Royalty Free Stock Images

[ericbramlett]

...Don't take us buyers and our needs for granted, give us great photos and lots of them.

I'm not sure if this will work in other markets, but I would assume so. Our MLS limits us to 8 pics online - however, they will allow us to attach a link to an unbranded virtual tour. If you go to www.realtour.biz, you can upload up to 30 photos free of charge - just do the "build your own virtual tour." Then, that link can go on your listing - which will give the buyers up to 30 more pics. I go a step further & purchase the URL of the address - such as www.3009firwood.com (actual example,) forward it to the branded virtual tour & print it on all the flyers. That way, if it's a "drive by buyer" who gets a flyer, they can go online & see ALL of the pics.

This is much cheaper than a VT (and I don't like VT's, anyways) & it takes maybe 15 minutes of work once you have the images on your computer.

[jr991]

I use www.clipart.com they have a few different signup options. Anywhere from 1 week to 1 year. I usually purchase a 1 week subscription and spend a day or two downloading as many images as I can for about $15.

[MikeNY]

A little away from the main topic but what would be the best type of photo to take for the flash slide show images that the REW sites have? A panorama. I have a lot of photo's of various subdivision and townhouse complexes but they would never fit and I am looking for a photo that is maybe 1.5 inches high as opposed to the 2.5 + height that most of the REW sites have. And now I just realized my digital camera does not take panorama shots, I always thought it had that function.

[kwriter]

Sometimes, that little, nifty mobile phone does the trick. Web images don't need to be of high resolution. For small images, around 300pix, the built-in camera in your mobile phone can capture images of real-estate sites just fine

And here's my contribution to the list of free image repositories (30 sites):

http://www.freerangestock.com
http://www.sxc.hu
http://www.openphoto.net/
http://www.imageafter.com/
http://www.morguefile.com/
http://www.stockvault.net
http://www.freephotosbank.com
http://www.pachd.com/free-images/index.html
http://www.freeclipartpictures.com/
http://www.jupiterimages.com
http://www.hooverstock.com/
http://www.freeimages.co.uk/
http://www.aboutpixel.de
http://geekphilosopher.com/MainPage/photos.htm
http://www.freefoto.com/index.jsp
http://www.123rf.com/freeimages.php
http://www.fws.gov/pictures/
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/
http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://pdphoto.org/
http://www.everystockphoto.com
http://www.fotogenika.net/modifica/igallery.asp
http://www.mayang.com/textures/
http://freelargephotos.com/
http://www.bigfoto.com/
http://www.wpclipart.com/
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/
http://www.usda.gov/oc/photo/opclibra.htm
http://yotophoto.com/

[Jesse in Portland]

Thanks for the great resource. I've used istock for years, but am glad to have other sources to hit when you can't find that perfect pic.