Through history we have always been in a constant motion of change. We went from horses to cars, fans to AC, fire to light bulbs, washing dishes in the sink to a dishwasher, radio to television. We did these things because it was more convienent, faster, gave us time. Now here we are in the 21st century in the greatest technological age of our existence and yet realtors and brokers in my area and some nationwide are not and have not made the jump to full motion video tours over virtual tours.
Why?
Are you not on the internet everyday!
Have you not noticed that you really can't go to any website without their being a video to watch! Do you not understand that Google puts video tours at the top of search engine results over photos and text! Do you realize if you went on a listing appointment and offered video over photos and virtual tours you are probably going to get that listing over your competition!
IS IT THE COST? I offer video tours for $89 to $179 and can't seem to get a sniff from the realtors in my area. I have even offered to let them pay after closing! NO RESPONSE! Everybody in my area uses Tour Factory and most of the time use the same photos in the virtual tour that are the photos you look at first!
I apologize for my rant, but it is extremely frustrating when you feel that you have a great product and you just can't get it out there.
Virtual Tours over Video is like taking dial up over broadband!
Its time to change, change is always hard but history tells us it is almost always for the better.
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It's the same everywhere. I hear from video people from all over the world... on almost a daily basis... and they have exactly the same rant. It's not a local problem. It's global. It's an industry problem.
The real estate industry has historically been very slow to adapt to any type of technology. Heck, 15 years after the web became commercialized 50% of realtors don't even have their own website! The guy in my neighborhood that picks up dog poop has a website. Stats have PROVEN that over 90% of all buyers start their search online. That's like fishing in a stocked pond, yet 50% of these 'professional' realtors don't even have a web presence! Hello?????
Look at MLS photos? Take 2 seconds on ANY MLS in the country and you will find that the photos are abysmal. Horrible. Dark. Blurry. Crooked. And usually pictures of a chair or a window or the corner of a lamp because they don't have the PROPER equipment to take acceptable photos to market homes worth hundreds of thousands (or millions) of dollars! It's an embarrassment, yet it's the norm.
So it's no surprise that video is not widely accepted. I've GIVEN AWAY (as raffle prizes at broker open houses) 14 packages for a video tour and professional photography over the past 5 years ($449 value). How many have been redeemed?
ONE.
They know what I'm doing (I as AT the broker open house with them and demonstrated the product and was there to answer questions).
They ALL have listings (any agent with a pulse these days has listings)
That says it all.
The top 5% of realtors really understand all this. They understand marketing. They understand how to run a business. They understand the VALUE of video and how it elevates them to the top. And they have NO PROBLEM paying for it because they know it works!
You need to find those 5% - the rest are pretty much a waste of your effort. They don't get it... and probably never will.