video-ing homes

Hey Robert

I'd recommend checking out http://reviews.cnet.com/camcorders/?tag=TOCleftColumn.0 This site has the comparison/reviews for pretty much all the cameras out there. You might be looking for some specific features that others don't need or vise versa so I'd recommend this site.
Warm wishes
@ListingMoves

hello Robert,
I have an old Canon Mini DV camera. DV quality is great and easy to upload. I did purchase a wide angle lens adapter at the same time and it seems to work fine. You will get better quality out of stills.

Good Luck!
Realtor Columbus GA

Flip Video, Flip Video, Flip Video! Marvelous, inexpensive, so easy to use and post result to your site or YouTube from w/in the camera. Sound, zoom, etc.

Many, many uses for it in my book of CyberStar(r) tips...almost all of them have a Flip and use it to make a lot of money.

Get the HD model, either 60 or 120 minutes of video. Marvelous!

It's a great day here on the lake in Reston...hope it's a great day wherever you are, too!

Allen F. Hainge, CRS

Senior Instructor, CRS 206 Technology Course

Check out Allen's eBook, "Digital Essentials for Today's Agent, here!

Robert

Before you jump in on video, Take a look at www.previsite.com (really look). It is very inexpensive, does narration (and music, if that fits your goal). I have the camera with their patented lens add-on. Camera is $149.00 and the service is $10.00 a month. I like it, needs a bit of skill but the nicest feature is the tilt angle with the computer mouse that allows you to view the floor, ceiling, right&left. You can even read the magazine lying on the end table.

John Pilkins, KW Commercial.

Before you spend money on expensive video cam corders and software, start out with the video loops from your regular digital you carry and use now. Use movie maker that is in your computer already to edit the clips. Start small. Pan slowly the outside and put your camera on a tripod so it does not have the dt's and cause real estate vertigo. Same with inside and make sure to use your voice at the property that says small snippets like "That's a new granite counter top with a breakfast bar and sliders to an open deck in the kitchen...as you pan room, and dissolve to another shot of stainless appliances, or the sliders to the deck without talk talk talk...then "as we move in to the living room, there is a fireplace...cut to shot as you start at bottom of fireplace and pan up and out to show the fan light on, fan turning in the cathedral ceiling...then shoot the hall, first floor bath, show going up the stairs so view knows we are headed for the second floor...etc. Watch ours at www.youtube.com/mooersrealty Good luck and ping me questions...we'll guide you. Have over 360 on youtube platform alone and you upload them to realtor.com and other social media web 2.0 platforms too! Embed the videos of real estate AND the local community in your blogs too..recycle well written blogs with videos in your email campaign too. Andy

I have used the Flip Video and like it, then I discovered the Vado, it is a bit less money than the Flip and I think has a slightly better picture quality. So I mostly use the Vado now.

Roger Lautt

roger@WeSellChicago.com

You really have to decide what the purpose is of your video. If you're showing a home to a prospective buyer in another state, a Flip Camera or the video function in the iPhone or Nano is a perfect solution. Your buyer will be impressed by your initiative and will totally understand and accept that the quality is far from perfect. They will be thrilled that you went the extra mile. For talking head videos, testimonials, etc. these are great, inexpensive options.

If you're using video to market properties to the public, I wouldn't touch one of those cameras. They produce a totally unacceptable product for that purpose. The audio is horrible, there is no wide angle lens (a necessity for interiors) and you will make everyone vomit who attempts to watch. Not exactly the image you're attempting to portray. There's a reason nobody likes to watch Uncle Joe's home movies - and that's essentially what you're putting out for the world to see as a 'marketing piece". Sloppy, blurry, nauseating video. It's NOT a good idea.

Of course, this doesn't stop people from doing it, as you can witness all over YouTube. I look at it as the moving picture version of 'drive by cell phone photos" for the MLS. Some Realtors take their MLS pix with their cell phone as they're flying through the house. And it looks it. Zappos takes 8 high quality, professional shots of a SANDAL that sells for $35, yet a Realtor thinks nothing of putting up blurry, dark, crooked cell phone photos to represent a house. It makes no sense to me. And Flip videos are in the same league - in my opinion.

You need the right tools and the knowledge to know how to use them. If you're not willing or able to take the time (and it takes a LOT of time) to learn how to use your camera, learn about lighting, learn how to get good audio, learn how to use a stabilizer, and learn how to edit and transcode properly so the video looks as good as possible, you're HURTING yourself - not helping.

In most markets you can pay someone to shoot a video that properly markets your listing and yourself.. as a brand for around $200 or less. My wide angle LENS on my video camera costs as much as FIVE Flip cameras - there is an obvious difference!

Almost all buyers make their first decisions based on what they see on a 15" computer screen in the middle of the night with their bunny slippers on. You owe it to your sellers to give it the BEST presentation possible - WEB APPEAL is the curb appeal of yesterday. Bad photos or video only makes a buyer click the NEXT button, not pick up the phone, take the time to drive over and see if the property really looks as bad as they think it does.....

And in the end, YOU look like an amateur - not the intention, I'm sure.

Have you seen Kodak's new zi8 camcorder? Also, FLIP has a new one

Ron Gorman

so what do you reccommend?

Bob