Linda Edelwich, an agent with William Raveis Real Estate, could have twiddled her thumbs on a recent afternoon while sitting in her car waiting for her son’s football practice to wrap up.
But she decided to put them to better use. In a matter of minutes, the Glastonbury, Connecticut-based agent whipped together a narrated slideshow of her newest listing with the app SpeakingPhoto, and then shared it with her social network.
Some real estate agents like Edelwich are finding the tours they create on SpeakingPhoto are an attractive marketing alternative to listing videos, or that they complement them.
SpeakingPhoto lets you add voice-overs to photos and combine them into a slideshow of up to eight photos that can be easily shared on social media or through text and email.
Linda Edelwich used SpeakingPhoto to produce this narrated slideshow in minutes.
“Anything that is better communicated by photo is a perfect use for our app because we’ve removed the extra step of reconciling written notes with photos,” said Diana Iles Parker, partner and chief marketing officer at SpeakingPhoto. “Simply speak your notes.”
In the slideshow Edelwich recently produced, she used “vocal notes” to point out highlights of the home, like its location on a cul-de-sac. She also was able to tell the story behind its attractive porch, the result of an expensive renovation that’s been “admired” by neighbors.
“That was a special message that I wanted the consumer to hear,” she said.
The app isn’t only useful for showcasing a house, Parker said. Agents might also use it to more effectively communicate with contractors, inspectors and mortgage lenders once a home is under contract.
Edelwich says SpeakingPhoto slideshows beat out the videos you can produce with mobile apps because they’re free and don’t require editing or extra equipment, such as a wide-angle lens.
“Some might say we compete against the virtual tour apps, but we think of SpeakingPhoto as the third tool in the kit,” Parker said.
Edelwich also thinks SpeakingPhoto slideshows engage more on social media than links to listings on single-property websites or listing portals.