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Subject photos and advertising??

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Jeff Horton

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2002
Professional Status
Certified Residential Appraiser
State
Alabama
I am working on some marketing ideas and I may want to use some photos of some of the homes I have appraised in some marketing material. My questions are this.

1. Is there anything that prevents us from using out photos we took (or will take) for advertising?

2. I remember talking about advertising in a USPAP class (I think it was) and there was some discussion about not including photos of property that we could not appraise. ie. a Certified Residential standing in front of multi-story commercial.

I cannot see any reason we can not use our photos in our advertising. We own the copyright to them by default. I can see someone might get upset about using a photo of their house but if no names or address is given I am not sure what they could say?

Any input would be welcome though!
 
Personally, I can't see where it 'should' be any problem but, someone else, somewhere, sometime, in this crazy society, is bound to.

How about using a builders model as long as you don't have any of the signs in it. For sure they won't care.... I think??????

How rediculous that we would even have to think about this.

Good Luck, Jeff!
 
Anytime you use an identifiable object or person in a picture, you need to get a release. Surely you have an inlaw or relative with a house you can use that would be willing to release you at no charge?

The house in the intro to Designing Women, located in Little Rock, required a release........why wouldn't it be required of you.......but I am not an attorney and I am not aquainted with laws in your jurisdiction.....maybe you should ask an attorney.
 
If you think the homeowners are not going to be out to get you -grin-

If your intent is to show the various styles you have done, just send a few explanatory letters out with a SASE!

Go beat on their doors, tell them what you want and why...ask em if you can, hand them a release form, and shoot your pic, or use the old one...

I agree with the above that in this litigation prone society, Cover Your Tailfeathers is best biz plan.

Lee Ann
 
I did some searching and I found some photos on the net at a Realtor Clipart site. They have them posted for use in stuff like this. I designed a Real Estate Web site a couple of years ago and remember using some of these photos. Took me a while to find them but I did.

They are actually better than anything I have in my file :o So I solved the problem.

Thanks for the input!
 
I don't think you will have a problem. I just wonder if your effort will get business. You will probably need to use a 9 degree fisheye lens so the house will look massively bigger than it really is. That will get your local lender's attention...if you get me drift...or is that draft. 8)
 
>>I just wonder if your effort will get business. You will probably need to use a 9 degree fisheye lens so the house will look massively bigger than it really is. That will get your local lender's attention...<<

Your right. Direct mail has been a waste of time for me at least in the Inspection part of my buisness. I have spent a good bit of money on mailings, brochures, good looking color buisness cards and little if any response.

This time I am trying something different. A CD rom buisness card with short animated introduction. A good freind of mine is a Radio DJ so I am going to get her to do my narration. Then I am creating a web site (so to speak) on the CD with information taliored just for the type of buisness I am going after. May not gain any buisness but I am having fun creating it! And who knows. might have someone want me to create them a CD buisness card.
 
I'll give away what worked for me. I had pads of 50 sheet paper printed up with my logo on it and all the contact numbers. They were 5.5 x 8.5 which is good size to keep on a desk. All desk type people need tablets to write notes on, even in a "paperless" society. I think they cost about .50 each and I would put one in the mail with each report that went out. They more than paid for themselves. The slogan on the tablet was "We value our customers who value our values." I later changed it to "Appraising houses facing the information super highway." That showed my frustration with EDI at the time.
With EDI so prevalent, you will now have to go by a lender's office and put one on each person's desk. They have 50 chances to keep your name in front of them. Take them to the local Assoc. of Rillators and put them out there. Send them to attornies, otherwise you might grow a dorsal fin and your bones turn to cartilage. 8)
Anyway, you can waste a lot of money on PR. Name recognition is everything. Quality appraising is not necessary. :wink:
Will and good night all.
 
Even though I specifically reserve ownership of the photos in a report, I would think that it would be prudent to get a release from the homeowner for any other use. Some may not want their house used in ads. Others may think it is a wonderful idea. Best gets the release before using any house photos.
 
Jeff

I do not know about the need to get a release for using the photos.

Howver, regarding the photos for advertising you must be careful to not imply that your services are more than what you are competent to appraise. For example, if you were competent to appraise single family residential properties, photos of you in front of homes would be ok. However, if you were not competent to appraise grain silos or an multi-tennant office building, photos of you in front of grain silos or multi-tennant office building could be construed to be misleading.

Regards

Tom Hildebrandt GAA
 
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