Apartments Photographer Wanted!

[Drew Aitch]

Hello everyone.

One of the most common complaints I get about Mr. Roomfinder is the lack of photos with the Apartment listings. Most newly added condos are now uploaded with pics which is great, but there are many apartment blocks listed on the site that are void of photos.

I know that greater Bkk is a huge city, but is it a crazy idea to have someone run around on a motorcycle armed with a digital camera, and over a period of time, collect photos for us for all the apartments we have listed without pics?

Even if we only had a couple of quick snap shots for each place for say:

1. Building exterior

2. Main living area

I’ve been toying with the idea for some time now but a few things that have put me off to date are:

* Where to find a reliable person happy to do take on this task?

* How much time will be spent at each place explaining why we want the pics?

* The overall cost and how to pay for it? e.g. per place or by selected zone?

The bottom line is, all the apartment buildings have direct contact details and descriptions anyway, so in the opinion of this forum, is the idea above a bit over the top or do photos really make a difference when home hunting on websites?

I appreciate any feedback you might have.

Aitch

[bkkjames]

Drew:

Photos do make a big difference at the search point. If gives us an idea about the room / building.

I think if you looked at the stats on all your websites you would find that the ads with photos get more hits.

If I can see a photo of the place, what pray tell are they not showing me?

Regards

James

[NordicMan]

The bottom line is, all the apartment buildings have direct contact details and descriptions anyway, so in the opinion of this forum, is the idea above a bit over the top or do photos really make a difference when home hunting on websites?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In my opinion, photos are crucial. There are so many available flats, no way I will go and see them all. Everyone can write a nice text description, and I find that frequently it is quite misleading.

For me, the additional things I want in an ad is

- Floor plan

- Floor size

- Photos

But hey, I'm living in UK at the moment. i could have a different opinion when I get back to Thailand. However I'm looking for a flat to buy right now, and I find most property websites plain annoying because they lack the critical information i need to decide whether to spend the time to view it or not.

Cheers

NM

[Drew Aitch]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I know it’s favorable to have photos with ads, as I’m tempted to skip those apartments that don’t have any myself, unless I can’t find what I’m looking for among the illustrated ads that is.

Having said that, a lot of people use publications like the Bkk post etc to search for apartments and they're just text based ads wrapped up in a couple of sentences. I guess they're effective otherwise why would anyone pay 2 or 3,000B for a couple of lines.

It's true about the stats James and some properties with pics get thousands of viewings as opposed to dozens or hundreds, but many of these places are recently added and therefore get a plug on the home page for a while plus a page 1 viewing when a search is done in their respective area.

Whether to get someone to go out and take a bunch of pics to spice up the plain ads is something I’m still toying with at the minute. Let's see if we get any more response from this post and then perhaps it will be easier to make a decision one way or the other.

As most of the new ads include photos nowadays, this should just be a one-off job and will consequently make searching on Mr. Roomfinder a more pleasurable task.

Cheers

Aitch

Edited October 17, 2005 by Drew Aitch

[terdsak_12]

A friend of mine flogs Condos on Pattaya and the biggest problem he had was getting decent photos of his units as a regular camera doesn't do the trick. He ended up droppong 50K on a Sony wide angle camera which gives far better results for people viewing his site.

[Drew Aitch]

A friend of mine flogs Condos on Pattaya and the biggest problem he had was getting decent photos of his units as a regular camera doesn't do the trick. He ended up droppong 50K on a Sony wide angle camera which gives far better results for people viewing his site.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for that terdsak_12.

It's a very good point. Sometimes the landlords and agencies that upload properties to the site have obviously taken grainy snaps with their mobile phones. I don't know what's worse, terrible pics that do your place no justice, or no pics but a well written description!

As Roomfinder is a free-for-all, there's nothing I can physically do to make sure folk upload or control the quality of their photos. It's up them.

Recently added apartments tend to have 'ok' pics now though as the importance of including photos with an ad is highlighted in the Add Apt forms.

An ideal lens would probably be 28 or 24 mm wide angle but these are expensive and I don't think a lot of project owners think it's that important.

Thanks for your post.

Aitch

[Jon Lucida]

I’ve been toying with the idea for some time now but a few things that have put me off to date are:

* Where to find a reliable person happy to do take on this task?

* How much time will be spent at each place explaining why we want the pics?

* The overall cost and how to pay for it? e.g.  per place or by selected zone?

Aitch

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hire a studio with proper setup to do it. They would have producers to arrange locations and train couple of young photographers to do the job. On an average of 20-45mins to shoot an apartment for both interior and exterior.

If this is an on going project and big enough, they might charge a resonable price. My studio done that before and the property agent kept that as a photo library.

[poorfarang]

20-45 mins each place is rediculous. 5 mins snapping a few pics is all you need

[lung]

i remember last time i visit roomfinder only 1 pic there.

i think 1or2 pic per room is a must!

from the house or room or floor or toilet or cat ...

but shure a pic!!!

sorry, but i can't explain because my english-writing is not soo well na...

[Drew Aitch]

Everyone has raised good points in this thread and the bottom line is obvious which is that properties with pics rule.

It's true that a number of people happily scan the classifieds of publications when looking for new accommodation and all they have to go on is a few lines of text and a contact number. I think we're ahead of them on that score but it's a shame that so many landlords don't take the opportunity to have a free, full page, glossy ad on the site promoting their vacant property.

Roomfinder will always be free for tenants, landlords, and agencies to exploit, but a project of this size needs to pay for itself in the long run by way of site advertising and reputable affiliate programs, but until this happens there has to be a limit as to how much cash is invested into the cosmetics of the site.

I’m more than happy to plough any cash back into the site that’s generated by any of the above methods, as the focus to make this a great resource for tenants and landlords has not changed.

I’ve had a few offers from individuals wanting to take pics for those properties without any, but to be honest these quotes were way out of my budget.

Additionally, I’ve even attempted to visit a handful of apartment buildings myself and was politely refused access to rooms and facilities with my camera as the offices in question viewed me a little suspiciously despite an introduction to my presence.

We still have many more places with pics than what we started with and I’m certain the site will continue to improve in this area as Roomfinder gains ‘web credibility’ but this only comes with time and frequent improvements to the project.

I can’t wave a magic wand on this one but if I could find a way to get 7 colour pics and a map to every one of our properties listed, I’d do it tomorrow.

Thanks for the feedback on this one everyone.

Aitch

[OxfordWill]

Hi Aitch,

We've spoken before about websites but under different names.

My opinion is that photos will only work if they show the actual room, or a similar actual room, from the place in question. Photos of the outside are also useful, but unlikely to help conversions. You could easily (!) turn room photos into your USP. There's even a java applet that lets you simulate a 360* environment from a few photos.

Even if you cannot get this kind of photo, do not underestimate the value of alt tags to the SEs. A consistent use of photos+alt tags with relevant keywords will potentially do almost as much to the SEO of your site overall as having unique webcams for each apartment block.

Cheers,

Will

p.s. just read your latest reply and with this in mind, I would go so far as to say 'do whatever it takes' to get into those rooms. Wear suits, present gold plated business cards, pull up in a friends' merc. Actual room photos. Think about it!

Edited December 18, 2005 by OxfordWill

[poorfarang]

Listings without photos are completly useless to me. Ive gone to many places that looked good on paper but turned out to be a sh1t hole. A single photo could have saved me a lot of hassle.

[Thaicoon]

If i was based in Thailand full time, i would love to do this been a keen photographer, all you need is a damm good digital camera with a decent wide angle lens as the more good photos the more interest on the web, i know this when selling on e-bay, i put about a dozen photos of the item, i host these with photobucket.com, so no e-bay fees and no charge from photobucket, in september i put a 911 turbo for sale on e-bay, reserve of 18,000 GBP i actually sold it for 22,000 just because i hosted about 15 photos

Edited December 19, 2005 by Thaicoon

[richard10365]

How much would you pay for someone to do that.

I'm 40 years old now, I live full time in Thailand, retired military, and spend my days watching tv, playing on the computer, exercising, eating, mountian biking, and other useless things.

I have a digital camera good enough to take photos of apartments and I am very good at editing the photos with Photoshop.

I wonder if I would get more satisfaction out of life from taking photos to help people find a home or just sitting around doing nothing?

[Carmine6]

Everyone has raised good points in this thread and the bottom line is obvious which is that properties with pics rule.

... I’ve had a few offers from individuals wanting to take pics for those properties without any, but to be honest these quotes were way out of my budget.

Additionally, I’ve even attempted to visit a handful of apartment buildings myself and was politely refused access to rooms and facilities with my camera as the offices in question viewed me a little suspiciously despite an introduction to my presence. ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Aitch,

I agree that pics make a huge difference, mainly in looking at ads in the first place. The pics basically grab my attention and the text sells the place. But a good pic can make up for a poor description as well. Text alone would only work for me if I had a lot of free time and wanted to try to find a bargain.

I've had my girlfriend take pics of the apartments she wants to move to. She hasn't had any problems, but she's actually interested in renting and she may be telling them that she's sending them to her boyfriend to look at. She's a student so these places aren't at the high end of the range and that may make it easier for her.

You may want to try university students. They'll be fairly cheap and if you screen well enough, you'll get responsible workers. Maybe several in different areas so they could actually get to the places without too much trouble or expense. You probably wouldn't get pro quality results, but it'd be a start and you could see if they actually made a difference.

For a panorama shot from multiple pictures, Canon PhotoStitch software does this surprisingly well. It came with my camera and probably comes with other models. My Canon SD550 (Ixus 750 in Asia?) has features to help out in the process, but I've done it with old pictures taken with a 4 year old digital camera too.

So you could buy a nice camera for yourself and still have people use their own cameras to take the pictures.

[Nordlys]

I live in Bangkok full time and have a DSLR with 16 - 35mm wide zoom + own transportation and I can do this job too on my free time as I am mostly free on Wednesdays. How much time will this job require of a photographer, say per month? I can make myself available for this job if it's only going to take 2 - 3 days a month of my time.

[Drew Aitch]

I live in Bangkok full time and have a DSLR with 16 - 35mm wide zoom + own transportation and I can do this job too on my free time as I am mostly free on Wednesdays.  How much time will this job require of a photographer, say per month?  I can make myself available for this job if it's only going to take 2 - 3 days a month of my time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Nordlys and thanks for the offer.

As time goes by it's apparent that one of the most difficult sides to this website is to encourage the landlords of these apartment buildings to upload their properties and pics for free.

I don't know if they're suspicious or just find the online 'add apartment forms' a little time consuming, but whatever the reasons are they're just not overly interested!

There are no such problems with private landlords and agencies so we'll always have fresh new content, but the apartment blocks are slow in coming which is a shame as there’s a lot of interest in these places especially at the budget end.

Therefore, to get photos added to the buildings already uploaded on the site would mean I’d be paying out of my own pocket to spice up other peoples listings.

I've spend a fair few quid and one hel_l of a lot of time putting this site together (and enjoyed every minute of it I hasten to add) but there has to be a line drawn as to what's a sensible investment compared to a daft decision financially.

Mr. Roomfinder will have healthy organic growth regardless and given time we'll probably see more buildings listed along side private dwellings and agency entries, but as with any new web project, nothing happens overnight.

Thanks for your offer though Nordlys but unless you can get the managers of such places to pay you personally for a set of pics, we'll have to leave things as they are for the time being.

All the best.

Aitch

Edited December 20, 2005 by Drew Aitch

[baht&sold]

Hi Drew, this popped up on mine- don't know the guy, or what the rates are tho:

Product Photography for web based sales:

http://www.bahtsold.com/detail.php?id=14642

(odd he didn't place a photo in the ad tho..)

[Drew Aitch]

Hi Drew, this popped up on mine- don't know the guy, or what the rates are tho:

Product Photography for web based sales:

http://www.bahtsold.com/detail.php?id=14642

(odd he didn't place a photo in the ad tho..)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for the info B&S but it is a sizable job and fairly time consuming gathering photos for apartment buildings, their facilities and rooms, and so obviously comes at quite a price even with local guys.

At this moment in time I think any new cash generated into the site is better spent in enhancing the site generally.

I already highlight the benefits of including photos with ads in the Add Apt forms and the conformation emails that go out to new advertisers, and it seems to be working quite well thus far.

BTW, I’ve sent you a pvt mail.

Cheers

Aitch

[richard10365]

Here's an idea. Lets say you offer to pay someone (anyone) a commission after photos they provided lead (verified) to someone moving in.

Convince the apartment manager that you will remove the photos and apartment advertisement from your website if he dosen't pay the commission. Someone moving in will prove the value of your website.

That way there is no out of pocket expence to you, you get your photos for your website, you help someone find an apartment, and an apartment manager fills an apartment. Everyone wins.

This is a rough draft idea but if you work the possible bugs out it just might work.

[Drew Aitch]

Here's an idea. Lets say you offer to pay someone (anyone) a commission after photos they provided lead (verified) to someone moving in.

Convince the apartment manager that you will remove the photos and apartment advertisement from your website if he dosen't pay the commission. Someone moving in will prove the value of your website.

That way there is no out of pocket expence to you, you get your photos for your website, you help someone find an apartment, and an apartment manager fills an apartment. Everyone wins.

This is a rough draft idea but if you work the possible bugs out it just might work.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for that richard10365.

Believe you me I’ve thought of this from all angles. The main problem is I don't think the Thai landlords care all that much whether they have a slot on Roomfinder or not, even if it does find tenants for what would otherwise be empty rooms.

Say the idea did work though, there's still the hassle of contacting every place to explain the situation (over 400 at a rough guess) and that could be a job in itself.

The best option would be for an enthusiastic freelance photographer to attempt to charge an acceptable fee to these project owners for submitting a bunch of pics to me which I could then upload to their ads. Such an individual could work independently and have no contact with Roomfinder other than submitting the pics he's taken.

Everyone's a winner.

Building gets its glossy ad.

Photographer gets his/her fee.

Home hunters have more useful listings.

Roomfinder gains in popularity.

Unfortunately, theory doesn't work so well in practice in this game so unless something happens despite me and the site, we'll just have to be patient and let time build Roomfinder into a colourful and useful resource for home hunters and landlords, which, given that time, I know it will be.

Thanks for your thoughts though richard10365.

Aitch

[richard10365]

Drew,...lets say you did find an enthusiastic freelance photographer willing to send you the photos you need. Do you have a form avaliable that the photographer could fill out on each apartment location that would ensure you got all the information you need for your website?

[Khutan]

Have you thought of Google Earth, it has Bangkok very well covered.

You can hand out the .KMZ files to those interested in seeing the Building and the area.

Ypu must have Google Earth installed for this to work

I just realised you can't attach a .KMZ file here, but here is the direct link to the .KMZ File, someone posted in the Google Earth Forum

Typical .KMZ File to see a Bangkok Building If you don't kave Google Earth installed, and you can get it from Google for free, your computer won't know what to do with a .KMZ file.

[Drew Aitch]

Drew,...lets say you did find an enthusiastic freelance photographer willing to send you the photos you need. Do you have a form avaliable that the photographer could fill out on each apartment location that would ensure you got all the information you need for your website?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi richard10365,

Yes, is the answer to your question and if it’s not appropriate it would only take a few minutes to make a new master form.

The main issue is with the apartment buildings we already have on the site without pics so it's just a case of locating them and snapping away. Each Roomfinder entry allows up to 7 colour photos and 1 map image, and home hunters really do like to see a few photo posted along with the other property details.

Almost all new entries to the site include at least a couple of pics although I get mostly private condos added recently and not so many new Apartment buildings which is a shame. I'm confident this will all change the longer the site sticks around.

Cheers

Aitch

[Drew Aitch]

Have you thought of Google Earth, it has Bangkok very well covered.

You can hand out the .KMZ files to those interested in seeing the Building and the area.

Ypu must have Google Earth installed for this to work

I just realised you can't attach a .KMZ file here, but here is the direct link to the .KMZ File, someone posted in the Google Earth Forum

Typical .KMZ File to see a Bangkok Building  If you don't kave Google Earth installed, and you can get it from Google for free, your computer won't know what to do with a .KMZ file.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi.

I have though about Google Earth and will be taking a closer look at it soon. As it's satellite viewing it's going to therefore be an aerial view I guess which will not give so much visual information for those wanting images on the building.

Having said that, I’m not qualified to comment on Google Earth at this point, so I’d better take a look before I say anymore on the issue.

Thanks for your feedback mattnich, it is appreciated.

Aitch

[Khutan]

Why I was thinking Google Earth would be useful is yyour customers could see what the area looks like, what is nearby etc etc. So the .KMZ link I showed there, lets people see how close that location is to the BTS / MRT etc

[Drew Aitch]

Why I was thinking Google Earth would be useful is yyour customers could see what the area looks like, what is nearby etc etc. So the .KMZ link I showed there, lets people see how close that location is to the BTS  / MRT etc

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks mattnich.

Aitch

[Spike5]

Hello everyone. 

One of the most common complaints I get about Mr. Roomfinder is the lack of photos with the Apartment listings.  Most newly added condos are now uploaded with pics which is great, but there are many apartment blocks listed on the site that are void of photos.

I know that greater Bkk is a huge city, but is it a crazy idea to have someone run around on a motorcycle armed with a digital camera, and over a period of time, collect photos for us for all the apartments we have listed without pics?

Even if we only had a couple of quick snap shots for each place for say:

1. Building exterior

2. Main living area

I’ve been toying with the idea for some time now but a few things that have put me off to date are:

* Where to find a reliable person happy to do take on this task?

* How much time will be spent at each place explaining why we want the pics?

* The overall cost and how to pay for it? e.g.  per place or by selected zone?

The bottom line is, all the apartment buildings have direct contact details and descriptions anyway, so in the opinion of this forum, is the idea above a bit over the top or do photos really make a difference when home hunting on websites?

I appreciate any feedback you might have.

Aitch

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Jon Lucida]

20-45 mins each place is rediculous.  5 mins snapping a few pics is all you need

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's the difference between pictures that are crap and those that are good.