Comments on: What is the Market For Real Estate Video? How Many Are Shooting Video?

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 03:01:16 +0000

My company’s been doing wedding video & photo for several years but have just recently opened up to real estate video and photo work. It’s picking up like wildfire and we’ve hardly marketed anything; once we did a couple, and people have seen the caliber we offer (every video is shot 1080p on Canon 7Ds; photos are done with the same), we’ve been getting request after request. There’s been a market here (in Oregon) for who knows how long and we’re just getting on board.

We shoot everything with the Tokina 11-16mm, and I can’t recommend it more. ZERO barrel distortion, even at 11, and the perspective skew is barely noticeable. This lens, even with our APS-C sensor running it in about 17mm, stretches even the smallest of rooms to expansive proportions — a must-have for this type of work.

Cheers,
J

By: Brett Clements

Brett Clements — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 04:59:43 +0000

To date, we’ve produced over 6,000 real estate videos in our little corner of Queensland alone and we have a new Crew just starting up in Miami, Florida. The difference between the two markets is, in Australia, VPA (vendor Paid Advertising) is well-established. This means there is ‘slightly’ more money to go around. The advent of technology like the 5DMII means we can bring two skill sets to the table, simultaneously – cinematography and photography, delivering more bang for the buck. Providing you don’t go overboard and launch full HD sized 1920 x 1080 files, I find video over the Internet – even with third world Australian speeds – more than acceptable. I certainly don’t go rushing home to watch a slide show on my TV. The role of video in property will change. I see a blend of both arts. There are scenes where video kills. Like. Anything that moves. And there are other scenes which demand the power of photography in terms of flash/image blend/HDR etc. Like print working with other forms of media, there is a time and a place for everything. Nothing will ever kill the simple beauty of a well-framed photograph that captures the moment. And I doubt nothing will ever convey the power of an F18 taking off than cinematography.

By: Phil

Phil — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 15:19:37 +0000

Video takes waaaay too long to load and watch for buyers. Who wants to wait and watch a video for 15min?? My wife is a perfect example of the typical busy buyer who is looking at 20-30 houses and doesn’t have time to watch it all to get an idea.

This is where 360 panoramas do it best… they are quick and easy and give buyers a perfect view of the layout of the home without having to sit there waiting to see what you want to see. Sellers also get the same WOW factor out of it.

Video for me is a not a good sell, in fact I take a lot of business away from the Video guys in my area because of it.

Nothing wrong with Video, just not for the average home in a busy real estate market which is 90% of homes. Volume is key.

By: Christian Fitzpatrick

Christian Fitzpatrick — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:12:59 +0000

@ Pete: Cheers mate! I’m getting there, but it’s a constant learning curve.

@ Rob: With resppect, I take exception to that comment. I referred to us as filmmakers because that’s what we are. None of us at PlatinumHD started by tentatively dipping a toe into the real estate video market, we are all from a production background. Sure nobody’s going to see Propvid’s on Fox Classics in 20 years, but the subject matter shouldn’t dictate that we put anything less than our best efforts into every shoot.

By: larry

larry — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 05:38:56 +0000

@Grape- Looks pretty acceptable to me for a walk-through type video. 5 minutes may be a little too long. The problem I can see is that you are not always going to have a Realtor as good at doing the narration as Hope is. She does a good job… but what do you do when you don’t have a Hope?

By: grape imaging

grape imaging — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 05:16:59 +0000

Hello from the Denver area. I just did my first video tour last week. I had read all of the posts here up till last Friday. And found the information helpful.

It’s a video that is meant to appeal to a younger tech savvy, YouTube, social media crowd. Not meant to be TV quality. And as my usual photography, it is not meant for magazines, but high quality reasonably priced to get potential buyers into the home.

I now do wish I had bought an HD camera last year when I purchased my first video camera. As it would match better to the photos that I incorporated into the video. I am used iMovie which I found to be so much better than Microsoft Movie Maker.

I would like some feedback on the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awNe5ace-CE

We did not do a virtual tour on this home….but, this is a sample of what I usually produce for a virtual tour. http://www.visualtour.com/show.asp?t=2104239&prt=10003

I am still trying to figure out the pricing for the video process.

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:44:50 +0000

Thanks Guys I have looked at quite a few of the links etc, all very nice.
Lets not get too carried away….Film makers lol. Its doubtful we’ll be seeing Real Estate Videos on Fox Classics in 20 years.

By: Pete

Pete — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:54:19 +0000

Christian, hello from new zealand (don’t hold that against me!) you are killing it! you can see clearly you are a filmmaker, everyone else has work to do to get to your standard, simply amazing. You are quite right, any man with a camera can shoot video, but to have your vision and skills show exactly what it is about!

By: Christian Fitzpatrick

Christian Fitzpatrick — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:59:30 +0000

Hey Rob,

I run the Sunshine Coast arm of PlatinumHD Propvid. Our clients love our product and all of them see the value of video in modern real estate marketing. I think it’s a great marketing tool, when used properly and definitely here to stay.

There are a couple of different Propvid offices around the country, each of them is run a little differently. Here in Queensland we operate under the name PlatinumHD – Propvid Australia. If you’re keen on seeing some of our latest work, check out our site http://www.platinumhd.tv as you’ll see it’s for all properties, great and small.

I’m a filmmaker first and foremost and ran my own production company for 5 years before starting with PlatinumHD. It’s not hard to produce Real Estate video, these days anybody with a camera and a computer can do it. What is challenging is producing good real estate video. Just because you can frame a nice shot and take a photo doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll come up trumps with a video. If it was me, I’d give it a go with some cheap gear first before splashing out on the more expensive stuff, that way if doesn’t turn out you haven’t taken too much of a hit.

Christian

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:21:19 +0000

Thanks Larry there are lot of Propvids Melb Sydney and Brisbane, one company?