Based on the West Coast of Florida I am looking to supplement my now meager real estate income with some photo work, although there are plenty of companies offering virtual tours here. I still feel there is an opportunity using Panoweaver and Tourweaver to offer something to both the real estate market and the tourist industry. Anybody got any good suggestions?
Tourism is the biggest field out side of real estate. As an idea you might do a tour on restaurants on a strip for promotion or motel accommodation etc. These can then be place onto either a CD/DVD or webpage. Weddings are another opportunity, limousines, amusement parks, golf courses and function centres.
Are there any boat dealerships close to you on the west coast of Florida? If so go shoot some of the highend boats. Maybe then after getting your feet wet at the local dealer you could send the link to boat manufacture directly?
Peanut, as a fellow real estate agent trying to keep his head above water, have you tried Realtor only open houses? Realtor's are always looking for FREE door prizes to give away at their Realtor open houses. Find one that has a lot of top-end listings, do a short free one for a house he/she is going to hold a Realtor open house at and offer a free tour as a door prize. Set your computer up at the open house and have the tour of that house running. You can also offer discounts to your fellow agents in your office.
I wanted to ask jerry how he was doing with VT's for real estate. How long have you been at it? Has it been financially viable? Panoweaver and Tourweaver seem to create some of the nicest tours I have seen. Maybe that allows you to charge slightly more than some of your competition? Although us Realtors are pretty mean when it comes to parting with money.
Peanut, I have only been doing real estate and Vt's for about 18 months. If it was not for my retirement check from 23 years in the Navy I would have to go back to driving a truck for a living, use to haul cars (BMW's). For in house Realtor's I charge $100 per tour with as many scenes as I can shoot that are interesting. For other agents I charge 125-150 depending on what I think I can get and what I think it's worth. I know I could never make a living at these prices I do it because I enjoy it and am learning so much in the process. When I think my tours are up to my standards I will try to branch out to other venues. As a Realtor you have access to the MLS and can look at the high dollar homes and call the agent to offer you services. For those that are not Realtors and don't have direct access to the MLS they can go to Realtor.com pull up listings in their area and see who does not have tours and call or email the agent. If you have a big set of gonads you can find the owner from the tax records and call them to offer your services as a photographer.