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Video Killed the Open House Tour?
Tina Merritt writes:
The featured Active|Rain video blog today is an interview between Joel Burslem and Doug Heddings. Doug discussed his tremendous success using video tours for his listings. He uses a professional videographer who tapes and edits the videos at a cost of approximately $300-$500 each.
What really caught my attention was Doug’s description of HOW to make a video tour. He NEVER once mentioned promoting himself! If you watch one of his video tours, you never even see him (just an arm or two as he opens and closes doors). Doug then describes “acting” in the video just as if you were showing the house to a buyer. He is relaxed, at ease and very good at “showing” the property.
In Doug’s videos, he not only shows you the property from top to bottom, but also the sites around and convenient to the property. He describes how easy it is to access the George Washington Bridge from one of his properties, shows the butcher and cafes within walking distance as well as the area parks.
It’s almost like popping a client in a golf cart and whisking them through the neighborhood and touring the sites and even, sounds of the neighborhood.
Last week, I purchased a Vado camera for video blogging. Now, I don’t see myself putting together a quality presentation like Doug’s with this camera. But, I do see possibly adding video of the schools assigned to a particular listing, the area parks, the neighborhood recreation center, etc. I plan to start small and grow with it.
I agree with Doug, in the big picture of things (no pun intended), $300 isn’t a lot for a quality video tour. I would rather spend $300 on a great tour than sit for hours upon hours at open houses with just a few walk-ins. Nothing can replace that person-to-person communication, but if a video tour gets viewed hundreds of times, doesn’t it make sense to do a video before sitting an open house? Will video tours kill open house tours?
With the price of gas so high, some real estate offices are starting to have virtual tours rather than driving tours. Video seems to be a good way to go rather than continuing to spend money on gas just to look at inventory.
Wow! Thanks so much for the props. In all honesty though, I see each one of my videos as a subtle self-promotion. I do make it about the property but I like to think the videos showcase some of my abilities as an agent. Thanks again.
Doug - thanks so much for visiting and commenting! I really hope to use a few things I learned from your interview with Joel and I’ll be sure to share with you for a critique!!!
I am the founder of Video Openhouse (www.vopenhouse.ca), the leading Video Tour provider in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Video Tours are a great screening process for Realtors. Why waste time with uninterested buyers or neighbours who want to satisfy their curiousity. Let an interested party view the video first, and then decide if they want to take the time to see the property in person. Our service allows Realtors to maximize their valuable time!
Video tours also prersents an opportunity for Realtors to promote themselves. Imagine having an interested home-buyer’s attention for the entire 2 - 3 minute duration of a video tour with the Realtor’s name, photo, phone number and website prominently displayed right above the video window. How many newspaper ads would you have to pay for to imprint your personal brand in the minds of the general public? It’s a cost-effective tool for both Realtors and their listings!