Tips for Real Estate Video that Doesn’t Suck

I’m a brand new Realtor in a small coastal town in Florida.

Understanding that more and more people would rather watch a video about a house vs. opposed to reading a bunch of stuff on line, and with a very limited budget, I’ve started to make videos that are entertaining (and maybe somewhat funny?) to boost interest in my town and my inventory.

But from there I’m completely lost– Do you have a road map of what to do next?

–Herb

Real estate video started at the very high end of the industry 15 years or so ago.

But as phones turned into great cameras and video became even more important to getting folks to show up and look at listings, its now common for almost any listing that will show well on video.

But big points to you for realizing that “point and shoot” is only part of the job of showing property on video. The other part is “thinking” and “editing.” Because bad video will kill your listing. It doesn’t matter how much time or effort or money you put into your video. If it sucks, nobody watches.  If nobody watches, opportunity missed.

Great marketing video always starts with the audience. What will entertain them? What do they need or want from your real estate video?

Think about your listing and your customers and make a list of what goes into your Audience-focused video. I’m going to make some stuff up as an example, but you can follow this process when you  brainstorm your next Real Estate Video planning document and shot list:

1. First, lets make a list of what the audience might need in your real estate video– from their point of view. Write it all down, we’ll pick the good ones next.

Audience Needs:

• they want to see the house pretty quickly, and not be bored.
• They want to see it well– enough detail to intrigue them.
• They want to get a feel for the place so they can decide if they want to look in person. (emotional hooks)
• They want to be surprised with how good it is.

Highlight the important needs from this list and we’ll use them to trigger another list of what might make your video work better.  I’ll take “seeing the house fast” and “seeing the house well” and brainstorm some more on “Look and Feel”:

Look and Feel:

• NO long intro.
• Bring a few plug-in lights to keep things bright.
• More than one video per house so someone can click right to, say, the back yard if that’s their passion.
• Nicely framed shots.
• Not much camera motion, but not holding for a long time either.
• Close-ups of cool details.
• SHORT videos so people don’t feel like they have to spend a long time to get a look.
• Maybe some information about it in voiceover (opportunity for humor there– and most real estate videos don’t have it!)

Now let’s look at that list and see what facts and information we want to include.  We’ll call this “Content.”  Knowing the audience needs and look and feel, for each house consider questions like:  What are its strongest features?  What will look best on video?  What do you want to avoid?

Content:

• The sunset view of the mountains
• the two story entryway
• the kitchen cooktop and vent
• Avoid the guest bath
• Get details on living room flooring and baseboards.
• Show how close kids room is to the parents’ room.

Note: You can’t include too much here and still keep the video moving. You’re just trying to get them interested. But shoot it all– you can always edit it later! 

Putting it all together:  You’re going to shoot and edit your  content  in a way (look and feel) that satisfies your audience’s needs. You may want to follow all my other basic tips for shooting video that doesn’t suck too!

Being a realtor– even a new one– you’ll know a lot more about the particulars than I do.  But the process is important.

Thinking about your audience first– before you shoot anything– is the key to creating a real estate video the audience will want to watch.

Want to ask your own question about video?  Don’t be shy!

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