I remember back in 2007 when we first started flipping homes, making a video tour of our homes was almost unheard of.
We actually hired a very savvy real estate agent who was also an online marketer.
He is the person who introduced us to this killer marketing tactic.
These days it is basically a requirement.
People don’t drive around when they are starting their search for a home, they surf the internet.
After seeing so many really bad video tours, we decided to get some pointers from our friendly RE agent Mark, who mostly does online marketing these days.
Here is what Mark said:
First off you can make a video using still images.
Take pictures of your home, place into PowerPoint slides, and then film them with computer desktop recording software like Jing which is free or Camtasia.
If you have a digital movie camera, or your camera on your smart phone, grab a tripod and shoot a quick pan of each room.
They make tripod mounts for smart phones these days, check amazon.
Amateur videos not shot using a tripod usually turn out bad and then most people won’t watch it.
Edit these clips together using some nice transitions and place some back ground music to make the video more entertaining.
If you can, stage your home. Make sure the rooms don’t look cluttered with too much stuff.
Place items in the rooms to enhance the look, not fill up the room.
Make your home tour video fun.
If you have a pool and slide, take a shot from the top of the slide.
You could even slide down wearing a go pro camera 🙂
Get the kids into the pool and shoot them having fun.
If you are so inclined, record a quick voice-over and edit it into the movie.
Point out major features of your home.
This helps get people excited about coming out to view your home.
Lastly when you upload your video to YouTube or wherever, make sure the title of the video is the full address of the home.
If your agent has a web page for the home, link to that first in the description and then list all the features or a transcription of the voice over.
Lastly enter the address again and a link to any web pages featuring the home.
This will help with your SEO of the video.
There you have it.
If you make your home tour videos following these tips, you will see some very good results.
Here is another article on making a pro video
Good luck with your home sale!