DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Real estate agents are increasingly taking their work to the skies, using remote-controlled aircraft to film bird’s-eye-view video tours of homes, land and commercial properties.
It’s a great way to interest potential buyers, agents say.
The only problem: They’re flying in the face of federal regulators, who say drones are illegal for commercial purposes.
Real estate joins agriculture, filmmaking and journalism as one of the industries finding new ways to use the small unmanned aircraft and pushing the legal limits of their use.
Real estate agents have always looked for new tools to advertise properties. Online listings have included photo galleries, then satellite images and eventually Google Street View. Drone photography is the logical next step, real estate agents say.
“There’s a cool factor,” said Bill Knapp III, co-owner of Ironwood Homes Inc., who recently began using a four-propeller helicopter to film the luxury homes that his Des Moines-area company builds and sells. “There is something about being able to see things from the sky that people are really enamored with. This allows us to do that with HD-quality video.”
Flying drones to market homes and properties, however, comes with a risk.
The Federal Aviation Administration considers it illegal to fly drones for commercial purposes, including real estate photography. A judge earlier this year struck down the FAA’s ban on commercial drone flights. However, real estate agents could still face a $10,000 fine from the FAA, which appealed the ruling.
The FAA is working on rules to govern the use of small drones, defined as weighing less than 55 pounds and staying within 400 feet of the ground. But those rules have been delayed, and some real estate companies aren’t waiting any longer for the green light.
“We see other people in the real estate industry using them, and my feeling is it just seems like too good of a tool not to use,” said Steve Bruere, president of Peoples Co., a central Iowa land brokerage firm that began using a drone in the spring to appraise and advertise farms and development land. “We just figure we’ll ask for forgiveness later.”
Real estate agents and developers are finding varied uses for footage shot from the sky. Some are showing potential homebuyers the neighborhood and flying the route their kids would take to school or a nearby park. Others are hovering over large new commercial developments, giving potential tenants and taxpayers a visual update on the construction progress.
It helps that drones are becoming more widely available and cheaper. Knapp said he spent about $1,700 on his drone and camera. Bruere spent less than $2,000.
The ruling against the FAA also emboldened some real estate professionals to take to the skies. In March, an administrative law judge for the National Traffic Safety Bureau ruled that the FAA’s ban on commercial drone flights was not legally enforceable.
The case involved Raphael Pirker, who was fined $10,000 by the FAA for flying a drone over the University of Virginia to obtain promotional footage.
Since the ruling, it appears the FAA isn’t cracking down on real estate agents using drones, McLaughlin said Paul McLaughlin, attorney for the Iowa Association of Realtors.
“The only risk right now is a cease and desist from the FAA, and I would think those would be few and far between” if agents are doing no harm and using them only around properties they are listing, he said.
Still, the National Association of Realtors advises agents not to use drones until the FAA clarifies its regulations.
Brendan Schulman, the attorney for Pirker, said he is representing companies that have been served with subpoenas by the FAA related to drone use.
Real estate agents and drone advocates said they welcome FAA regulations to address safety and privacy concerns. Many questions have to be answered: Do drone operators have to be trained or licensed? Can drones be flown over streets or near crowds? What stops people from using drones to film into someone’s backyard or window?
Gretchen West, executive vice president of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, a trade group that represents military and civil drone manufacturers and operators, said the group wants the FAA to produce rules to legalize and regulate commercial drone flights.
The FAA has predicted 10,000 commercial drones will be licensed by 2018.
While the FAA debates it, the U.S. is falling behind other countries that are moving ahead with the commercial use of drones, said Schulman, who leads the Unmanned Aircraft Systems practice at the New York law firm of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel.
“Without a clear path forward from the regulators, the government is holding a lot of progress and innovation back,” Schulman said.
Nations that provide commercial permits for drone use include Canada, Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom, he said.
Kurt Mumm, president of NAI Optimum, a West Des Moines commercial brokerage, said his company is cautious about how it flies its drone. The company has used the aircraft to film commercial properties and large developments like Kettlestone, Waukee’s proposed 1,500-acre mixed-use development.
Mumm said the company always asks the property owner for permission before flying, stays below 400 feet and is careful about privacy concerns.
“A decent dose of common sense goes a long way,” he said, adding that he expects federal officials will add more guidelines, restrictions and rules around drone use.
