At the end of last year I finally made the executive decision to go ahead and use video for our listings on our Atlanta Best Homes real estate website. There were several reasons that brought about this decision. The first is that the search engines these days are anorexic for video and graphics. YouTube Videos are very indexable in the search engines. Embedded Videos are a smart way to improve your SEO, web visibility and placement. Perhaps that higher position could help with one more sale or you could demonstrate your abilities on a listing presentation while trying to secure a desired listing.
When you think about it, it is something that I've avoided as long as possible. After all how much could one person do? How many projects can I undertake successfully before burning out? Most persons in real estate do not want to do the undertaking either. Mentally it is exhausting to think that I will have to work and learn a new technology to keep the business alive.
In real estate I had a great reputation in the past for leading the industry with new technologies. For many years long before it was popular I was using video tours on all my listings. It was a very successful venture, and it closed a lot of business for us. However with the soft economy, we looked at all our expenses and decided what to keep, and what was expendable. The video tours were one of the first items to go. I was paying close to $150 a tour at the time.
Recently the cost of technology has now come down greatly, and I decided to take a second look at it. For the last month I've been looking at new SD video cams, and all their features. My son Thomas who just joined us in the real estate business...used to handle video editing and production at his college. I asked his advice. We finally settled on a great sale last week for a Panasonic Camera at Best Buys! (SDR-H80) We picked up the camera, a tripod, an extra battery and a camera bag in one bundle with a total cost was $409. The software we purchased was an additional $59. The regular price of the camera at Best Buys is about $399, the battery is about $80, the tripod should be at least $25, and the camera bag priced at $30. I thought the post Christmas sale was too good to pass up! So we made the plunge! This was a good investment in our future in real estate.
I will keep you posted as we complete and post our first videos this coming week and in subsequent Blogs I let you know of our progress! I am really excited about this. I have to say I was really impressed for this project by my good friend in Northern Maine Real Estate Andrew Mooer. He is a master and you should check out his Blogs for his videos! His nick Name should be "Cecil B D'Mooer!"
Here are some of hte reasons I purchased it. I found almost all the cameras below $300 did not have any image stabilization. That was a must! This camera had it. We are very satisfied with the camera and our first video post will be coming on line this week!
Product Features
- 70x optical/3500x digital zoom
Lets you zoom in as much as you want. - 2.7" LCD widescreen display
For ease of use and a clear view. - 1/8" CCD image sensor
With 800,000 total pixels and 380,000 effective pixels. - Manual focus and autofocus
For clear, unblemished video. - Advanced Optical Image Stabilization (O.I.S.)
Prevents shake and vibration distortion to provide smooth, steady video. - Night recording
Lets you keep shooting even in low-light conditions. - IA mode
Detects shooting situation and adjusts automatically. - YouTube Uploader
Makes it easy to share files on the Internet. - Photo mode
Captures images at up to 0.3-megapixel resolution. - Dolby Digital
Produces clear and rich audio. - Store video and photos
To the 60GB hard drive or to a Secure Digital card (not included). - Rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Provides up to 75 minutes of recording time. - USB 2.0 interface
For quick and easy image transfer. A/V output lets you watch footage on your TV. - VideoCam Suite 2.0 software
Makes it easy to organize and edit your footage.
