Heather McCroan

I would hardly consider myself stuck in the last century considering I've been shooting video of real estate off and on since 2002. I've been shooting video since 2001 when I worked as a one-man-band television reporter. When I say amateur, I don't mean an agent doing their best, I mean something that looks like it was shot by a six-year-old, or teenagers who are goofing off with the video camera or as mentioned above "Blair Witch Project." Just because YouTube is the #2 search engine in the world doesn't necessarily mean that it is the #2 search engine for real estate. Just because 20 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute doesn't mean it is all amateur video--several networks, special events, movies, etc. all professionally shot are being loaded to YouTube. It also does not follow that it is all being WATCHED and has an audience. Plus, if amateur video is really "it" why are the networks, production companies, etc. still hiring professionals to shoot their video? Why are cameras getting better? By the way, who shot your television productions? Did you apply your knowledge of amateur video to your TV productions? Who were your camera operators, grips, gaffers, line producer, producer, director, etc.? Were they just anyone who had a pulse or were they professionals? You can't compare real estate video, as has been said, with amateur video of bad plane landings--which I watched on YouTube last night. Also, if a more professional presentation is not the norm in today's amateur video world, doesn't that make us stand out? Video is used as a tool to generate interest and give the new type of buyer--the anonymous one, the one who starts their search on the internet (over 80%), the one who doesn't want to talk to the agent, the one who doesn't want to call for information but rather gather the info themselves, etc.--a taste, a look to create enough interest to see it themselves in person or rule it out. That's the emotion generation I CAN agree with, not the silly antics by and agent. No, you've never shown properties to me. I'm not a Realtor, I'm in my mid 30s, I embrace new technologies. I became a homeowner for the first time only five years ago, but I have since looked for property as a buyer several times and wished that the photos would actually give me a better idea of the listing. What a waste of time it is to visit a listing that you've seen pictures of that seems nothing like what you expected or wanted. I hate wasting my time. I don't think I'm alone. We've had agents from other brokerages say they love them also because it helps with their buyers. That is why I like video, and real video not a video of the stills that I can flip through myself, video that shows more than just 8 feet of width at a time (wide-angle lens converter). No, I did not mishear or misread what you wrote about the video. What you should say is "you may shoot FOR 45 minutes" rather than "you may shoot 45 minutes of video". Shooting video over the course of 45 minutes and shooting 45 minutes of video are two very different things. I think I understand that you meant shooting FOR 45 minutes, but you didn't come across clearly as you said to shoot 45 minutes of video. BTW Fred, I've been following you for some time now. I shoot on a tripod, then switched to using a Merlin, now back to tripod. I may go back to the Merlin who knows. Loved your hall of shame. And Judy, I don't use any special lighting equipment for my video. I just use the natural light and have the agent turn on every light in the house. That is why someone above was saying you need a camera that performs well in low-light. If you can adjust your iris, you can even shoot in houses with the power off, which I've had to do several times. We had a lot of success with our videos. Here is a sample with one of our agents with personality like crazy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyhHZghc9C8 She is natural and funny. She seems more extemporaneous, even though sometimes she is reading, because she writes like she talks rather than writing formally. Our broker does semi-regular amateur broker updates from his office using a web cam and Livestream. You can see this on our Livestream page www.livestream.com/sheridansolomon or on our home page. I agree with Jerri that there is a mistake in training sellers that agents must use expensive or outdated methods for marketing. For instance, agents still get requests from sellers to put their listings in real estate magazines or newspapers, which are quickly becoming useless. I don't think I nor the others who have posted here are wrong or in the last century. We're actually the ones in the trenches who are testing and trying and doing and finding what works and what doesn't based on experiences and feedback. We're the ones who embraced the technology before most others. My brokerage is having a lot of success. Our videos are marketed virally from our website, in e-mail, and via Facebook. Our website boasts nearly 0% in bounce rate. Since I've been working with this brokerage marketing the listings and shooting video since about March this year, we're the number one residential brokerage in our area with fewer agents. We're doing better than last year. The #2 brokerage is a distant second. In one of our areas, we're $18 million ahead of the #2 in sales.

Additional note, if you shoot on an HD camera with a wide-angle lens converter, you could easily pull still photos from the footage.

I agree with your suggestion that video is the way to go with listings. But I absolutely disagree with your suggestions for video. I'm a professional videographer, but I'm with a brokerage doing their video tours and their internet marketing. It is as if whomever suggested what to do with videography was pulled out of thin air. What are they thinking? 1. Emotion at the level of interest of watching a video and wanting to see the interior DOES NOT sell listings. In fact, I'd bet that it would turn off a potential buyer who is sick of seeing crappy, shaky video on YouTube. What a nice change to see nice, steady shots of a home. If this is a selling tool, it should be professional. Why would you suggest less than amateur videography? Would you suggest that the photographs agents take be any less than the best they can do? Emotions sell homes after you've created interest. 2. Your article is about videography being a listing tool. What about the seller? How happy is your seller going to be with your silly antics and corny shots of a the agent in flip flops walking down the beach? If you're only suggesting a minute and a half of videography, then you better have only one shot like you suggest and make it 10 seconds, and the other 80 seconds better be devoted to SHOWING THE LISTING AND OTHER PERTINENT SHOTS. We have one agent who just lets her personality shine through, she doesn't have to do anything silly, she is just being herself which is charming. 3. Ideally you shoot A LOT less than 45 minutes of video. I shoot no more than 5-20 minutes of video even for listings upwards of 5000 square feet with lots of amenties. It may take you 45 minutes to get all of those shots, but you will do yourself a great disservice if you shoot 45 minutes of video. Our video tours range in length from 90 seconds to around four minutes. It depends on the home. 4. Your camera DOES make a difference. Go with a camera with a flash drive for memory. This makes editing a ... flash ... when you don't have to search through linear video shots. However, you have to use a program that will take the types of files that are created on a flash drive--I think most are h.264 files. I would also consider trying to find a wide-angle lens converter because looking at just part of a window and wall is just not visually interesting. I shoot on a Panasonic DVX100, which is a standard definition prosumer camera that I bought years ago, and I'm still using tape until my camera dies, and I have to buy a new one. However, if your brokerage will do so, invest in a Panasonic HMC150, which is about $3400. It is also prosumer and a flash drive. 5. Please use a tripod. They aren't expensive and you'll need one if you are shooting yourself walking down the beach in flip flops or jumping on a horse and riding away in the sunset. 6. The time of day you shoot can indeed have an affect. Outdoor light to your camera is actually blue and indoor light is actually like orangeish, so you're camera will need to do what is called white balance. Our eyes automatically adjust to the differences in light but a camera must be told what is white. Plus, if you shoot toward a window, a camera in auto mode will iris down so that not as much light will enter the camera. The rest of the room will be dark. I work in manual mode if shooting toward bright lights and windows and adjust the iris at somewhere in between. 7. Do post your videos to YouTube (we do www.youtube.com/sheridansolomon) and Realtor.com. I link them to our Facebook page also, and add the link to our MLS. 8. Consider this, do you have the time to add video to your already busy schedule? Do you think you could do it best or is your time better spent doing what YOU DO BEST, listing and selling real estate? You can probably find some starving film student who can do a decent job for you. I have it down to a science, I shoot in the order I'm going to edit, and have the agent narrate it in the same order. It takes me 10-30 minutes to shoot, 10-30 minutes to edit, and 10-30 minutes to get everything loaded to the different websites. Offer the aforementioned starving student $75-150 each. Don't jump on the video bangwagon and do an amateur job of it. Your seller WILL NOT appreciate it, and buyers will be turned off by your lack of professionalism and what little they get to see of the home's interior. I've been a buyer, and when I saw that an agent offered video I was thrilled until I watched the video and was sorely disappointed that it was just the agent babbling to shaky video of such tight shots I couldn't really make out the house or its layout.