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Stilio is a web platform for finding and hiring real estate photographers.
Platforms: Browser; mobile-optimized
Ideal for: All agents and teams in all size offices
Top selling points
- Very nice interface
- Wide selection of photographers
- Easy to understand breakdown of costs
Top concerns
Marketplaces for creative professionals are growing quickly in the real estate space. Examine your options and always go with the most trusted professional rather than the cheapest.
What you should know
Web media and image-based home browsing have made visual property marketing essential to a sale.
It’s why we have Matterport, virtual staging, twilight image editing and insanely high-resolution mobile device screens. Homebuyers and other consumers want pictures, and lots of them.
Companies like Stilio are aiming to make it as easy as possible for real estate agents to find and hire professional photographers for that very reason.
(If your listing doesn’t look good on a mobile device, you’re going to hear about it.)
The online marketplace requires no subscription or annual fees, and the company only collects a $5 transaction fee. You have to pay for the photographer.
Once logged in, agents enter an address and date and choose services desired to generate a matched list of regional photographers.
Results are presented as individual “cards” that clearly list details, costs, services available and links to samples and more extensive portfolios. It also includes the types of cameras and equipment used.
You can choose services using toggle buttons, and booking is a one-click process. All the financials are handled through Stilio, meaning you pay them and they pay the vendor.
There’s a place for agents to add comments about the project so the photographer isn’t surprised by an over-protective Cane Corso or nosy neighbor.
When editing is not done by the vendor, Stilio’s network of overseas creative professionals will tackle sharpening, color adjustments and any additional Photoshop work.
The team behind Stilio made their industry bones in the marketing and creative services space, helping agents look and sound better in print and online; they know the value of making a property look good.
I like the clear cost breakdown and financial oversight of the relationship. It’s a true brokerage model that agents should immediately recognize.
Stilio established itself in California, where it built a network of more than 500 photographers. Last week they expanded on a national basis, working to sign up creatives in an array of popular markets.
If you’re in an area that Stilio doesn’t cover, contact them. They’ll work on your behalf to track down a photographer and orchestrate the transaction.
Stilio will soon roll out a rating system for its photographers, virtual staging services, listing websites and a service that offers 30-second video listing previews for social media.
My one concern about the launch of these additional services is that the company is willingly putting itself into a much more crowded space, one full of companies with long-established industry relationships.
I don’t doubt they can compete. I only wonder why they want to.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe.
