For those of you that read my blog, you know that I am a big advocate of good photography. Now, I am no professional, but I have trained myself to realize and see the benefit photography can make when selling a home.
So when I was had some extra time on my hands two weeks ago, I shot this video. Unfortunately, it is not finished, at least from what I had planned. A few days after filming, we took our kids to Chuck E Cheese when the grandparents were in town. Little did we realize it was spring break, so every kid in Minnesota was there for some fun...and so was every germ known to exist under the sun. For over a week I have been battling not only my own bronchitis, but taking care a family that won't get well.
Here is my entry for the Active Rain Video contest 2008. While I hate to post it unfinished, it would be just as worse to let all my effort go to waste. Enjoy!
Hi Jen,
Great post! It presents you very, very well.
Hi jennifer,
Nice job on the video. I couldn't agree more about the importance of good photography. It is the first thing seen by potential buyers, so it needs to be outstanding.
You have a good presence on camera, so I hope you continue to do more video. I'm just down the street from you and would offer myself as a cameraman if you ever need one. Good luck in the contest.
Jen, ditto what Kevin said about your video presence. Did you script this and practice or did it just roll off your tongue. Either way, excellent job. I'm in the process of planning an on-line listing presentation and you're post convinced me that adding video on the same subject as your post would be excellent.
By the way, what did you use for a camera?
Well done!! I haven't decided to venture into this yet, but I am probably going to watch the contest for good ideas.
Your camera presence is very comfortable and confident. Good job!
Bill - thanks for the support. I have a sense of humor so I was going to add some shots of bad photography, but just didn't have time.
Karen - I take photos before the listing as well. It really makes their eyes open when they realize the photo is of their house, before you even list it. Very impressive indeed.
Don - at first I just stood in front of the camera and started talking to get the nerves out..made lots of mistakes. After playing back a few clips, I saw things like the need to slow down when talking, my stance, lighting, etc. By then, I had started to come up with something to talk about, photography, and the ideas just came to me. I took a break and wrote down a script, then taped it to see how long it would take (under the 3 minutes). Each take I tweaked a bit, got off script, and after 27 takes, it was finally done. And of course by then, the words were rolling off my tongue.
As for my video camera, I have a Panasonic SDR-H18. It is a great camera I received for Christmas. For the video, I actually didn't have my tripod with me so I put it on top of a shelf, on two books, to get the right height.
Jen, #1. Yay! I couldn't agree more!
#2. Hope your family and self all get better soon! We had the yucks about 4 weeks ago, and I
thought I would diewanted to die. My son and I did nothing buy lay around for a week, and none of the kids went to school or lessons that week. It was the worst; there are some wicked viri going around these days...best wishes.-Susie
Susie - thanks...we just got hit with round number two yesterday with the kids having high fevers...now we are doing the lay around the house thing too.
Terrie- I have done the photo of the listing thing too. One listing I did a power point presentation with photos of the home and neighborhood sprinkled throughout. The sellers stopped me mid presentation when they realized the photos were of their home and squealed in delight.
Jennifer,
What a great way to get your point across-and diplomatically too I might add. Interesting to hear this from a Realtor's view. I have posted about this in a recent blog (http://activerain.com/blogsview/446427/Staged-Homes-Photo-Ready) as have many others and I will be making a list compiled from input from AR members about their favorite worst shots. I'll add your tilted house which is one of my all time favs. The toilet seat one has been a favorite with lots of people too.
Great video-you look like a natural!
Jennifer,
I loved your video and felt it made some excellent points. I looked at a listing, a few days ago, where the exterior shot was taken from the bottom of a hill and three quarters of the shot was grass with a squat little house pirched on top. It was, definitely, not the best way to get a first look at the home. Some of the responses regarding starting out with exterior photographs before your first meeting are usefull. As a stager it is a great way to get someone to look at their home more objectively and to begin to help them understand the impact of "curb appeal".
Thanks for your video.
Diana Walsh, Interior Concepts, Cockeysville, MD.
I see so many homes listed in my area with 1 or 2 photos and not even good ones - or worse - none at all! I just dont understand what these agents are thinking or why the sellers even list with them. I dont send out non-photo listings to my clients - it just hurts them not to do this.
Hi Jen,
I think you have some good insights about photography. but...
Your video presentation is lacking, I don't think it took by 1 min for my forehead to connect with my solid desk here (not recommended).
Now, this is not meant as a mean comment, just realize that most of the people watching video online these days grew up with MTV. Although MTV has since abandoned the music videos, the less than a second cuts have stayed in modern culture and is blamed for a lot of things - among others - poor attention span.
As much as I like your content, try to present it a little more - oh - and please remove the nice wood beam from the top of your head... :-)
Here are some things I would consider doing:
Move around.
Use effects to show examples.
Remember that you tripod does have a tilt and pan head on it (well, I hope it does), setup a poor frame, then pan over to you telling them why it is bad.
When you watch your favorte news/HGTV/insert favorite show - take notes on how they switch angles and locations continuosly.
Next up, note that most of the things that goes on in a TV studio is not very difficult to accomplish, and it will make your show - far more interesting and hold much more attention from yoru potential clients.
Cheers.
I totally hear you Jennifer. And I understand your situation (Hey, I have a 14 month old, my projecs get cur short frequently)...
I think my point is this, when we venture into these new media outlets, we have to be careful with what we do.
Don't take this as a statement that everything video should look like HGTV, none of us have a budget for that. On the other hand, once this is posted, it is now part of that public domain where anyone can see it - if one of yoru clients google your name, does this video come up? And if it does, regardless of message, how would they respond to the complete presentation?
There is so much talk these days about the quality of the images we put online, but I think a lot of people are missing the boat on the video side.
This was not meant as a negative against you, just as some pointers to what might make it a little different and hold the audience more captive.
Hi Jen:
Great video, except I must say, as a professional photographer I don't believe my prices are "expensive." In fact, my prices represent less than 2.5% of a typical REALTOR commission (60/40) on a $600K home, and less than 1.5% on a $1M home. Certainly that is a small investment to market to 85% of your potential buyers (the internet).
As a seller, in this uber-competitive marketplace, I want and need my home to stand out above the rest, so dramatic images of my home, even with the help of a professional home stager (seller expense) will go a long way to helping my home get sold faster, and at a better price.
Here is another GREAT "pitch point" when asking for a listing. If you align yourself with a great RE Photographer and ask for a listing, you can add this line to your arsenal of wonderful reasons to list with you:
"As a benefit of listing your home with me, I bring in my professional photographer at MY expense to shoot your home. Then I'll use those dramatic and enticing photos in all my marketing materials, particularly on the internet, where 85% of homebuyers begin their research."
By the way, if the client dumps you, since you bought the photos, you can sell them back to the seller. It is only a time-cost of money issue then.
A personal pet peeve of mine, are these "virtual tours" where REALTORS are zooming in and out of photographs, or panning them left or right, up and down. 95% of the ones done by REALTORS are lousy because 1) they move the photos way too fast, forcing the viewer to "chase" the photos, 2) they zoom in on the most unimportant part of a room (a corner, toilet, etc.), 3) the 360 degree tours are dizzying and load up s l o w l y in many cases.. Potential buyers want to see the photos, it is what helps them to decide if they want a viewing of the house or not. If you are going to do a tour, just fade in and out...don't move the pictures! Allow the viewers eyes to be able to focus on the image and take it all in.
I'll step off my soapbox now...Thanks for bringing "image is everything" to the forefront again.
Hey, how's about you pros agree to be paid upon closing like we are?
My team is me. And I'm not being cheap - that's a CHEAP SHOT.
You know that AGENTS don't get paid until the HOUSE SELLS. If you're so confident in the power of your pictures, then I suggest you put your money where your mouth is.
Fact is, great pictures are but ONE part of the deal that sells a house. The number one important factor is THE RIGHT PRICE. If a home is overpriced, pictures taken by Ansel Adams won't sell it.
I'm an amateaur photographer and I take all of my own pictures. EVERYONE tells me how beautiful my pictures are.
And I'm so sick and tired of every Tom Dick and Harry sticking their hands in my pocket saying "It's not that expensive, one closing is worth it," blah blah blah.
Well, if it's SO worth it, YOU take the risk! I'd be happy to pay you when the deal closes!
This is one of the only jobs I know of where you have to spend, spend, spend, spend and HOPE that MAYBE that buyer you've been using gallons of gas and hundreds of hours and reams of paper and lots of ink is actually going to buy something instead of running you around (after all it's not the BUYERS gas is it.)
Photographers get paid up front. And you get paid whether the freaking house sells or not - but *I* am out all that money. Why don't you try living purely by closed deals and see how easily you agree to "it's cheap, you can afford it."
Plus you as a photographer wouldn't need to put out NEARLY as much expense as an agent does - heck with digital photography, your out-of-pocket-costs will be NOTHING but your TIME and the little bit of gas you use to go there and then head back to your studio.
Meanwhile, all a real estate agent faces between closings is costs: gas, supplies, dues, fees, advert costs, web hosting, virtual tour programs, now Active Rain for new bloggers costs $30 a month...and if you sign up for Growth Leader you could wind up paying $200 to $400 a month for "leads." But don't worry, one good sale will pay for that for the year! You betcha!! Oh and there's your cell phone bill, your internet service, your fees for Top Producer (cause you CAN'T be a competent agent without paying that $80 a month you know, no way...one good deal will pay for it!)
All these fees and bills are due whether we close or not. And that's why it's so easy for folks feeding off Realtors to say "One good deal and it will pay for itself." Well now it seems like I'll need 7 good deals just to break even with all this STUFF that's gonna TURN me into a TOP Producer. What the heck, let's add more STUFF and if you're lucky, you'll make enough money to have some extra after you pay off all the parasites.