Real Estate Video - And The Winner Is....

Greg Allen's home sales video

This was a tough contest to judge.  There were lots of entries, but at the end of the day, the $200 goes to Greg Allen.

What was interesting was that the notations on his video entry stated that he was still waiting to get paid for this and that he had not been able to make this into a business.

Nothing I like better than a challenge. This should be a business, but looking at all the videos, I think I can start to draw some conclusions, or at least offer a bit of advice.

I think there is a lot of opportunity in the 'use a video to sell your house' market, particularly as the web goes to video. I am also looking at the massive success that HGTV has with its House Hunters series.

There is something in this.

The 'runner up' by the way (and this is significant) was Brad Cox, who submitted two absolutely beautifully shot house videos

http://www.nyvs.com/user/bradcox/watch/video/tallgum

The difference, for me at least, was in the narration, which made Greg's piece easier to 'get into', though I have no doubt that Brad's videos also work to help sell the house.

What I am looking for here is a new narrative - a new way of approaching the problem of how to use video to sell a house (or a car or a personal ad (coming soon)), employing the basic tools not only  of great shooting but also of storytelling, character and arc of story.

Ironically, the best video (and it's not to sell a house, but rather a piano) came from Kenaiking07

What makes this work, I think, is not only do we get 'close' to the piano, but we 'meet' the owner at the end.

It makes me feel like this is an instrument he loved and took care of and in a way cares about who buys it.

It's a personal connection, which is lacking in the real estate videos (not just ours, but universally).

I wonder if we showed a house and had the owner or a family talk about all the great times they had there, if that would work better.

I have my apartment in NY listed on Homeexchange.com and, unlike the other offerings (all of which have photos of empty rooms), I have put family and friends in my shots.  I don't know if this makes it work better or not, but I have about a dozen swap offers every week.

Maybe this is the way to move real estate?

Next contest -  Wedding Video  (1-2 mins)

Deadline: July 1.