I had an exterior where the borrower was obsessing over the cleanliness of his car today. I had driven by once and waited a little while before coming back around as an off duty police officer was across the street. When I came back he was still cleaning the exterior. He was very meticulous in his cleaning. Just so happens there is a vacant REO on the street, three houses down across the street from the house I need to photograph.

So I go inside, check out the house and while on the second floor get all of the shots I need except the street from different bedrooms in the house. Normally I wouldn't go through such measures but it is a nicer area and with the off duty police officer around, I didn't want to attract any extra attention at all.

Any other stories of creativity in getting your photos?

How about telling him to get out of the way as you need pictures taken?
Done it many times, worked every time.

Nah. I don't create scenes anymore. Too many people with short fuses and I've had my share of encounters I don't care to repeat with occupants and law.

I have done like 2 times Realboots suggestions and have worked, yesterday I had a 24 rush and I jumped into the car, when I arrived to subject the owner or an occupant was out side, normal ahh just wait... that person was smoking and thats normal but what catch my attention was that this person on the front of the house was smoking so crazy that make me laugh, before the cigar ended he took another one from the box and lighted and so and so with like 7 I counted... crazy way to smoke ahhh.

I've done something similar a couple of times, I just tell them that I'm doing a market analysis of the neighborhood and would like to use their house too, they usually say ok, then, I ask them to please move to the side to get a picture of it. It works.

Tint your windows and shoot through the glass. As long at isn't dusk outside the pictures will turn out perfectly fine and nobody can see you. It's illegal to tint your front windows here but I do it anyway since it's a no point/fine violation if you pull it off in 14 days. I haven't been bothered in 4 years so I don't worry much about it.

I get off and knock at the property to ask permission before taking pictures. Do it with all my bpos.

Go early in the morning to have best chance of not seeing occupants, especially in the lower end area's where most of them sleep until noon.
Out of 1000's I have taken pictures of in past 4 years I bet I have had human issues about 4 times.

This is against the rules for some BPOs. You must not do too many cause asking permission would waste my entire day.

In some of my areas, this would not only be a waste of my time, but, would probably get me wasted......lol......but, to each their own.

LOL... ask permission... you are funny :-) I did that once and the say NO !!!! never again.... I just go early like REP Driven said...they are sleeping till around noon.

I swear that an announcement is sent to all homeowners of props I have BPOs on. If I go at 10am, 12 noon, 2 pm, 4pm...there seems to always be someone on the front porch or in the front yaad....it is really amazing..

and now with so many out of work and some many homeowners renting rooms out, there are times where they are all out at front chit chatting. stinks. however i get my complicated photos through clean tinted windows. i'll wait for some time if I know i'll get busted. but sorry, i will not get an angry homeowner on my tail, not worth it. These owners for some reason get upset and will litterally get in fights with you. I have been stopped by cops, chase by a kid once, harrased by an interior inspection even with permission from the attorney, i have been watched through windows and chased with a car once. I have learned creative photo taking in the past 6 years. Never have turned in a bad pic yet.

I don't like taking photos through closed windows, tinted or not. If there's any dirt on the glass, my camera focuses on that, and the background (subject) is blurry. I prefer to put the driver side window down (unfortunately the motor for the window has died, and it won't go back up! Hopefully will be replaced tomorrow. In questionable neighborhoods I find it best if it's raining. That way people aren't unusually hanging around outside. I took one once when the homeowner was snowblowing his driveway. The snow was so deep, the snowbank hid him from the camera, and hid me from him!

We rarely had any issues with drive-bys. The street scene gets taken from the end of the street, a few houses away an angle photo is taken. Let the camera recover...drive to the front of the house...snap and drive away. Keep the camera low using the LED as the view finder and keep the flash off. In and out in under 10 seconds.

A drive by is just that...DRIVE right BY. I'd never accept a drive-up, knock on the door...and ask permission BPO, or a drive up..get out of the car by BPO. Those could become known as "get an epic beating" BPOs

Easy way to solve that. Keep your windows clean!

I'm always a bit humored by those that ask:

• Is the place occupied ?
• If so, by who ?
• If vacant, is it secure ?

Like I'm going to go check the door knob to find out ?

What if it's occupied; but insecure ? Too many options !

Shoot while its raining. Watch the weather report. If its going to rain tomorrow and you can wait the extra day, then wait.
Guaranteed no one will be out front in the rain.

Snow is different, everyones out shoveling the driveway, building snowmen, kids playing. Shooting in winter sucks.

i've actually had to photoshop people out of the picture in the past

I would suggest getting a decent lens. Something that can take both distance and closer photos. I would also turn off auto-focus. Place the focus on infinity, that should word for most photos.

I'm not sure why the police would bother you. In the US there is nothing they can legally do to stop you from taking photos from a public road.

While the police have no reason to stop you, trust me, some of them will.

I was stopped by a county cop while I was standing on a sidewalk taking a photo of a home. While he was polite, he said he wanted to know what I was doing there as they'd had some burglaries. I know I could have declined to answer, but decided to go to the car and get my real estate license to show him. I explained myself and he did not try to detain me. If he had, he would have gotten an earful and a lawsuit. I decided to take the road of least resistance, but believe me, police don't always seem to be confined to what is legal.

Asking you what you are doing and who you are in a polite manner is different than stopping you from doing something legal. He was well within his job duties doing what he did. I would support what he did even if there weren't burglaries in the area.

Your cop story brought back memories of my wise guy early days (Some things you just never outgrow)) I had posted this a few years ago, but couldn't resist reposting it:

I was on a cul-de-sac of 2 homes snapping away. A pickup with a boat blocked the way out and the driver approached and asked for ID. My smart [censored] answer was "unless you have a badge and gun you're not getting S---". He produced both and again asked why I was taking photos of his house. I gave him a valid answer. "The privacy laws don't allow the requestor to give us that private financial info. However, based on experience it's generally for, A bank is buying or selling a portfolio, a bank is transfering servicing rights, or establishing the value of their existing portfolio, The property may be a pre-foreclosure, it may be a QC check on a previous appraisal. Any one of these but the privacy laws don't allow a disclosure". That satisfied the cop. However, I continued with my wise [censored] and asked him if there was a local ordinance against taking photos from public property. His answer was no, but they could pull me over as a suspicious person. My photo drivers carry a letter from me advising that their job is taking photos and to call me with any questions. What we do is perfectly legal, but none the less don't draw attention to it. Street scene upon entering the street, let the battery recover, pull near the house and get an angle photo, let the battery recover, than pull in front snap that the photo and drive off. You can edit the front view for the address verification. And shut the flash OFF. Rear view involves trespassing and is out of the question.

Well one a police on Jersey City stopped me, he asked me why I was taking pictures and I responded I was doing an exterior evaluation for a bank, because cops get worry when you put hands behind I asked him. Can I get my wallet and show you my real estate license, he sai yes but he put the hand on the gun like to be ready...LOL When I show it to him he said, be safe on this area. End of the story.

Rear view is occasionally possible, if the house is on a corner lot, or there is an alley behind it. But NEVER trespass on the owner's land to get a rear shot.

I'm so glad tinted glass is legal here. Mine are very tinted, and I always make sure to get a black car interior - and if possible, I wear dark clothes. My camera is black, and has a 12x zoom lens. I have never spoken to an occupant (and will never do so for an exterior), never gotten out of my car, and never rolled down my windows, unless the property is active on the market. I'm always shocked at the people who say that they ask permission.

I have pulled up past a house before and taken pictures over my left side shoulder, through my passenger side back window, to avoid being seen, but if there are people in the front, there's not much you can do. I have sent in a very severe side angle before, and out of desperation put in my comments that the occupant was directly in front of the house. It passed QC.

And I always, always, always make sure my driver and passenger side windows are clean before I pull out of my driveway. I also carry around a travel pack of Windex wipes with me. The rest of my car is filthy as all get out, but my two front windows are spotless, lol.

I think most people arent using a dslr for bpos.

Nope. Not here. I have a point and shoot with an 18X zoom. I have a friend who is forever pushing me to get a "good" camera. I just beat her in a local competition...my Panasonic DMC -FZ35 versus her Nikon D300.

I have not had a problem doing exteriors. When I first started doing this, I worried about confrontations. It has never happened. I have never had anybody come after me, yell at me, none of the above. If they are out front, I go to the store and get a soda. I come back and they are not out front. I would rather avoid confrontation. If it means I go do something else, take a break, etc...so be it. I take one shot approaching the property, I stop and take one out front, I zoom and hit the house numbers and I take one driving away. That sequence takes three or four seconds tops. I roll the window down and sometimes even do this in my convertible. I am fast, spend no time searching for the house. If somebody decides to come after me, I am long gone by that time. I have never had a problem and have done at least 3000 of these. I do not see the need for dark clothing, tinted windows, etc. I have never taken a picture through a window. I am very careful, very efficient, but I do not worry about this at all. Take care of business quickly and move on.

That reminds me of a time when I was doing photos during a weekend, and they were having a garage sale. OMG, what a problem getting the photo. I had to park across the street and wait for everyone to go away including the homeowners who went inside for a few moments. I was able to get the house number almost right away. The subject front had all the garage sale stuff in the photo, but what was I supposed to do?? Thankfully I was not QCed due to the photo, but I had to wait about 20 mins to get it. What a nightmare!