What’s about four feet wide, has propellers and wings, elevates like a helicopter, glides like a plane and delivers your new smart phone? Well if we were having this conversation even 10 years ago on April 1, you would probably figure it’s an April fool’s joke, but in 2015 it’s no joke.

Drones are all over the media these days from Amazon and Google wanting to use them to deliver their packages to photographers wanting to use them to film weddings, outdoor sporting and entertainment events and just plain nosy people. But how this new technology applies to marketing real estate can get into a real fuzzy right of privacy area.

Drones and real estate is a match made in heaven, especially when you are marketing high end homes that are on the water. No matter how many quality photos you take, it can never convey the special quality of a waterfront front home. Imagine flying over the roof of your home with a bird’s eye view of your free form pool, dock, terrace and landscaping being fully appreciated from above.

From a buyer's point of view, drone videos can capture ornamental details and physical conditions. Likewise, inspection of structural elements like piers, boat docks and roofs, which are not otherwise available until a structural engineer’s inspection, can rule out a property at the outset. This also can work for sellers who are confident in their property and invite close inspections.

However, the real star of your own private star wars show is the water. Gulffront homes can’t possibly be appreciated unless you can see their location from above or off shore like a boat approaching the shoreline. Drones will also give canal home buyers the advantage of seeing the width and even the depth of the canal, as well as the location on the waterway, in addition to the convenience and access to open water.

Although the Federal Aviation Administration rules allowing commercial drone use are about two years away, there have been recent changes that would allow a more flexible framework for the use of drones. For now the FAA maintains that commercial drone operators must apply for an exemption from existing regulations, which some realtors around the country have received.

But that’s not stopping real estate companies from getting ready for when the technology is more widely available and the regulations are finalized. Some are even skirting the regulations and finding a way to use drones right now, depending on the drone pilots they hire to understand the regulations. Never-the-less agents are officially cautioned against using the technology until the rule changes are approved.

Florida is one of the key states in the country that heavily markets to out of state and international buyers who frequently shop remotely. The more information they can get to these buyers, especially in the luxury market, the more complete picture a buyer can have of the property. Agents say that aerial views give a visual perspective to buyers shopping remotely that ground level photos cannot, frequently just enough perspective to push them over the finish line.

So keep an eye out for any little mechanical birds flying around your house. You can bet there will be a lot more of them in the years ahead. Able to leap tall buildings with a single bound – look up in the sky – it’s a bird; it’s a plane, oh no; it's just another drone. Better get your clothes on.