of my job,” Gregorits said.
The drone, manufactured by DJI, weighs a few pounds and looks like a four-armed star fish with helicopter propellers. In the air, it sounds like an angry swarm of bees.
Gregorits flies it with a hand-held controller that includes a slot for his iPhone. He clips his smart phone into place and he can see exactly what the drone is filming on the phone’s screen.
The $2,500 drone runs on a rechargeable lithium battery.
It can take both video and still photos. It uses a GPS stabilizing system that allows it hover at the same altitude for still shots.
It can zoom up to 800 feet in the air and the controller has about a quarter-mile range, Gregorits said. He does most of his flying in the 60- to 100- foot range.
“That’s high enough to get a good view but close enough to the property to get the detail in what we are shooting,” he said.
Gregorits taught himself to fly the drone. He said it wasn’t hard and most people could pick it up in a day with some practice.
He watched tutorials online and read the instruction manual.
He expects more real estate agents will want to use drones to help market their listings. In the six months his company has offered the service, requests continue to increase.
Creating videos of properties for sale also is becoming more prevalent. He described professionally filmed video as “the future of real estate.”
“We’ve noticed people are using video not just for luxury listings,” he said. “They’ll use them on townhomes and smaller single-family homes because they are trying to be on the cutting edge on what’s popular. They want to get an edge on the competition.”
Whether it’s legal to use drones in this situation is murky.
The FAA says it has the right to regulate drones and unmanned aerial vehicles should not be used for commercial purposes, unless authorized by the agency.
Allen Kenitzer, a spokesman for the FAA, said the agency authorizes unmanned aircraft systems on a case-by-case basis.
“A flight that is not for hobby or recreation requires a certified aircraft, a licensed pilot and operating approval,” he wrote in a prepared response. “To date, two operations have met these criteria, and authorization was limited to the Arctic. The FAA is continuing to review applications from (unmanned aircraft systems) operators as they are received.”
In March, an administrative law judge ruled that the FAA doesn’t clearly have authority to ban commercial use of drones. The FAA has since appealed.
Gregorits said his understanding is that the drone is legal because it was sold as a recreational device and he’s using it only on private property.
Correction, Sept. 9, 2014: Ryan Halset’s name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.
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