If a neighborhood could talk

If your neighborhood could talk what would it say? Would it be able to help sell itself?

Speaking with a new first time home buyer I wanted to pick their brain and find out what experiences they had when searching for a home and what sorts of things would have made their experience better.

One thing stood out.  They wished they could see more of the house and the type of neighborhood it was in.  The buyer explained how much time was wasted viewing houses when they knew the house was not going to fit as soon as they drove into the neighborhood.  Perhaps the neighborhood didn't have sidewalks, the neighbors yard was less than stellar, or houses were just too close together.  So many reasons, and or features that the buyer had in their mind many of neighborhoods they viewed just didn't have. To be polite the buyer would still view the house, but had already made up their mind just entering the neighborhood. In reality this has wasted the real estate agents and the buyers time. The buyer explained that all of the listings had the obligatory picture view of the front of the house, interior shots and maybe a few of the outside but really none of the neighborhood, and it never have them the whole picture of the potential listing.  

I asked the buyer what would help eliminate this.  The answer was that the buyer wished there were video tours of the neighborhoods.  Not only to see the houses spacing, but the overall atmosphere.  In addition the buyer mentioned that they knew nothing of the town they were looking at so some information on the town, schools, businesses nearby would have been nice as well. 

Of course this got me thinking. Why don't I provide this on my website?  If I could provide all of this information in a short 2-3 minute video and feature them in a neighborhood section this may save time for potential buyers in the long run.  In addition it may help boost my SEO.  Sure it takes some time putting them together but anything worth anything normally takes some time, right? I believe in the long run the time spent to provide extra information up front will pay off.

Here is an example of one of my neighborhood tours. Now this neighborhood doesn't have a clubhouse, a pool, a park, or any major features, however its a very quaint and has beautiful houses.  The video spends less time on the neighborhood features but more on the town, schools, nearby businesses, and hopefully provides a glimpse of what life would be to live there. 

McKendry Subdivision Fort Mill, SC from Arbie Turner Homes on Vimeo.

Perhaps consider doing this on some neighborhoods that you would like to feature.  You may be surprised how much you are actually helping potential buyers by letting your neighborhoods talk for themselves.