As I speak to agents and customers regularly regarding online real estate video tours, I'm finding a very interesting similarity.

Back in 1999, 2000, as a web designer, I was preaching to agents that the internet was the way to go in real estate marketing. Customers were searching online and your competition was NOT there to meet them. A small group of realtors 'got it' and got onboard with a website. Of course, at that time it was a very simple site - the MLS was not even available to be part of your website, so it was strictly informational.

House for Sale - Hollis, NH 03049 - Real Estate Video Tour

However, those agents that took the leap were rewarded handsomely. They had access to a vast amount of potential customers with virtually NO competition! Their competition was still stuck in the "I get my business from referrals, newspaper advertising, real estate books, etc. Nobody will ever buy a house on the internet" mentality.

Of course, today, everyone else has 'discovered' the internet. Wow! It's a little more competitive these days!

Of course, they're late to the party, and those who established a web presence years ago are reaping the rewards of being 'forward thinking' with consistently high ranking websites, thousands and thousands of aged backlinks and nearly a decade of a reputation of being a technology savvy realtor in the eyes of customers. And along with that come a steady stream of leads that agents just "discovering" the internet won't see for years.

The parallels in attitude with real estate video tours are very similar with agents and their past attitudes towards technology.

They don't see the benefit, but their customers do.

They don't really look at video tours or virtual tours, but their customers do.

They would rather offer a 'taste' of what the property looks like in order to coerce the customer into calling them for more information, but their customers want to see everything now - or CLICK - they skip to the next property. It's that easy.

Just look at what's happened with online video in the past year and a half . The hottest sites online are video sites. Every TV station streams their programming online. Newspapers are streaming video to stay competitive and relevant. And study after study show that mainstream internet viewers watch video regularly and daily.

There are record numbers of properties on the market throughout the country. Gas prices, at $3+ a gallon are at all time highs... and going higher. It makes sense that buyers would rather sit home and watch video tours of homes they may be interested in, then get in their car and spend $20 in gas driving all over the city or to towns and cities far away to search for properties that may or may not fit their needs. Most people can tell just by driving up to the property or walking in the front door - they should drive 25 minutes to do this?

I always preach to clients in regards to their web presence: Give the consumer what they WANT, not what YOU want them to have. Video Tours are the same way. Even though you don't think they work, the customers want them and seek them out - which WILL make them work!