Any Real-Estate Videographers? (OT?)

[Mark Slade]

Originally Posted by Waldemar Winkler

I recently picked up on a real estate video (which I watched on a whim) for a property in rural Maine. I picked it up on the IVRPA forum site ... http://ivrpa.org/forum/index.php .
Well done project. Started with an automobile driver's view of a country road accompanied by perky voice-over which dissolved into a front view of the property. .

Waldemar....do you remember where on that site you found the video. Can't seem to find it myself....
Thanks
Mark

[Waldemar Winkler]

Originally Posted by Mark Slade

Waldemar....do you remember where on that site you found the video. Can't seem to find it myself....
Thanks
Mark

As I indicated this morning in a PM to you, no. But ... I was cleaning out my hard drive this afternoon and found this link:

http://www.rudymayer.com/featuredpro...ing/video.html

Just checked it out. The link is still good.

[Dana Salsbury]

That's really nice. The only thing I would do differently is get to the house quicker. People today don't have time for anything -- even flashy multi-media! Aack!

[Jason Robinson]

Originally Posted by Mike Oveson

I have a friend that does real estate photography and half of the time the home is sold before he even gets a chance to shoot it. And this happens many times within 24 hours of the home going up for sale. It's just crazy. So, it's a risk. But the demand may go up as people have to do more to sell their places.

I found that problem too. Boise hit a huge real estate boom (now popped) and homes sold with out the need for video. sometimes with out the need for VR. Just some good photos and an MLS # was all it took to bring in the buyers.

jason

[Mark Slade]

looked at it today....

[Janice DeMille]

Those of you doing the virtual video tours, who do you use for hosting? I'm assuming you host it yourself and provide the customer with a link. I would really like to get into this market to pick up extra week day work.

thanks

[Waldemar Winkler]

Originally Posted by Janice DeMille

Those of you doing the virtual video tours, who do you use for hosting? I'm assuming you host it yourself and provide the customer with a link. I would really like to get into this market to pick up extra week day work.

thanks

I upload the tours to the agent's webmaster. Don't know enough about web site management to do it myself.

[Dana Salsbury]

>Apparently advertising of properties for sale can not be considered sales expenses that can be deducted from the sale price at closing as can site survey expenses and necessary repairs. Advertising expenses are taken directly from the real estate agent's business bank account.

I've been thinking about this for some time, and can see where Realtors would be hesitant. What if the video *was* a survey expense. The surveyor could use the online clip as part of their report. Then the Realtor could also use the clip via email, a link to their web site, or a link to our web site.

Surveyers take pictures -- why not videography? Thoughts? How and to whom would I pitch this?

This would be SUCH a good excuse to get a vest stabilizer!

[Dana Salsbury]

...so I talked to both a Realtor and Inspector about the idea, and it sounds like an inspector would have no use for the video. They chronicle problem areas, while advertising media would avoid problem areas.

Appraisors are ordered from the bank, so the house is already sold at that point. I can't think of any other angle to where the Realtor wouldn't have to incur the video walkthru fee. If I was a Realtor I'd pry be tight myself and not pay for a service that wasn't proven effective toward selling.

Is the best route, then to solicit the broker alone? Basically, who has the liquid dollars that would make this a viable solicitation?

[Todd Kivimaki]

Dana,
I think you first have to believe in the product before you are really going to be able to sell it. Maybe do some videos for free so you can get some testimonials from buyers, sellers and agents. I have many testimonials stating that the videos made the difference in either buying or selling a home. I also have many realtors that tell me it is the best marketing tool that have.

www.cowanrealtors.com

One of my bigger companies who does most of their homes, you will be able to see the power that the videos have when they are done in a large scale.

It is a hard thing to get into but keep trying I am approaching video 1200 soon and am having more people come to me and wanting the videos.

[Dana Salsbury]

I'm currently shooting weddings/events exclusively, and know I would have a nice product, especial. I'm concerned about the summer down here in Phoenix. Anyone who has money heads north. Corporate work is year round, and Real Estate seems to be something I could tackle without having to buy additional equipment. It also seems to be something I could automate, so I won't have to re-invent the wheel.

[Fred Light]

I actually have been doing real estate tours for almost two years - I was one of the first in the country to do these types of things online.

For those who are inquiring about the validity of this business idea:

1) Realtors, as a group, are not the brightest bulbs. Generally, they don't 'get' technology, they aren't comfortable with technology, and they definitely don't get THIS technology (video tours). Most are lucky to understand and use email! About 15% of all realtors are actually good at what they do. Fortunately, with the market slowing down, a great deal of the 90% will be working at the mall sooner rather than later, much to the happiness of the remaining 10% who ARE good, and who DO understand marketing, technology and real estate. Don't get me wrong - that 10%? They are VERY good and earn every penny of their commission. Unfortunately, the bar to enter the real estate field is pretty much a pulse, and the $300 to get your license. Any knowledge of business, salesmanship or technology is NOT required.

2) Realtors are cheap. Understand, they have to fork up marketing money UP FRONT, with no guarantees the house will sell and they will see a paycheck. However, you have to spend money to make money. Those 90% referred to above don't get that concept. I can't tell you how many realtors don't even own a digital camera - they still use the Kodak 'office camera' from 1999 that writes to a floppy disk (fortunately their 7 year old computer still HAS a floppy drive!).

3) Photos sell homes. Virtual tours sell homes. It's a proven fact. There are statistics galore to prove this over and over - especially in this market of $3 a gallon gasoline and record numbers of properties on the market. Yet most realtors won't even put up the MAXIMUM number of photos allowed by their MLS - even though photos are FREE in this digital age. Again, they don't 'get it'. (part of it is a 'control' issue - they think that by withholding many photos, that a potential buyer will CALL them to see the property - or possibly another property. What they just don't understand is that consumers are ELIMINATING properties without photos and just skipping to the next.)

4) OK... so now you're thinking - "I'll go after those who have million dollar listings - THEY get it". Actually wrong! They get it the LEAST. Search in your area on million dollar homes and you will generally find 1) only a few photos when the MLS will allow 12 or 20 - they post 5. Virtually NONE have virtual tours of any kind. I did a survey recently in my area (New England), and literally NO HOMES over $1.5 million dollars had a virtual tour of any kind. None. Zero. Zippo.

So... that's been MY experience, and I have probably done more of these types of tours than anyone in the country. So, it's not impossible by any means (it's also not my sole livelihood!). It's a tough nut to crack these realtors.

http://www.NashuaVideoTours.com

[Todd Kivimaki]

Very well said Fred, one thing to remember is the 80 20 rule and it defiantly applies to realtors, 20% of the realtors do 80% of the business thus make 80% of the money.

Fred I noticed that on your website it says you take 45-90 minutes in a house and then another 6 hours editing, I really think that you could cut off a lot of this time by making the videos more simple and achieve just as good of video if not better. I am in a house 10-15 minutes tops, editing takes another 15 minutes per house (this is to edit, render the movie, upload and link into our database) Just something to think about.

I have also found that realtors are very superstitious, meaning if it worked for one house then they will do it again because they don't want to risk the chance of not selling because they didn't use a particular marketing technique.

One last thing to remember is it is going to take time, some of the companies I work for now took over a year to get. Yes I'm not lying I really worked over 1 year on several companies. I recently received a call back from two different companies I have been trying to get into since I started 3 years ago. It's been a long time coming but it is worth it.

I'm glad to hear there are others making it in the industry, I have been going at it for over 3 years and have done over 1200 videos, most of those have been done in the past year and a half (since I graduated from college) It’s going well enough that it is my full time employment and also I have another full time guy help me out.

[Fred Light]

Todd: It's really not 6 hours editing anymore - I've got it down to about 3 hours total. But my tours are quite different than yours - you're really not comparing apples to apples. It seems your tours are basically just room by room pans. I do that too, but also a steadicam walk thru. It also has narration, which adds quite a bit of time to write and edit. Then I compress and upload the video in QuickTime, Windows Media Video AND Flash. For example, your videos I cannot even watch. I'm on a Mac and they just come up with a blank screen. No explanation, no nothing. I had to watch it on Windows. I don't believe in putting up ANY barriers to viewing (such as needing IE and not able to use Firefox, etc). You shouldn't have to hunt down a plug in or use a particular browser to view a tour. People just won't do it. QuickTime is the superior web video delivery method, with .wmv second, so I compress to both formats as I think quality is imperative when selling houses in the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Nothing compares to QT. However, QT and WMV only have about 65% penetration, so I also do Flash, which has a 97% penetration. So essentially, EVERYONE can see my videos, and they will see them in the best quality that their computer will allow without hunting down a plug in or having to be forced into using a particular browser like Internet Exploder. I also upload the videos to about 10 video websites as well, which takes quite a bit of time at an average of 40MB per file. My primary business is designing and marketing websites for realtors, so I'm very well known already in the business, so I fortunately haven't had to even advertise or promote myself, and I still do about 7-10 a week, which is plenty for me.... (I've got other work to do!)

[Todd Kivimaki]

I agree that your videos are different but all I am saying is I don't feel they need to be that fancy and you could still charge the same price, I charge just as much if not more then your prices and everyone is more then happy with the pans only.

Basically all I am saying as I videographer I look at your videos and say wow those are really nice, I can appreciate the work that goes into it, the steadcam work, voice overs etc, but as a realtor or just anyone looking for a house would I notice all those things, probably not. I feel strongly that it actually takes away form the house itself.

Again I'm not trying to be negative in any way because your videos look great, but if you could charge the same amount and get the same business but only spend 1/6 the time doing it, it might be something to think about.

From a videographer's standpoint your videos look better but from a business standpoint you have to think about what is going to give you the most for you money. We average around 25-35 houses a week and I typically only work 4 days a week.

We choose the wmv format because the computer world is ruled by windows machines and all windows machines have Windows Media Player preloaded, I too use a Mac (I have flip4mac installed and configured to play the videos) Generally those who do use mac will know how to play a wmv file (like yourself), I don't like quicktime or flash because it need to be downloaded and installed to play correctly. Something that is not difficult for you or I to do, but I always think "could my mother do that?" and the answer is no. Worst of all I always keep my email on the page so I can help those who are having problems.

You are lucky that you haven't had to advertise to get your business as realtors are a tough group to sell to. I started this when I was 21 so you can imagine no one wanted to listen to me a 21 year old kid who they though knew nothing. 3 year later and I have about 60 realtors who do videos, it is finally getting easer to gain some respect when I talk to new agents.

Congrats again and good luck in the future.