I have been considering doing real estate photography work post retirement for quite some time. I am retiring in about six weeks and my plans were accelerated last night when I spoke with a realtor that needs a photographer ASAP. The home in question has a $5.5M asking price and is in a very tony neighborhood - not a bad project to put into my fledgling portfolio.
The realtor and I agreed on a price and I will be calling her next week to confirm the day, review what she needs and check that the weather will not be a snowstorm. I need to put our agreement in writing.
Is there a basic contract available that is used for real estate photography? If so, where can it be obtained or purchased?
Firstly, best of luck with the venture and your post retirement endeavours
FWIW including a lot of absorbed information on other fora in regard to business can I suggest the following based purely on you are entering unknown territory both literally & metaphorically:-
1) Rather than ask on a public forum for a basic contract perhaps it is time to consult a lawyer to draw up such a contract (sorry if I missed whereabouts you are in the world but there are litigious folk out there) as you need it to be water tight!???
2) Are you insured for both Public Liability and Third Party Damage..................and whatever other aspects might be relevant to Real Estate photography?
3) As part of the contract IMO you should be covering either generally or an addenda for each job you do what the agreed deliverables are e.g. whether digital files and/or prints, how many such images etc, does the Realtor pay you a secondary fee if on the day of the shoot the weather means you will need to return another day......if a 2 hour drive each way that is costly to you!
4) As for your portfolio make sure of two things ~ depending on the legal jurisdiction whether you will be the copyright holder or will the Realtor because of the method of the commissioning (it is my understanding that there are circumstances where the standard "I pressed the button therefore I am the Copyright Holder" may not apply)? Secondly, whether you are the copyright holder or not make sure that your usage of the images and which ones (per job) in your portfolio is agreed as part of the contract as I can surmise there will be some homeowners (or the Realtors hiring you?) who would object to certain images being used to promote your services???
I have no doubt others will chime in with other more detailed thoughts & feedback.
As I said best of luck and do post back with your update