2. Devise a Plan – Videos should not be created on the fly. Before production begins, do a little planning and create a brief outline to keep you on track and support your goals of increasing your exposure, driving traffic to your site and generating interest from buyers. Determine your “set” – the property, your “cast” – rooms and community areas that will star in the video, your script – details that you should cover in the voice-over, props – like furniture for staging certain areas, time of day and other considerations.
3. Logistics – Plan Carefully! Choose a time that provides the best lighting and avoid bad weather. If the property is in a quiet neighborhood, capture that appropriately by filming mid-week during the middle of day when the area is more likely to be at its most serene. Conversely, when promoting an urban property, showing off a bustling district will likely enhance the sense of that locale. Standard practice for the length of a video tends to vary. Some sources suggest keeping the video less than two minutes long but no longer than five minutes. The bottom line here is to make it engaging enough so that viewers are captivated enough to stick it out to the end.
4. Prepping the Stage – The home’s amenities and neighborhood features should speak for themselves and entice the viewer to contact you. Just as you do when marketing a listing online, doing a tour with a potential buyer, or hosting an open house, make sure the areas are staged, clean and organized so that buyers can envision themselves in that home. Showcase the bells and whistles that buyers are looking for like updated kitchens, baths, open floor plans, outdoor areas and unique finishes. Add community details like parks, shopping centers, other well-known, local attractions and even a map to illustrate the home’s proximity to these destinations.
5. Record Horizontally – This method of filming presents a wider view than filming in a vertical position, which does not present as well. Although filming vertically would look okay if viewed from a Smartphone, most real estate videos are uploaded to YouTube and other websites where they are viewed horizontally on larger screens. To keep your audience engaged, shoot from different angles and zoom in on unique finishes. Check out these simple steps that will assist you in making the best real estate video.
