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Video tour of a beautiful Coeur d'Alene Idaho custom home on acreage - it's my first, enjoy!

This weekend I bought myself a Flip MinoHD, it's the same size as my Blackberry Pearl and to tell you I'm "in love" would be a serious understatement.

Saturday afternoon I went out to a beautiful home I have for sale and did an extensive video tour of the property. The tour is so extensive, that it's 2 videos because YouTube has an upload time limit and oops, I exceeded it!

Anyway, enjoy this tour. The home is located at 1977 S. Agate Road in Coeur d'Alene Idaho. It has 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and 3,300 finished square feet all situated on 2.87 acres overlooking the prairie, mountains and rivers.

Posted by Coeur d'Alene Real Estate - Come Live the Life Style - Christina Ethridge on 03/30/2009 01:24 PM

Comments (8)

Video Tour of Beautiful Coeur D'Alene Custom Home in the Home Buying Channel

coeur dalene, idaho, north idaho, real estate, home for sale, 1977 s agate rd

Originally posted at: Coeur d'Alene Idaho Real Estate & Property Management: Video tour of a beautiful Coeur d'Alene Idaho custom home on acreage - it's my first, enjoy!

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8 Comments on Video tour of a beautiful Coeur d'Alene Idaho custom home on acreage - it's my first, enjoy!

MAR

I'm not sure why people think this is a good idea. My sellers would FIRE me if they saw this was how I was marketing property. Seriously. I just scratch my head when I see this stuff. Sorry.

Just because you CAN do something absolutely does NOT mean you should.

Realtors need to behave and market themselves as professionals, and this makes the crummy MLS photos one usually finds on listings look good.

Sorry. I would rethink your marketing strategy as this most certainly can't help YOUR reputation, and if someone actually can sit through this tour without tossing their cookies, it most certainly does not present the home in the best light. Actually, it's hardly recognizable AS a home.

"Sally" - it's wonderful that you've shared your opinion and concerns - but why be anonymous? Perhaps you should stand behind your comments and show the world who you are. After all, if it's more professional to do it another way - SHOW us who you are and your "more professional" way!!

The tour has already gotten inquiries from YouTube and Facebook and it's been posted less than 24 hours. My seller is happy that we've gotten activity - happy that I'm willing to do what it takes to get his property sold. That's the point.

Now, on to do video tours of more of my listings...

P.S. I'm learning and modifying how best to do these tours so each one will be better than the last!!

MAR

Well, I think "Sally" is being harsh.../ but it is true that you are on a learning curve. Aren't we all?

A few little things I have learned with video walk throughs.

Keep it short! My goal is to keep it under 2 min (and I admit that is almost impossible, but still, it's a goal!)
We don't need to see every little detail. Edit out the hall closets and the bits where you pan accross walls and floors.
I suspect that part of the power of video is showing how spaces flow from one to the other. I thnk you did a great job with this... but maybe a bit more efficiently would hod the viewers attention.
I saw a guy in North Carolina ( wish I could remember who) who got a remote mic and had a helper. I though it was great to see his enthusiasm in showing off the home. He "placed" the home for people unfamiliar with the area and obviously planned out his "order" to transition from one room to the next logically.
I made it through the kitchen sequence, but just barely. The camera movement was so much and so drastic that it made me a little woozy. Slow and steady is how the camera should move.

Better and more experienced people than I write about this topic. You are an Uber AR person- no doubt you've read many of these articles. I just wanted to say something constructive and encourage you in the face of Miss "Sally"s comments. We are all trying to find the best way to serve our clients in the face of a seachange in our industry. You go, girl and by they way, awesome looking listing.

Kendyl - oh yeah - I've already re-filmed this property and am doing what editing I can on the new footage - as I said in my post, it was my very first one and just getting used to the microscopic size of the flip was a feat in and of itself.

I've considered having someone else film while I guide through, but honestly, I hate every single one of those I've seen. When I'm looking for property, I just want to see the property, not a tour guide (not to mention, a lot of those I've seen make sure they spout their resume and frankly, that's not the point).

I have extensive photo tours on the properties - they show general aspects of the properties. My goal in doing video tours was to supplement the photo tours with much more detail. I'll be doing 2 other properties today implementing a few modifications - we'll see what happens!

I'll get new ones posted in the next couple days - hopefully you'll see the improvements!

APR

Unfortunately, you really can't do a property tour with a Flip camera. Those camera work well for testimonials, video blogs, etc. But for a property tour - it's just not going to cut it. You can't hand hold ANY video camera and make it work, not to mention a camera like the Flip. Plus, there is no wide angle lens, which is an absolute MUST for any residential videography OR photography - otherwise you're just shooting objects - not the space itself.

Video with bad audio is the worst - and it's difficult enough to film a property without having to worry about what you're going to say too! You're better off recording the audio after the fact in a studio or area that is quiet and without hard surfaces, etc. Besides, the microphone is on the FRONT of the camera... and you're BEHIND the camera talking! It doesn't work!

Having said that, I see a lot of videos online done with the Flip camera. My personal feeling is that if you're promoting a property - and it doesn't have to be a multi million dollar mansion - and you're truly working for your seller, you owe them a bit more than a shaky, blurry video. A $100K home is still $100K home. It deserves something better than what a Flip camera can deliver.

You're best off either using good stills or hiring a real estate videographer. Or, take the time to learn how to edit video. Buy a decent camera, a tripod, a good computer for generating your video, etc. Get the proper equipment for the job and learn how to use it! It's actually fun!

We do real estate video tours that start at $139 - that's not unrealistic, especially given that many agents spend far more than that advertising in nearly worthless publications like Real Estate books and local newspapers which nobody reads anymore.....

To me, using a Flip for a house tour is the moving picture version of taking your MLS photos with a cell phone. It's just not good enough.

Buyers are ELIMINATING properties based on what they see online. Not what they see in person... what they see on their computer screen. Curb appeal of yesterday is WEB APPEAL today. You need to make it the best... it takes two seconds to hit the NEXT button!

APR

For any camera there are magnetic lenses.

I've stopped doing any audio while filming and am working on the latest ones right now that do not include audio narration.

I appreciate the input from everyone. I'm still going forward with the "flip" camera home tours as an add on to the photos and photo virtual tour I already provide. I've had 2 videos up for less than 7 days and despite it's amateur status, am getting people contacting and calling on the properties directly from the video's. My sellers want to see showings and offers - that's what the video's are helping to provide.

I agree. That's pretty brutal.

Maybe in your market that would be effective - that would kill my business. It's just not professional looking at all.

APR

I'll be putting up a revised video - I bought some stabilizing equipment and that helped a lot. I'm also doing the audio after the fact (big difference).

But, I am keeping the idea of "walking through" the property. It was never my goal to do a "professional, high end" video of the property. I have gorgeous photos that are professional and show case the property via stills and a photo virtual tour. My whole purpose with the video was to do more of a personal, one-on-one walk through with the buyer. To get the property in more places on the web than any other property.

There will always be people who think their sellers will hate it, or that it's not quality enough or whatever. That's ok. There are also agents out there who think the direct mail I do is ridiculous, unprofessional and a waste of money. That's ok too. I'd be willing to bet I still help more people sell their homes than most others and those homesellers are happy and very satisfied with the services I offer.

Thanks for the quality input Fred and Kendyl - you both provided things I could tangibly improve. I did notice that the other two weren't confident enough in their critique's to comment while logged into their profiles. I would really like to see if either one of them are actually listing and selling properties (yes, more than a couple a year) and what service they provide for their sellers.

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