I was thinking of putting an ad in my local newspaper for web assistant work aimed at the real estate field. Does anyone think they would consider this if they saw the ad in their local paper?

I was thinking of offering web help as well as photographing homes.

What you be will to pay to have clear, resized images of houses you are listing? Would you be willing to pay for web help, design or an assistant to do all the internet aspects or your job?

I'm considering a job in real estate but after reading so many posts I don't know if it's for me.

Any help would be great, thanks!

Hi wantstobeanagent

I can't speek for the agents but if you move to the poconos, I'll hire you tomorrow
One of our biggest challenges is getting reliable photographers for our virtual tours. Having some computer experience would be a BIG bonus. My advive would be that if your just starting out, target the brokers. When we first added virtual tours to our arsenal, we marketed to agents with some success but when we turned the focus to the brokers it exploded. Many of the agents simply didn't make the value connection but they sure do now.

Anyway, good luck to you. I'm sure the job offers will be rolling in soon

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Rich
Real Estate Websites
Search Engine Optimization

Thanks!

I can tell you I won't even look at a house listing online if there isn't a picture and I email the listing agent and tell them just that. I'll get my phone book out and start this moving.

I would suggest offering feature sheet design as well. Even just using the simple flyer templates in Publisher will allow you to create great looking feature sheets.

I come from a background in web design and graphic arts, so I actually enjoy this part of the job, and I get a lot of offers from within my office from people that want to pay me to this or that. There is *definately* a market for this type of work.

Also consider promoting yourself as a full service turn key type assistant: go take the pictures, upload them/or make arrangements for them to get on the MLS, and design and deliever the feature sheets to the brochure boxes. People that are producing don't have a lot of time for these chores. I also do a lot of digital editing to show owners what their house would look like if they cleaned up the front yard, repainted, etc. Now that people in my office know I can do this, I'm constantly getting pestered to "fix up" a house they have listed so they can take the picture back to the seller and show them the value in doing a little home improvement.*

*For the record, we don't use these edited pictures on the MLS, it's simply to help convince the seller that the curb appeal can be drastically improved with a few small changes.

I think an ad in the local newspaper would be a terrible idea. Most people are not going to search the local newspaper for this service. The internet is probably a better idea.

I'd be really careful about local web developers...they are extremely hit or miss. I've heard horror story after horror story from agents who have gotten abandoned by freelancers. Just remember, you get what you pay for. People that are extremely good at what they do? Are generally not looking for freelance jobs in the local newspaper.

We pay well for a professional photographer to shoot our houses. It's a great business for him! I would drop of samples of your work to local real estate offices as well as your business card.