Industry Overview
September 3, 2007
Why Offer a Video Tour?
Less than two years ago, home video tours were still prohibitively expensive because the only way to distribute them was on DVD. But with the expansion of Broadband Internet and the popularity of online video, the cost of offering a video tour of a home on the market has dropped significantly.
You can no longer afford to leave out this powerful seller’s tool, in an industry where distinguishing yourself from the competition is paramount. A one-time investment in a quality home video tour grants your home unprecedented market penetration. It remains showcased on the Internet 24/7, for as long as it takes to sell.
Save showings for the seriously interested
The advantages of offering video tours of a home in today’s competitive real estate market are legion. The ease with which brokers and their clients can now preliminarily assess buyer interest means that the great majority of people who come to view a home in person are already seriously interested in it. Buyer’s agents, in turn, can negotiate sales faster and easier by offering their clients houses to view and assess at their leisure in the privacy of their own home.
Which house will they remember?
In addition to video links going out in emails to potential clients, the emailed link is a perfect follow-up in an open house situation. A couple goes out on a Saturday afternoon to test the waters and gain information about houses in their area. They wander into 10 or more open houses, exchanging contact info with each showing agent. After a dizzying array of beds, baths, porches, and patios, the home they will remember best is the one with a high-quality video tour — linked in a follow-up e-mail and instantly streamed from any computer — reiterating the home’s special features along with novel ideas for using the space.
Reaching everybody
In their November 2006 technology report, the National Association of Realtors suggested posting home video tours on Youtube. This powerful Internet video portal reaches people who are browsing but have not necessarily contacted a buyer’s agent for listings yet. Realty-specific video portal sites like Wellcomemat.com reach this group as well, and are of course essential online avenues for reaching buyers further along in the process too.
