BrokerIPTV: Today, we are talking with Mark Schow, the owner of MediaMax Photography and the Colorado distributor for Obeo. Mark, welcome to the show.
Mark Schow: Thanks Dan.
BrokerIPTV: Glad to have you here.
Mark Schow: Yeah.
BrokerIPTV: I want to talk about changes in technology in how we advertise and market homes and so forth and you are starting to change with consumer demand how?
Mark Schow: Well, I think you know with 80 plus percent of the home buyers going online and continuing to go online when they start their home buying you know experience, I think they are demanding more content. They want content that helps them whittle down their choices of homes that they actually want to get in their car and go drive and visit, and so I think it saves them time and saves them a lot of money with gas costs where they are at right now. So, I think the thing that we have changed and that we have continually added is more content, better visual content to help them make a better decision online.
BrokerIPTV: All right. You are going to roll out a video product?
Mark Schow: Yes.
BrokerIPTV: All right. Tell us about that. How does it work? Whats the cost? All the good stuff.
Mark Schow: Video is I think inevitable. I think with the advances in streaming a video over the Internet, it's an inevitable you know feature or service that I have to add. So, I started seeing back in January a few of my clients using other companies and then hiring us to come in and do the photography and virtual tour. So, I started searching for a solution. Now, well, I dont think video really will help sell a home faster. I think it offers a real estate agent that sizzle product that helps them win the listing and helps them promote themselves and that property in a better way.
BrokerIPTV: What about critics that say, Listen, we are videotaping an inanimate object. You know how is this going to help me? Do you buy along with that at all?
Mark Schow: No. Well, I think video and television similar to a show like this has the highest impact when you put people on camera. When you put a talent on camera or the real estate agent on camera to engage the audience and I agree. I think if we are shooting the inside of a home where there is no movement whatsoever, you might as well do that with still photography and virtual tours. So, the goal with our service is to insure that we are captivating the audience and engaging the audience using video as a medium.
BrokerIPTV: All right. I want to shoot a home and I want it narrated, you know, the people walking me through it with video; whats that going to cost me?
Mark Schow: Right now we have two packages for home tours, a $199 for a standard home tour and $299 for a premium home tour and I've got varying add-ons that distinguish those two products and then we are also doing a community tour.
BrokerIPTV: All right. You also have another technology feature that I absolutely love called style designer; tell me how that works?
Mark Schow: Right. Right. Thats a new technology that Obeo launched early this year and what we do is we take the photographs that were shot inside the home, we have an image mapping photo processing center, they map the image such that the online buyer can go in and change countertops, change wall colors, they can change flooring, and virtually renovate the inside of the home, and the whole concept there behind the launch of that is to allow that buyer online to start taking psychological ownership of the property before they even move in.
BrokerIPTV: Whats next on the horizon?
Mark Schow: Well, I will tell you I am looking at a whole different vertical market. I am looking at resorts, restaurants, and small-to-medium sized businesses that are looking for multimedia content to enhance their already cool website.
BrokerIPTV: Sure.
Mark Schow: But, I think a lot of companies out there launched a website two to three years ago, the content has grown stale, and so if we can come in with an affordable package that allows them to add a multimedia bolt on it if you will to their existing site, I think that will be real popular.
BrokerIPTV: Excellent. Mark, thanks so much.
Mark Schow: Thank you.
BrokerIPTV: Love it.
Mark Schow: Appreciate it.
Comments(0)