Video Openhouse

The first voice mail message of the day yesterday came from Jean Gibson of Macdonald Realty. She had received a piece of Email Marketing from one of our newest clients, Ursula Simpson, of Sutton Group Westcoast Realty.

From that marketing piece, she had seen the photos and video for the property that Ursula was hosting an Agent’s Open House at yesterday. She called Ursula, saying “the photos and video you’ve done for this property are just amazing! Where did you get them, I want that too!”

Jean promptly booked us to shoot a tour the next morning. She told our photographer, “each photo was like a mini work of art”.
I followed up with Ursula yesterday after her open house. She reported that it was a very well attended Open and that she had had several compliments on how well the property was shown in her marketing materials.

That’s great news for us! We had provided branded floorplans, printed colour feature sheets, not to mention those photos and that video that were so well received!

Will you have what she’s having? Call us!

Ian Watt, of Century 21 In Town Realty, recently visited our office regarding a special video we are producing for him (stay tuned, it’s not finished just yet).

While there, we started talking about his listing presentation and how his use of Professional Photography and Virtual Tours has gained him many listings. Always wanting to give Realtors more tools for their presentations, we suggested that he get branded video cases to show a tangible product during his presentation, not just relying on his clients seeing the product on their computers.

Now, not only does he get a souvenir DVD with the DVD and case branded just like the rest of the marketing that Ian does, but his videos look just like his website!

Branded:

Unbranded:

Which would you choose? It’s a one-time fee and you get branded video, DVD and case… let us know if you want yours!

Don’t have branding? Ask about our Graphics Design services… available for all ranges of need and budget.

It happens more often than I’d like - I come across a photo of a property, taken by a Realtor, that just… well… could be soooo much better.

If I had more time, maybe I’d start a collection of photos that shouldn’t have been used.

Here are my two examples of the day. The heading of the first photo made me laugh: “Spacious Dining Area”.

I hope the spacious dining area wasn’t too offended at my laugh - but it’s a photo of a window, and shows no spaciousness whatsoever!

This next one was used as the main listing photo:

It looks like a picture of a doorway, doesn’t it? Could this really be the front of the property?

I’m sure that these Realtors are excellent at their job. However, they aren’t photographers. I certainly wouldn’t want to buy or sell a property without a Realtor - why should a Realtor market their photos without hiring a professional?

We have a very competitive Introductory Special that should encourage all Realtors to try our services… unless they are afraid of getting a taste of something they’ll want to eat a lot of. Was it Pringles that advertised “you can’t eat just one”? I definitely stayed away from Pringles after that, knowing that they were probably right.

However… getting to my point. We’ve got the best Real Estate Photography and Video in Vancouver. Try it out.

We have been quite busy here at Video Openhouse, not too busy to launch the occasional new service. We have spoken before about how our videos have been seen around the world. Well, now we have a new service to help capture some of that larger global audience. vTranslate allows us to display property information in various languages.

Have a property in an area dominated by specific ethnic groups? Have a buyer who’s English is poor? or who has family back home they want to get approval from? How about trying to sign your next client by cross promoting in Korean? Chinese? Farsi? Impress your buyers and sellers now, their friends and family will find you later.

On a video we recently produced for Kasha Riddle at 1061 Blue Grouse Way. We tested our new vTranslate service. vTranslate allows us to use show a translated version of the property description in almost any language you choose. All of our translations are created by people, not error prone computer software. If you would prefer to write your own translation we will gladly enter it into the system for you.

Translate you words into sales!

Ever wanted to show people some of your most recent videos, but don’t want the hassle of having to keep things up to date? We can help you set up a nice little customizable widget that will take care of it for you!

Here are some of Jim Noonan’s recent works!

Sorry it probably won’t work in email, you might have to come to the site for a visit!

Why is it that everybody and their mother thinks they are a great photographer? Just because you own a digital camera does not necessarily mean that you take good pictures. I own a great set of golf clubs, yet I am not Tiger Woods, Mike Weir or even close to a good golfer. Our $129 Introductory Special includes our photography services yet I have heard countless times that we “don’t need to bother with the photos”.

At Video Openhouse, we provide COMPELLING high-quality content for your mls/realtylink listing and website. Our photography is affordable, just $40 with a video tour. I suggest that you compare your pictures to any of our galleries.

For those of you who insist on taking your own pictures for your listings, here are some tips:

Know your camera - Most cameras have a multitude of settings, most of which, we know nothing about. The automatic setting allows for allows for the widest variety of conditions, but rarely takes the best possible picture. A little bit of experimenting will go a long way to improving your pictures.

Hold The Camera Still - Any camera motion when the shutter is open will result in a loss of the sharpness in the photo. Try to keep the camera as still as possible. Purchasing a tripod can help you accomplish this for those of you with shaky hands.

Practice, practice, practice - The great thing about digital cameras is that it doesn’t cost anything to develop the pictures. So fire away. Take lots of shots with different settings, at different angles.

Try Picassa - Google offers free software, Picassa, to find, organize and share all the photos on your computer. It also has a great set of tools that allow even the novice user to dramatically improve their photos easily.

Rumour has it that Adobe will be offering an online version of Photoshop in the near future. They currently offer a similar service, Adobe Remix on the Photobucket website. Stay tuned. For all us photo enthusiasts, stay tuned.

We found an article in The NY Times titled “Making Every Pixel Count” about how photography may be your best chance at getting people to come view a property. This reinforces what we have been saying about listing pictures,

In the first paragraph they get straight to the point

“Less-than-flattering pictures can turn buyers off and lead to lonely open houses”

and

Good photos will grab people’s attention and help you sell a home.

Our photos stand out. People who know us tell us that they can spot our pictures immediately, that they stand out from the rest.