Real Estate Videography: A Complete Guide
The quality of a real estate listing is a direct reflection of the quality of a real estate agent or company. In a sea of properties for sale, most buyers rely on the online browsing experience to help them narrow down the listings they are interested in. If a buyer clicks on a listing online and there are no photos or videos of the property, most buyers will bounce from the page and move onto high-quality listings which feature photos and video. Real estate videography is the key to ensuring your listing not only attracts potential buyers but is also memorable, fuelling your callbacks resulting in faster property sales.
Types of Real Estate Videos
There are three main types of real estate videos, each serving its own unique purpose. Property films are the most common form of real estate video as they feature the property that is for sale. Property films can be broken down into video tours, which provide a walk-through tour of the property, and virtual tours which are interactive in nature. Video tours are filmed “live” and take viewers on a journey through the home's interior and exterior and may feature aerials, commentary, and a music bed. A virtual tour or video simulation isn't truly a type of video. Instead, it's created by stitching together a variety of 360-degree rotating images, giving viewers a full 360-degree view of a home. Similar to a first-person video game, this type of simulation gives the viewer control on which rooms to enter, which angles to view from, and whether or not to zoom in or out to alter the scene in view.
The next common type of real estate video is an agent or company film. This type of video is usually more cinematic than the property video, with stunning visuals accompanying a voiceover or interview from the listing agent or real estate company members. These videos are a great way to establish authority in the field and build rapport with sellers. The last main type of real estate video is testimonial videos. In these films, past clients discuss their positive experiences with an agent or company in interview format which works to attract and encourage new clients. Even though the aforementioned videos are the most popular, it's not uncommon to see hybrid videos, where aspects of one video type merge with the aspects of another. For example, some agents like to feature themselves as the host during a video tour. Through pieces to camera, they provide information about the listing as they move from room to room. Other agents like to merge the agent video with the video tour, where halfway through their piece to camera, they'll introduce a new listing they have for sale.
Benefits of Real Estate Videography
For Potential Buyers
Real estate videography is a powerful marketing tool that can make all the difference between a sold property and a property still on the market. It's the only tool available that gives potential buyers the feeling that they are viewing the property first-hand. While photos are an important part of a real estate listing, only video can reveal the true flow of the home – where each room is located in relation to the other and how each room is accessed. Potential buyers want to understand whether the dining room is off of the kitchen and if that spare bathroom is around the corner from the living room or the games room. Video is also a strong visual aid, allowing viewers to picture themselves in the home. It takes the listing off of a piece of paper and brings it to life, making viewers feel like they are in the home experiencing it for themselves. Visualization and imagination are critical to the buying process. If you can see yourself in that new car or that new outfit, you're a lot more likely to make the purchase, and the same can be said for real estate. While some potential buyers complain that photos alone don't represent a property accurately enough, many praise real estate videography for its ability to show the accurate sizing of rooms while showcasing features such as fireplaces and lighting that may be missed in photos. Incorporating drone video into a property video is another feature that buyers and sellers alike love. Drone aerials can show the surrounding landscape, not just the home. This helps potential buyers understand the lifestyle that comes with the property. Whether that's being right on the water, surrounded by rolling hills, or in the middle of suburbia – buyers want to understand the property area and location just as much as the features inside the home. Different properties will cater to different clients so it's important to show all angles, including aerials, of a property.
For Realtors and Sellers
Showing a home is a time-consuming process for realtors, and the reality is, not everyone who views a house is even interested in purchasing it. The key, is to show the home to as many interested buyers as is possible. By utilizing property videos, potential buyers are simultaneously viewing the property online, increasing the total reach of the property for sale. As more people view the listing, the chances of finding interested buyers increases, leading to a quicker turnaround time from listing to sale. While real estate agents are showing the home in-person, leads are continuously being generated in the background thanks to videos. Realtors who use videography also reap the benefits of multi-use marketing. In addition to featuring videos on a listing, videos can also be uploaded to social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to reach a larger audience. A video can be shared as is or can be cut into smaller bite-sized pieces maximizing share-ability, retention, and views.
Not only is real estate videography important for potential buyers, but it's also important for sellers. Whether or not a real estate agent is using video marketing to fuel sales can be a major deciding point for sellers looking for a real estate agent to work with. Sellers want an agent who will do what it takes to ensure their home is sold in a prompt fashion. If an agent isn't using the best marketing tools to ensure a fast sale, sellers will look to those who will. In addition, clients are plagued with the sheer volume of agents to choose from, so finding one that stands out above the rest is essential. As a real estate agent, having a promotional agent video is an excellent way to give you a competitive edge and establish you as an authority figure in a particular market. These videos can highlight what makes you unique and what you're doing differently compared with your competitors. Whether you've lived in the area your entire life or exclusively sell luxury properties, having a personalized video allows you to connect with your primary target audience.
3 Factors For Success
Regardless of the type of real estate video, these three factors are essential to ensure your video is a success.
Choose a skilled and experienced videographer.
It goes without saying that your real estate videographer must have experience filming real estate. Filming weddings, for example, is very different from filming real estate – where tight corners, unusual angles, and contrasting lighting comes into play. Capturing a shot at too high of an angle can make a room look small while incorrect exposure can make a space look old, dark, and even dingy. Ensure your videographer has filmed a variety of properties and understand that photography is not the same as videography. Ideally, the videographer you choose will also be a photographer, that way they can shoot both photos and videos in one scheduled time slot. It’s especially important to ensure they are also skilled in aerial photography and videography. It's never a good idea to pick a photographer who claims to shoot video but doesn't have any sample videos.
For this reason, always have a look at a videographer's work and if the finished product doesn't impress you, it's unlikely that you'll be pleased with the videos they can produce for you. Look for videographers with experience and technical skills in operating equipment - just because someone has expensive equipment doesn't mean they can use it effectively. Keep an eye out for unnatural camera movements, wobbly pans or slides, out of focus shots, and dark or overexposed images – all of this indicates a lack of technical skills, so it's best to look elsewhere.
2. Ensure the use of professional equipment.
As previously mentioned, all the equipment in the world can't compensate for poor technical skills. The same can be said for a videographer with excellent technical skills, but poor equipment. You'll want to make sure that your videographer has the following equipment in HD capacity at a minimum, but 4K, four times the quality of HD, is preferred:
DSLR or mirrorless camera
Wide-angle lens (but not fisheye)
Gimbal or stabilizer
Professional drone
Lighting
3. Ensure high-quality editing.
It's the editing that brings all the images together to create the final product. While something like Movie Maker is suitable for the amateur editor, your real estate videographer should be editing with a professional software such as Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro – both excellent editing platforms standard in the professional industry. When reviewing sample videos, pay attention to transitions between clips and your overall impression of the video. If you found the video disjointed, distracting, or even annoying, there could be an issue with the editing of the video. Look for videos that flow well and leave you with an overall positive impression of the listing. Even something as simple as the music track has a big effect on how viewers react to the video. Ensuring the music matches the feel of the listing - whether that's relaxing, elegant, or upbeat – is the job of the editor.
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