There are 2 main parts, plus one related:
1. The legality of taking pictures of private property from the air.
- This is 100% legal. Airspace in the US is regulated by the FAA, and over populated areas, as long as there isn't some other "controlling reason" (near an airport, military base, etc,) as long as you are 1000 ft above the ground or structures, you're clear to fly there all you want - taking pictures of anything you want. (See "Streisand Effect.")
2. The legality of flying a remotely-controlled unmanned aircraft.
- This is the questionable part. By current FAA law, a "remote control aircraft" must be flown visually, not by camera feed. This is based on laws over "RC airplanes" that have been around for decades. But the new "drones" that are designed to fly further than visual range, and operated not via looking directly at the aircraft, but by looking at a video feed coming from it, are uncertain. The FAA doesn't have firm rules.
3. The legality of "commercial photography" from unmanned aircraft.
- This is firmly illegal. One cannot use an unmanned aircraft (either "conventional RC airplane" or new "remotely piloted drone,") for commercial purposes. A news station can't use it to monitor traffic (because the reporting of traffic is a "commercial use,") and Apple themselves couldn't use it to monitor construction progress, ironically. But as long as the use of the drone isn't to take pictures for commercial use, as long as it is a private individual taking pictures for their own personal use, rather than to sell them, they're in the clear.