IMAGINAHOME DRONES FOR REAL ESTATE
AlteX Training Takes Business to New Heights!
By YIFEI ZHAO
Professional Design coupled with High-End Photography, Imaginahome has been providing Real Estate marketing services in Toronto for over 10 years. Whether it’s as simple as designing a business card or as complex as a complete virtual reality walk-through of luxury homes, Imaginahome does it all.
Back in 2007, Imaginahome became particularly specialized with capturing high-perspective views of luxury properties. With limited technology at the time, Bilal, owner of Imaginahome came up with his own solution: using a massive, 60-foot telescoping pole with a lightweight camera to get a wide-angle shot. While this solution produced interesting results, it had many limitations. The setup time took more than 15-minutes. Unlike traditional camera setup where you can simply move the camera to a different location, the telescoping pole required a complete reset every time it’s being moved. The other restriction is camera movement, because there was none. The vantage point was static so there was little room left for creative video capture.
With all the limitations, Bilal began to explore other options.That’s when he was introduced to Drones.
“I tried a Parrot AR drone, a Styrofoam-based build that connected to smartphones via WiFi. Had to modify it, so the camera would point 45 degrees down. But the first time I flew it I could see the whole neighbourhood and the whole street,” Bilal says. “It was pretty amazing.”
With many of Imaginahome’s clients in Toronto near Pearson International Airport, Bilal was concerned with legal aspect of using drones in Canada. He also knows that most realtors managing luxury homes want to ensure safety and insurance when it comes to hiring service providers. But navigating through Transport Canada’s drone regulations wasn’t an easy task. Bilal then realized the most important thing to acquire wasn’t a new drone, it was knowledge.
In 2014, Bilal chose AlteX Drone Pilot Training, largely because the company is a partner with public colleges, and more importantly, AlteX instructors brought professional background in filming. They knew capturing a quality still or video required more than simply putting a drone in the air.
“How many people teaching a drone course really know about filming?” Bilal asks. “The filming background gave AlteX more credibility, especially because I was looking to do photography and video capture. Plus, they were highly experienced pilots in a field where many people were offering courses without much real-world experience. They were doing operations, not just teaching about it.”
Between 2014 and 2016, Bilal and two of his photographers completed AlteX Drone Pilot Training. As a business, Imaginahome also hired AlteX consulting services to receive SFOC and manage flights in controlled airspace. Since new regulations were released in January 2019, Imaginahome’s pilots continued to receive training and support form AlteX and acquired advanced drone pilot certificate as well as workflow, and technology updates. Today, drone aerial service is an integral part of Imaginahome’s offerings.
Imaginahome is now looking to expand their services, making it more accessible to Realtors across the GTA and surrounding areas. Much like AlteX, Bilal Jamous clearly has a Vision and, as an AlteX graduate, now has the skills to realize it!