The home tour is the most important part of the home buying process for real estate agents.
While walking through a house in person is still the best way to see it, a lot of people begin their search for a new home online. And the videos of houses can be a make-or-break factor in whether or not they end up buying the house. In fact, a 2019 report from the National Association of Realtors found that 46 percent of buyers said that the videos of houses on real estate websites were the most influential factor in their decision.
We used our state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI), which we trained on millions of videos, to find out what makes a successful real estate video.
The research provides a blueprint that realtors can use to make more engaging real estate videos, close deals more quickly, and promote property listings more effectively.
Why Use Video
There are very few real estate agents that are using video to capture their market. This makes it a huge opportunity for any realtor for a number of reasons:
- Video is the quickest way for you to build relationships and gain trust with your clients.
- You increase the chances that you will be discovered and your content will rank organically, quickly.
- People will start reaching out to you instead of you constantly having to prospect and try and draw them in.
- Your clients will view you as an authoritative voice in the field
- Look more professional
- Stand out from the competition
- Videos are more powerful than photos
Types of Real Estate Video
Listing Videos
Videos are a great way to promote your listings to the most amount of people. Listing videos should be anywhere from two to five minutes long. You can either have it professionally done or just make it yourself.
Explainer Videos
It’s beneficial to create a library of videos on popular topics that buyers and sellers are interested in for a couple reasons.
You need to make sure your content can be found on Google so people can discover it.
FAQ page and link to that page from your homepage than to keep answering the question over and over again. If you have a question that your clients ask you all the time, it’s easier to create a FAQ page and link to that page from your homepage, rather than keep answering the question over and over again.
You can create a link to a three to five minute video explaining your product or service. This can be a helpful way to share information with potential clients who have questions.
Examples of explainer videos include:
- Things You Must Know When Living in _________
- The 5 Pros and Cons of Moving to __________
- Frequently Asked Questions When Moving to ___________
- How Much Does It Really Cost to Live in ___________
Neighborhood or Area Summary Videos
What are the five top zip codes, neighborhoods, towns, or cities in your area?
You could also research the history of the zip code and how it has changed over the past five years. Covering topics like popular shopping spots, restaurants, schools, or anything else that makes that area unique would be beneficial.
Live Video
You don’t need to put extra effort into your videos for them to be successful. You can just film them live by turning on your camera.
This means that if you go live on Facebook, your video is more likely to be seen by your followers than if you post any other type of content. Live videos are a great choice because right now Facebook promotes them more than any other type of content. This means that if you go live on Facebook, your video is more likely to be seen by your followers.
Live video is an excellent way to share behind-the-scenes content, and to create a more personal connection with your audience.
Video Messages
Video messages are a great way to build relationships with your clients. You can make a positive impression by sending a short video message on a special occasion, like a birthday, instead of just a text or social media post.
You can create simple 10-20 second videos using BombBomb, a video emailing platform.
How to Film
Audio
Good audio is more important than good video when filming real estate tips.
To that end, investing in a good mic is extremely important, even if you’re just taking videos with your phone. Some good options are:
- Smart Lav Mics for Smartphones
- Lavalier Clip-On Mics for DSLR’s
- Rode VideoMic Boom Mic
- Blue Yeti USB Mic
Lighting
We can improve the lighting of our videos by being aware of the natural light in the area where we are filming, whether it is inside or outside.
The Aperture LED Mini Light is a great way to take light with you when you’re on the go. You can attach it directly to your camera or set it up anywhere you need it.
Video Equipment
You don’t need expensive equipment to make videos. You can use your phone, even if it’s old. The important thing is to be consistent. If you can’t be consistent with your phone, you won’t be able to with a camera either.
Webcam
If you want to create mostly stationary explainer-style videos, it is a good idea to use a webcam. A recommended webcam is the 1080p webcam from Amazon. 1080p quality is typically sufficient for most real estate videos.
If you are planning to shoot videos outside of your office or studio, you will need a good quality camera or smartphone.
Cameras
They have interchangeable lenses like a DSLR, but aren’t as bulky. There are three types of real estate cameras: Point and shoot, DSLR, and mirrorless. The best one for you will depend on the size of camera you need. If you’re looking for something smaller, you could look at a point and shoot. However, with a point and shoot you would be limited to the lens that comes on the camera, and they cannot be swapped. A mirrorless camera is a good middle ground between size and function. They have interchangeable lenses like a DSLR, but aren’t as bulky.
Another thing to consider is whether you want a full-frame camera or a cropped sensor camera. A full-frame camera will work better in low-light situations and produce slightly higher image quality than a cropped sensor camera. Although newer crop sensor cameras can still produce very high-quality 4K content.
There are several wonderful Canon options:
Another great company is Sony, which I use personally. Some great Sony cameras are:
- Sony a6400 – Mirrorless, Crop Sensor
- Sony Alpha 7C – Mirrorless, Full Frame (My personal camera)
Lenses
If you’re looking to buy one of these cameras, avoid using the kit lens that comes with it. You’ll get much better quality if you buy the camera body and then purchase a lens separately.
If you are planning to vlog or shoot interiors of houses, you will want a wide-angle lens, which has a focal length of 16 to 20mm.
You can find cheaper off-brand lenses such as Tamron and Sigma that work just as well; however, lenses can tend to be expensive.
The ideal lens for shooting video has a fixed aperture rather than a range of apertures. A large aperture (low f-stop number) produces a shallow depth of field, resulting in a blurred background.
Most full-frame and cropped sensor lenses can be used interchangeably on full-frame and cropped sensor camera bodies as long as the mount is the same. However, using a cropped sensor lens on a full-frame camera body will give you a black circular outline around your image unless you have a cropped mode within your camera settings.
Additionally, the focal length will change if you put a full-frame lens on a crop sensor. As an example, most crop sensors have 1.5x magnification, so a full-frame 18mm lens would actually be 27mm on a crop sensor. As a result, to get your desired wide-angle, you’d need to use an even smaller focal length if using this type of setup.
I use the Tamron 17-28mm f2.8 lens on my Sony A7C camera. This gives me a focal length of 17-28mm, which is ideal for the kind of videos I shoot.
Drones
Drones have become increasingly popular because they provide great video shots that are difficult to capture with a traditional camera. Most drones have sensors that protect against crashing, making them relatively easy and safe for the average person to operate.
Internet Connection
In order to have a successful live video, you need to have a strong internet connection. Having high-quality audio and video won’t matter if your internet connection is poor.
If your cellular connection is weak, wait to film until you move to a location with better reception.
If you have access to Wi-Fi, it is best to film your video using a wired connection to ensure the best possible video quality.
It’s more important to check your upload speed than your download speed for live videos. Try to have at least 1 megabyte of upload speed for optimal live streaming.
8 data-backed tips to create a virtual video tour that wows
1. Get right to the point.
People have too much content to look at, and they want to know what is most important to them quickly. Whether your viewer is someone who just looks at what they are interested in or someone who is trying to find a specific item, it is essential to get their attention.
These habits were shown to cause a drop off in viewers:
- Lingering too long on the exterior
- Using text too early in the video
- Showing a logo at the start of a video
2. Stage the home prior to filming.
When agents show homes to prospective buyers, they stage the homes to make them look better. The same approach applies to videos of homes, which perform better when they are staged with furniture or other objects.
3. Focus on the interior.
Overall, interior shots of homes are more interesting to viewers than exterior shots.
This agrees with what people normally know – that people who are buying property are mostly concerned about what the house has to offer. This also agrees with our finding that it is beneficial to go on a tour of the inside of the house right away.
Viewers were more likely to complete a walkthrough of the entire house than an extended start, and more likely to finish a full walkthrough than an outdoor tour.
4. Cut out the boring stuff.
To make sure your real estate walkthrough video is effective, pace it so that the best features of the property are highlighted. Our most successful videos include shots of beautiful, detailed rooms that are broken up into short, captivating scenes.
Videos that showed people walking through hallways or transition areas were not engaging and people did not want to watch them.
5. Add audio—ideally both music and narration.
People were more likely to finish a video that had audio than one that didn’t. Videos with narration did 20% better than those with just music, so it’s best to include both music and voice overs in a real estate video.
6. When taking outdoor shots, the higher the vantage point, the better.
Drone footage of a property in a video performs better than just ground-level outdoor scene footage. These shots work best at the end of a real estate video ad, which follows a common trend.
7. Use text at the right time.
Videos that use text in the beginning lose viewers rapidly, according to the top performers in our study. This supports our earlier findings that people want to see the space first and foremost, so you should save written-through property stats and contact information for the last third of a video.
8. Always edit your real estate videos.
If you want people to watch your videos, it’s worth taking the time to edit them thoughtfully. Videos that were edited performed better across all genres, with viewers spending more time watching them. The best videos had more shorter scenes, rather than fewer longer ones.
How to make a stand-out real estate walkthrough video
A listing video can be many things at once:
- An introduction to an alluring property
- A possible replacement for an in-person tour
- A method of showcasing the upscale amenities mentioned in a written description
- An opportunity to bridge the gap between a buyer’s aspiration and what could, in a short period of time, become their reality
A listing video is most impactful when it introduces the interior of a property. However, any listing featuring outdoor space deserves recognition as well (for example, a private terrace that would be any New Yorker’s dream).
How to Edit
You can save money by editing your own real estate videos if you know how to do it.
I edit my videos using Final Cut Pro X, but you can use any program you like, such as InShot, LumaFusions, or iMovie. All of these programs can be used directly on your phone, so you don’t need a fancy editing setup.
The two best options for computer editing are Final Cut Pro X or Adobe Premiere, though they are more complex.
It is generally accepted that shorter videos are better than longer ones. While people may be willing to watch a fifteen-minute video on YouTube, most people would not watch a fifty-minute video. For Facebook and Instagram, videos should be two minutes or shorter.
Have a Strategy
To make the most effective real estate videos, it is important to have a clear strategy. To develop a successful strategy, consider what your goals are for making the videos and what you hope to achieve.
What is your goal in creating content? Is it to acquire knowledge, keep buyers and sellers informed, or increase organic traffic?
After that, you can begin creating your content calendar. This will help you map out what you will be writing about, when you will publish it, and where you will share it. First, decide how you will start. Will you do keyword research to find out what topics are popular, or do you have some ideas already based on your past work with clients? Once you have a plan, you can start creating a content calendar. This will help you plan out what topics you’ll write about, when you’ll publish them, and where you’ll share them.
Having a posting schedule will help you to be consistent with your posts.
Final Thoughts on Real Estate Video Tips
It’s important to start making real estate videos now, with the equipment you have. Don’t be discouraged if it takes a while for your content to start getting attention.
Some people hope to see results from their videos after a short amount of time, but become discouraged when this doesn’t happen.
It is realistic to commit to a video marketing strategy for at least a year to start seeing success. Do not give up!
