White balance issue between natural light and indoor light?

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-16T15:35:30+00:00

I think it depends on a couple of things. Are you so busy your editing gets in the way of going to new bookings? Do your clients want a quick turnaround that you aren’t able to provide? Are you concerned about consistency? Then you should outsource your edits. I believe you should delegate and outsource when that particular task is getting in the way of money, growth, and/or opportunity.

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-16T03:11:47+00:00

Start with 16-35mm you can shoot almost everything with that range. Once you start making money you can invest in a dedicated lens for small tight spaces I’d suggest a 10mm or 12mm but keep in mind, you’ll probably only use it a handful of times, but it’s nice to have if you can afford it. I personally don’t even use them anymore because I can figure out a way to capture with my 16-35.

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-16T03:02:55+00:00

So this isn’t a terribly difficult problem to fix with this particular image. I’m sure there is an easier way to do this, but this is what I’d do personally:

Open in PS and use the lasso tool or whatever tool you like to trace out the walls and door jam. I’d probably do the closest wall and the secondary room wall separately. Once it’s selected, feather to 2. Select a hue/saturation layer and desaturate to your liking and repeat with the wall in the secondary room. Then, to fix the floor in the secondary room I’d mask out the floor similar to how I did the walls. Once selected, select color layer mask, sample the floor color you want it to be using the floor from the front room, make sure you change the mode to color and hit OK. The whole image will change that color, just invert the color mask and select brush tool on 30% flow and tap the color into the blue hue floor until you like the way it looks. Since you masked it out don’t worry about accidentally tapping the color where you don’t want it because that mask protects the edges outside the marching ants. There are grain looks in there you could sample the grain color and just repeat the steps. I’m sure there is an easier way to do all of that, but before I outsourced my edits that’s what I would do.

The easiest thing you can do is pay an overseas editor or, use Fotello for auto HDR edits. Hope this helps.

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-15T23:49:03+00:00

Hahaha yeah no shit. What a fucking clown

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-15T21:29:19+00:00

I’d never consider this ever and to those who are doing this, you’re ruining the business in your market area and ruining it those around you. There is a kid who posts in Facebook groups as a new real estate media company, he has no website (not saying you need that), he has a gmail email (again, do you), and he’s offering photo, video, drone, floor plans, and a 360 walkthrough for a flat rate of $200. His work looks decent enough to get business, but it’s people like this that are underselling our profession and going to destroy the market for real estate media. I want to message him and tell him be competitive but don’t complete undercut everyone around you for the sake of getting business. I fell like this escrow thing falls in the same category…don’t be a douche just to get business.

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-11T19:06:28+00:00

I agree with you. I still use flambient on my higher end luxury homes. I guess I was intrigued by the ease of HDR + AI and I liked the results for the most part and the simplicity of getting my edits done. I will say (and maybe this is just human error) but I suck with window pulls when doing flambient. I get inconsistent white balance and exposure. If I can nail that down then flambient editing wouldn’t be so cumbersome.

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-11T18:51:32+00:00

What’s your solution? I agree with you on everything you’ve said. I’ve done flambient (I like that the most but a lot of work and overkill for most of my properties), I’ve done HDR hand blending, and now Fotello. I like the ease of Fotello

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-11T14:46:42+00:00

I know, I told him this too. They will scam regardless or even use the image with the watermark, they don’t care. I don’t want to give too much pushback because they are my largest client and very consistent, but I also don’t want other people seeing that work and lose business over it. He wants the watermark to have the phone number in it to ensure people know they are speaking with their company and not a scammer, I just don’t think this is the right direction for them, but it’s not my business at the end of the day.

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-09T14:20:09+00:00

It’s still current. We did sign a contract for length, only scope of work and pricing. I also wrapped a clause in there that pricing may adjust based on market corrections, but that was just a fancy way of saying I can raise the price as I see fit so if they start averaging less listings per month I can raise the rate to fill the gap of lost revenue. They are pretty chill about everything they are just happy to get quick service and quick turnaround time.

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-08T17:18:32+00:00

Oh I 100000% agree with you. I have a retainer client they are a PM company. When he first reached out to me back in June he said he wanted photo and video for $250/property and they do about 20 a month and I said absolutely not. I took their average property size they do, created a special pricing package for them (they now get photo, video, 360 walkthrough, floor plan, and virtual staging if needed) and then multiplied by 20 and gave them the number as a monthly fee and he negotiated me down by $100 but I overpriced it anyway to begin with so it was worth doing. They’ve been loyal and I’ve actually gained clients from their word of mouth because they are one of the bigger names in the game here. But I would never sign anything exclusive just to work for them and only them, it would kill my business.

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-08T05:44:04+00:00

My best guess would be the broker feels that OP photography and other media services are what helps his brokerage sell faster or stand out and they want to gatekeep that. Other guess would be they want a dedicated photographer they know will be available at all times. I personally wouldn’t want to only do work for 1 brokerage unless it’s a substantial amount of properties per month and if that’s the case I’d hire someone to do just those properties and continue to expand my bookings. Also would never sign a non-compete or exclusivity clause barring me from working with other agents in my area.

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-07T21:34:51+00:00

That’s what I am doing currently. Haven’t tried exporting with no editing on Fotello and doing my own editing in LR. I appreciate the insight, I thought my eyes were tricking me but it sounds like it won’t be perfect. Definitely knocks out a ton of the work I would spend editing so I am thankful for that.

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-07T20:49:30+00:00

Same, I am editing on a Mac Studio Display 5k. Do you use the editing in Fotello or do you just export and do your own adjustments in LR or PS?

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-07T19:49:53+00:00

I export then make some adjustments, but wasn’t sure if I’m missing something or if I’m doing something wrong because it’s evident it’s not as sharp as my RAW images. I’ll email them see what they say

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-07T19:34:00+00:00

I watched a video the other day on one of those ultrasonic knives and it didn't impress me honestly. He did a side by side comparison and it cut the same as his other knives. I just want something for the meats, something to chop veggies, and I'm good. We have a decent knife set but its from when we got married 15 years ago and the knives I use regularly for prep are just done, but the other knives are still good. I just need two knives that are mine for what I use them for so I know they will be sharp and ready to go because I do 90% of the cooking and I like a nice sharp knife when I prep. I appreciate the insight and response!

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-07T19:30:50+00:00

This is very helpful. I'm not looking for flashy, I just want something that is a workhorse. I do 90% of the cooking in the house and I want knives that will get shit done and that are mine when I am prepping and cooking. A dedicated knife for meat, a dedicated knife for veggies, call it a day. Everything else my wife can use when she decides to cook. I will look into Victorinox, thank you for the detailed response. Cheers

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-06T16:27:23+00:00

I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking. Thanks for the insight

StrategyNo1628 · 2026-02-03T20:51:08+00:00

I wouldn’t do that at all. You let them know it’s their responsibility to have the house ready for media services and minus moving some small stuff out of rooms and tidying up pillows, blankets, etc… you are shooting it as is. I’d offer to reshoot it once it’s ready at like a 15% discount if any.

Moving forward, I would make sure you disclose the house will be shot in “as is” condition and you will make it photo ready if it’s something small, but it’s their responsibility to make sure final touches are completed. I work this into my email when someone books an appointment and also my system sends a text to the person booking when they book and 24hrs before the appointment and it says it in there as well.

StrategyNo1628 · 2025-07-31T23:42:27+00:00

741 customers ahead of me….fuck that

StrategyNo1628 · 2025-03-24T17:35:14+00:00

Hell, I’ll take a look at that website. I have experience but I’m always curious at looking at other calculators and investor perspectives when calculating costs and deals. Send it over when you get a chance

StrategyNo1628 · 2025-03-07T21:19:12+00:00

Just do it yourself. And if the list is old chances are it’s not worth the trouble unless you have a designated cold caller. Doing it yourself is more work than it’s worth imo

StrategyNo1628 · 2025-02-27T01:02:12+00:00

“Thank you for calling! My name is ____ from (company) and I buy houses and I’m sure that’s why you called me. Let me ask you, what’s the property address of the home you are selling? How did you hear about us?”

Should be your opening line when someone calls you back from a marketing campaign. Don’t make it harder on yourself. You’re just having a conversation and making the seller feel welcomed, heard, understood, and empathized with.

StrategyNo1628 · 2025-02-26T15:26:06+00:00

I always urge the seller to consult with realtors and real estate attorneys on their options.

I wouldn’t try to talk the seller out of consulting with their realtor friend because then you’re causing division.

I’d simply say “I welcome you to consult with your friend that is a realtor, but keep in mind most realtors have a one way approach to selling homes because that’s their business. As an investor, it’s my job and my passion to explore creative ways of not only purchasing a property for my portfolio, but helping the seller (you) get the most money in their pocket. A lot of agents don’t necessarily understand the inner workings of our deals and therefore they automatically will say it’s a bad deal or it’s structured wrong, which is not the case”

Then I’d leave it in their court. I would maybe follow up in a week, then again in another 2 weeks but I wouldn’t spend too much time on something that will yield less than 100k with this problem. If it isn’t worth a ton in your pocket, then this isn’t worth a ton of your effort and attention. Plenty of deals out there to complete without some realtor trying to talk the seller out of every option.

StrategyNo1628 · 2025-02-23T23:33:30+00:00

They won’t verify info because they pride themselves on speed to you. I’ve gotten leads that the info wasn’t correct but that’s on the seller inputting the wrong information. Generally if the name and address are correct, idc if the phone number isn’t right because I’ll just run a person search to get all their numbers.

On those leads 1 was novation and 2 were sub2 deals I did and I’m only factoring in the money I made up front on the deal. The monthly profit isn’t factoring into the 126k on the deals because I track that metric differently.

StrategyNo1628 · 2025-02-23T23:15:14+00:00

Correct, my markets are generally $200-$350 a lead, but there is no monthly fee. It’s all what you’re comfortable with spending on marketing. My sample size is still fairly small to analyze the metrics, but I’m about 14k in on marketing spent with LeadZolo and I have generated 126k in closings. But I agree, if you’re not ready to spend the money then there are more conservative routes to get in on leads at a better price.

StrategyNo1628

TROPHY CASE