I'm currently shooting weddings/events exclusively, and know I would have a nice product, especial. I'm concerned about the summer down here in Phoenix. Anyone who has money heads north. Corporate work is year round, and Real Estate seems to be something I could tackle without having to buy additional equipment. It also seems to be something I could automate, so I won't have to re-invent the wheel.

Real estate videos
 

I actually have been doing real estate tours for almost two years - I was one of the first in the country to do these types of things online.

For those who are inquiring about the validity of this business idea:

1) Realtors, as a group, are not the brightest bulbs. Generally, they don't 'get' technology, they aren't comfortable with technology, and they definitely don't get THIS technology (video tours). Most are lucky to understand and use email! About 15% of all realtors are actually good at what they do. Fortunately, with the market slowing down, a great deal of the 90% will be working at the mall sooner rather than later, much to the happiness of the remaining 10% who ARE good, and who DO understand marketing, technology and real estate. Don't get me wrong - that 10%? They are VERY good and earn every penny of their commission. Unfortunately, the bar to enter the real estate field is pretty much a pulse, and the $300 to get your license. Any knowledge of business, salesmanship or technology is NOT required.

2) Realtors are cheap. Understand, they have to fork up marketing money UP FRONT, with no guarantees the house will sell and they will see a paycheck. However, you have to spend money to make money. Those 90% referred to above don't get that concept. I can't tell you how many realtors don't even own a digital camera - they still use the Kodak 'office camera' from 1999 that writes to a floppy disk (fortunately their 7 year old computer still HAS a floppy drive!).

3) Photos sell homes. Virtual tours sell homes. It's a proven fact. There are statistics galore to prove this over and over - especially in this market of $3 a gallon gasoline and record numbers of properties on the market. Yet most realtors won't even put up the MAXIMUM number of photos allowed by their MLS - even though photos are FREE in this digital age. Again, they don't 'get it'. (part of it is a 'control' issue - they think that by withholding many photos, that a potential buyer will CALL them to see the property - or possibly another property. What they just don't understand is that consumers are ELIMINATING properties without photos and just skipping to the next.)

4) OK... so now you're thinking - "I'll go after those who have million dollar listings - THEY get it". Actually wrong! They get it the LEAST. Search in your area on million dollar homes and you will generally find 1) only a few photos when the MLS will allow 12 or 20 - they post 5. Virtually NONE have virtual tours of any kind. I did a survey recently in my area (New England), and literally NO HOMES over $1.5 million dollars had a virtual tour of any kind. None. Zero. Zippo.

So... that's been MY experience, and I have probably done more of these types of tours than anyone in the country. So, it's not impossible by any means (it's also not my sole livelihood!). It's a tough nut to crack these realtors.

http://www.NashuaVideoTours.com

Very well said Fred, one thing to remember is the 80 20 rule and it defiantly applies to realtors, 20% of the realtors do 80% of the business thus make 80% of the money.

Fred I noticed that on your website it says you take 45-90 minutes in a house and then another 6 hours editing, I really think that you could cut off a lot of this time by making the videos more simple and achieve just as good of video if not better. I am in a house 10-15 minutes tops, editing takes another 15 minutes per house (this is to edit, render the movie, upload and link into our database) Just something to think about.

I have also found that realtors are very superstitious, meaning if it worked for one house then they will do it again because they don't want to risk the chance of not selling because they didn't use a particular marketing technique.

One last thing to remember is it is going to take time, some of the companies I work for now took over a year to get. Yes I'm not lying I really worked over 1 year on several companies. I recently received a call back from two different companies I have been trying to get into since I started 3 years ago. It's been a long time coming but it is worth it.

I'm glad to hear there are others making it in the industry, I have been going at it for over 3 years and have done over 1200 videos, most of those have been done in the past year and a half (since I graduated from college) It’s going well enough that it is my full time employment and also I have another full time guy help me out.

real estate tours
 

Todd: It's really not 6 hours editing anymore - I've got it down to about 3 hours total. But my tours are quite different than yours - you're really not comparing apples to apples. It seems your tours are basically just room by room pans. I do that too, but also a steadicam walk thru. It also has narration, which adds quite a bit of time to write and edit. Then I compress and upload the video in QuickTime, Windows Media Video AND Flash. For example, your videos I cannot even watch. I'm on a Mac and they just come up with a blank screen. No explanation, no nothing. I had to watch it on Windows. I don't believe in putting up ANY barriers to viewing (such as needing IE and not able to use Firefox, etc). You shouldn't have to hunt down a plug in or use a particular browser to view a tour. People just won't do it. QuickTime is the superior web video delivery method, with .wmv second, so I compress to both formats as I think quality is imperative when selling houses in the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Nothing compares to QT. However, QT and WMV only have about 65% penetration, so I also do Flash, which has a 97% penetration. So essentially, EVERYONE can see my videos, and they will see them in the best quality that their computer will allow without hunting down a plug in or having to be forced into using a particular browser like Internet Exploder. I also upload the videos to about 10 video websites as well, which takes quite a bit of time at an average of 40MB per file. My primary business is designing and marketing websites for realtors, so I'm very well known already in the business, so I fortunately haven't had to even advertise or promote myself, and I still do about 7-10 a week, which is plenty for me.... (I've got other work to do!)

I agree that your videos are different but all I am saying is I don't feel they need to be that fancy and you could still charge the same price, I charge just as much if not more then your prices and everyone is more then happy with the pans only.

Basically all I am saying as I videographer I look at your videos and say wow those are really nice, I can appreciate the work that goes into it, the steadcam work, voice overs etc, but as a realtor or just anyone looking for a house would I notice all those things, probably not. I feel strongly that it actually takes away form the house itself.

Again I'm not trying to be negative in any way because your videos look great, but if you could charge the same amount and get the same business but only spend 1/6 the time doing it, it might be something to think about.

From a videographer's standpoint your videos look better but from a business standpoint you have to think about what is going to give you the most for you money. We average around 25-35 houses a week and I typically only work 4 days a week.

We choose the wmv format because the computer world is ruled by windows machines and all windows machines have Windows Media Player preloaded, I too use a Mac (I have flip4mac installed and configured to play the videos) Generally those who do use mac will know how to play a wmv file (like yourself), I don't like quicktime or flash because it need to be downloaded and installed to play correctly. Something that is not difficult for you or I to do, but I always think "could my mother do that?" and the answer is no. Worst of all I always keep my email on the page so I can help those who are having problems.

You are lucky that you haven't had to advertise to get your business as realtors are a tough group to sell to. I started this when I was 21 so you can imagine no one wanted to listen to me a 21 year old kid who they though knew nothing. 3 year later and I have about 60 realtors who do videos, it is finally getting easer to gain some respect when I talk to new agents.

Congrats again and good luck in the future.

I wouldn't say they take away from the house. I don't know about voiceovers, but Steadicam work is what drops jaws on Extreme Home Makeover. I'm definately sold on the houses they show.

Time is money: a hard lesson I learned from my previous business as a portrait artist. The market could not support something that took me a week to do 'right'. If there is a market for the deluxe walk thru, then OO-RAH! It may also be possible to make more $ with less features/time involved by offering cheaper walk-thrus and doing more of them. It may be that Todd's market demands a cheaper walk-thru and Freds demands quality.

BTW Fred, I recently found that Windows Media Videos can now be seen on 83.7%, with Flash at 98.7% and Quicktime at 67.6%. I use WMV exclusively since I use Vegas. :o( http://www.adobe.com/products/player...s/flashplayer/

Interesting finding. Does that mean that you target the sub-million$ sellers? Do you target Realtors directly? Brokers?

Wmv
 

Well, I'm on a Mac. I have the latest and greatest of everything, including Flip4Mac. I can't view your videos. It's just a blank page. Additionally, I don't have Internet Explorer. It does not work using Safari, Camino, Firefox or Opera for the Mac. More and more people use Macs and basically they are unable to view anything. It's just a blank page.

(BTW, I can view most .wmv files - just watched one a second ago. Just not yours. You really should look into that as you're basically eliminating customers. And many people are using Macs these days - a realtor customer of mine just got his iMac today - switching over from Windoze. Maybe theyre not encoded properly?

Yeah I know, I know. I'm going to Flash ASAP.

BTW, Your work is STUNNING. It's very cool that you found a market where you can be an artist -- and you definately are.

Do you target Realtors directly? Billion+ Club Realtors? Brokers?

Realtors
 

Dana: I target individual agents usually, but I have never advertised. I've had a lot of local and national publicity, plus I do real estate web design and marketing, so I already have dozens and dozens of clients. Plus, many realtors know of me even if they're not a client (yet!) because I do more real estate web marketing in this area than anyone. So I have a built in clientele which I was able to easily tap into. Plus, many agents find my tours on Realtor.com and on the MLS. They are also all over the web - several hundred have been uploaded to about 8-10 video sites. And they all link back to my site. That's generally how I get new customers. But most of my business is repeat business - agents that do it KNOW it works and keep doing it. Very few customers have only done one tour. And some do tours on every listing.

Wmv
 

Dana: I had NO problem viewing YOUR .wmv files of a wedding video! It's just the videos on WowVideoTours.com that come up blank, which is why I think they're just not encoded correctly. I have no problem with .wmv except on that particular site. (although I still love QuickTime - there's really no comparison)

Alright I looked over my code and really had some bad code so I re worked the embedded wmv code and it looks as though everything should be working. Fred if you wouldn't mind could you take a look at my site on your mac and let me know if it is playing on you now (it plays on mine but who knows) Thanks for the help!

Bad code
 

Todd: Perfecto! Works like a charm!

Thanks Fred, I'm pumped now that it is working, thanks again for pointing it out to me.
-Todd

Nashuavideotours
 

This is a huge "Step" for videographers. Pros: (many besides what I think... but,) People from around the world can "walk through" a house, Music, Voice Overs, Passive "Watching" ect. ect. Cons: I find most videos to "confuse" me about the house... just that... angles of cameras are so narrow... but, I guess this can't be helped, Size, RESPECT!

Mr. Nashuavideotours... I feel your work is WAY TOO CHEAP! $120 - $300 bucks? Man... do you realize how much professionals get these days? I'm sure you do but I think you are (as a previous poster said) putting a lot of work for such a little fee. The idiot Realtor (most are) gets 20-30 THOUSAND for selling that house... There is a major unbalance of skill vrs. payment in the Videographer business and I always thought it was because Videographers never give themselves enough credit.

Why not... start, Really High! like... $1000 - $4000 for those big houses... and bring prices down? Thats what all big business does. They never start Super Low and then try... to bring them up... No Good as the "Cheap" image is already there.

I think this RE Video business could be good for all Videographers but... since it's just starting... why don't we all get together and present it as a "Classy" "Professional" "Absolutely Needed" "and (not expensive but) Professional level price" ?

Once again Mr. Nashua... your site is clean, professional and what you present and do for your customers is over the top... But sooooooo cheap for what you do.

Realtors are cheap
 

Unfortunately, I've worked with Realtors for many, many years and I know what they are willing to pay. It's not based on their commission. Unless it was a property selling for $10M, you won't find a realtor anywhere that would pay thousands of dollars for a video. Won't happen. Guaranteed. Even at that price I don't think they'd spring for it. In fact, the more expensive the property, the less likely there is a virtual or video tour of ANY kind.

It's an interesting business....

[QUOTE=Mr. Nashuavideotours... I feel your work is WAY TOO CHEAP! $120 - $300 bucks? Man... do you realize how much professionals get these days? I'm sure you do but I think you are (as a previous poster said) putting a lot of work for such a little fee. The idiot Realtor (most are) gets 20-30 THOUSAND for selling that house... There is a major unbalance of skill vrs. payment in the Videographer business and I always thought it was because Videographers never give themselves enough credit.[/QUOTE]

I agree with you Fred, I think we both have a hard enough time selling them at the price point we are at. I wish it were possible but it isn't.

Time will tell how much 'art' can go into these. I don't think this will be a market that will allow much creative expression (i.e. time). For the buyer, just seeing video is a dramatic step up. I don't think voice overs, or even music are necessary. (Yay, I don't have to worry about sound!)

I am STILL riding the fence about buying a vest to do these things! Aack!