Last Cut Video Tour News » General

Real Estate’s Unsexy Pictures

tbanucci — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 08:04:03 +0000

Just happened upon a great article in the San Francisco Chronicle’s site, demeaning the mediocre attempts at using different types of photos and tours used to sell homes. Written by Anna Marie Hibble, she informs the casual house hunter that listings with an incredible number of photos attributed to it, is known as “house porn”. I guess the thought of the term just makes me laugh out loud!

Anyway, check out parts 1 and 2 of the articles here:

Least Sexy House Porn Ever
and
Most Unsexy House Porn Vol 2

Here’s the kicker: All you need to do is hire us to create a simple video for your listing, which will show everything the buyer would want, and never go overboard. We can also take some stunning still shots for the listing, and suggest which 5 would be the best to promote your listing. Think about the children! Eliminate the porn! House porn that is.

Upfront or Contingency?

tbanucci — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:32:53 +0000

WellcomeMat has stirred the pot again on a big topic for the type of service that I offer. The big debate is pricing; should a video producer charge upfront for real estate video or on a contingency basis?

You can read the forum topic here to see what many video producers and realtors from around the country have already said.

In my personal opinion, we have tried so many different ways of charging for our services over the 6 years we have been creating real estate video (since 2003). What has worked out for the best is our current pricing. Now it may not have given us as many customers as we have wanted, but in return we have more quality customers that know and appreciate the value of video, as well as marketing their image.

We have tried incentives before to getting new clientele, such as charging upon contingency. However, that did not work for us on many levels, the largest of which was that we were too dependent on the quality and integrity of realtors who wanted that option. We have also tried charging after the video was finished, only to get shafted on payment. In the long run, it was best for us to charge up front and a fair amount for the time we put into the final product.

One person had commented in the thread that perhaps a videographer should take a percentage of the sale. Essentially, with our pricing levels, that is what we are doing, but the percentage actually gets reduced as the listing price rises (that keeps us from making $10000 on a 20 million dollar home, of which, we have taped many).

What are your thoughts on pricing and how it should be handled? Let us know either in the comments below, Twitter, or our contact form, we’d love to know!

Real Estate Video Survey

tbanucci — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:25:05 +0000

WellcomeMat, a real estate video hosting service that we occasionally work with, has posted a survey regarding video tours, targeted toward real estate agents. If you have time, please fill it out and share your opinion of video tours!

Video Tour Survey Link

The Best Answer for a Vacant Home

tbanucci — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:36:10 +0000

I just happened upon this blog post by Steve Bergsman regarding the hassles of maintaining a vacant home that is up for sale by various people including the realtor and bank. Steve goes on and on about advice on keeping the grounds maintained, transients out, and what the realtor must keep in mind when going about showing the house.

It actually escapes me that, despite posting this on the Inman News blog, which started their business by creating tour videos (a friendly competitor of mine), he fails to mention the obvious: provide a home video tour.

Put it this way folks, look at the costs (and hassle) associated with maintaining these vacant homes and always keeping them in their best light, despite having a boarded up entry way. Why not just spend a little bit of money and show only the shots you want to show to the buyer in a video? That way you never have to visit the house, you don’t have to worry about the homeless dude jumping out at potential buyers during a tour, and you don’t have to worry about the overgrown grass. Buyers will be able to see the house how it is supposed to be seen, and not in it’s decrepit state.

What are your thoughts?

Free iPhone and iPod videos!

tbanucci — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:25:45 +0000

I’m happy to announce that we are eliminating a service charge and now providing it to ALL of our customers for FREE! Previously, we were charging people for converting our videos to iPod and iPhone (really any smartphone device) format so that they could show off listings to potential customers, even while in line at Starbucks, while waiting for their grande cappuccino latte.

Recent shifts in the way we deliver our videos has made it easier for us to deliver these files, and the savings shifts on to you, our customers! The great thing is that these files can also be played on any computer as well, making them ideal for your listing presentations.

So for now on, the videos are on us! And if you are a current customer who would like a former house of yours in this format, simply give me a call and I will send it over to you.

And for those of you who were suckered into this post from the title, suggesting you were getting a free iPhone, who knows, maybe that will happen in the future! Sign up to our newsletter and blog to find out!

Denver Post on Video Tours

tbanucci — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:03:29 +0000

The Denver Post wrote up a great article on utilizing video tours for your property listings, saying, “Now it’s all about full-motion video.”

Denver Post Article Link

Here is the text of the article below….

Virtual home tours arrived online about a decade ago, as the nation’s broadband networks developed the capacity to deliver them. First it was the 360-degree panorama — a houseful of slow pans stitched together with editing software.

Now it’s all about full-motion video.

“I’ve posted all of my listings with video for the past three years,” said Jim Smith, a Golden-based broker who acts as his own film crew. He speaks on camera, narrates as he walks the floors, and edits the footage with Windows Movie Maker software.

While some brokers have used video for years, the nation’s Multiple Listing Services are just beginning to catch up, said Christian Sterner, co-founder of WellcomeMat, a Boulder company that hosts video for real- estate companies.

Video postings are found on realtor.com, a public site that aggregates listings from many MLS systems nationwide. But many brokers fail to take advantage of the capability, even when their big employers pay for it, Smith said.

“The funniest ones are when they shoot a video but they don’t speak. You see the camera moving around the house and all you can hear is the guy breathing,” he said.

Video is not just about listings, said Sterner, speaking recently to Denver brokers gathered to learn more about social media. “Real-estate companies have an interest in being a local information source. So they produce information about schools, restaurants, shopping and entertainment, not just houses,” he said.

Keller Williams broker Jennifer Pollock operates in Denver’s Mayfair neighborhood. She blogs and posts video at mayfairdenver.com. Recently, she covered the groundbreaking for a construction project at Palmer Elementary School.

“Video engages people. It gives you a very personal feeling for the neighborhood,” she said. Her aim is to sell the neighborhood and herself as much as to sell homes.

In the social-media lingo swirling around video and real estate, Pollock is engaged in “hyper-localism.” An enthusiastic advocate of that is Mark Eibner of Denver-based BrokerIPTV.

Eibner urges brokers to blog locally with live streaming video, enabled by common hand-held devices such as the iPhone and BlackBerry.

“If it’s easy, you’ll do it,” Eibner advises.

He advises that clients don’t bother with scripting or editing and instead stream their footage to a distribution site such as Qik.com., which will “push” the content to YouTube and dozens of lesser-known sites.

“Quick-streaming video has its place, and so does a carefully planned production,” said Mark Schow. He is the Colorado distributor for Obeo, the leading provider of full-service online virtual tours.

There is no rivalry between “traditional” providers and the newer generation of quicker technology applications. Schow also owns Mediamax, producing broker profiles and more upscale property listings.

“Ease of delivery is definitely where the industry is going,” he said. “You have to figure out how to make brokers and homes look good at a reasonable price.”

Death of Old School Realtor

tbanucci — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:48:57 +0000

It’s rare that I have posted to this blog lately (sorry about that, we have a ton of projects that we are working on), but this video just made me excited about the thoughts on realty and video.

Ian Watt is a successful realtor in Vancouver, Canada who changed his strategy about marketing himself, and it has paid off in droves for him. Enjoy this seminar that he gave recently, it may enlighten you on re-aligning your own marketing.

Video is the future and it’s happening now!

Social Networking, Video, and Increasing Sales

tbanucci — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:00:49 +0000

Internet-based social networking is the marketing phenomenon of 2008, finally getting some real recognition. For those that think social networking is going to parties and handing out your card, well, maybe you were right about that 3 years ago. But now, it’s all about networking on the Internet. Sites like these include Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Classmates.com, and Plaxo.

The heavyweight in this arena now is Facebook, and with good cause. Here are some recent stats:

More than 110 million active users

Facebook is the 4th most-trafficked website in the world

Facebook is the most-trafficked social media site in the world

More than half of Facebook users are outside of college

Fastest growing demographic: those 25 years old and older

So what this means is that Facebook is not just something for the kids, it’s a full-fledged networking tool for business as well. What’s great about Facebook is that they maintain a certain professionalism about the site. You can’t change the look and feel of the site, it’s very clean. Also, it makes a great way of posting your status and ramblings to everyone in your network, without having to email everyone in your network. This has huge advantages to other social media sites.

Let’s say you get a video tour from us, if you ask, we’ll upload it to Facebook for FREE. When we upload it, all you have to do is simply press a “share” button. Once you do this, your video will go out to all of your contacts to see, and if they share it or comment on it, the video will go out to all of their friends as well! THAT is INSTANT networking, and with people you don’t even know!

What’s even better is that your name and picture come up in our video, showing you off as a realtor who makes that extra effort to market your listings. From this, you are bound to get more customers, and more sales.

And all you had to do was press a button! Now that is marketing!

PS- have you seen our Facebook Page? Become a fan!

Rehash: Professional Work or DIY?

tbanucci — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:28:11 +0000

Continuing with the “rehash” tour… as well as my most recent post, we give you more statistics and reasons to hire us! Why else would I be keeping this blog?

My last post revealed a study that said, “the more photos you have of your listings, the more views you will get”. Let’s take that one step further, with an article from “Photography for Real Estate.net”, where Larry (the author) clearly points out the benefits of using a professional to photograph your listing as compared to doing it yourself.

One of the great articles that Larry pointed out is this one from Vivian Toy in the New York Times. Vivian not only shows before and after photos, which were done by a realtor, and then the professional she hired, but also talks about the subtle differences in shots that only a professional can bring to life, considering their experience in the subject of photography.

At LastCutHomes.com, we have had realtors actually bring video footage to us to edit, of which we have politely refused, due to the fact that the footage was nowhere near our standards or quality. We have also seen home made videos from other realtors that are just downright horrible. Here is an example, which we will talk about in a future post (and I’m sorry for picking on you, ma’am, but you really do have a terrible video).

Now, how about comparing this to a video that we have shot and edited. The difference is clear, and it’s not just a trained eye in what corner to shoot from!

We have been shooting and editing real estate video since 2003, not to mention a 20 year background in the video industry before that, all which lent to the skills that we use today on each one of our videos. We are the professionals, giving talks to our peers about the future of real estate video and all of the intricate things you need to know to render a professional looking real estate video.

If you have video as a hobby, and wish to give it a shot, we applaud you in your resourcefulness! But if you aren’t adept, and would rather spend the time getting more leads and generating more sales, how about giving us a shot at filming your house? You’ll be happy you did!

Rehash: More Photos=More Views!

tbanucci — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:24:00 +0000

Continuing where I left off in my “rehash” of old blog posts, todays topic comes to us from Point2 Technologies, in Canada, home of Don Cherry and other assorted hockey fanatics.

Point2 released this study, which talks about more photos equalling more views of homes on the internet. In other words, if you have 8 pictures of your home on the MLS, it will get significantly more views from buyers than a home with 3 pictures on the MLS.

According to the study, a paltry .02% clicked to see more details on homes with no photos! That number went up to 20% with just a single photo! Get this…. a home with 21-36 photos got triple the amount of views, double the amount of interest and double the number of leads. The trend continued as you posted more and more photos of the house.

Now I ask you this people: If there are 30 pictures per second displayed in video, wouldn’t you get the best views of your home if you had 9,000 photos? Or in other words, a 5 minute video?

Any amount of pictures cannot equal the information that a video gives. Call us now to schedule a video for your home listing!