When you buy a home, you get a lot more than square footage and dirt. You buy the neighbors, the neighborhood, the pools and schools — the entire community that surrounds the home.
One of the best ways to show off the community you are trying to sell along with that home is to create a video. Of course, there are lots of approaches to making a video. What follows are the three “Ts” (or takeaways) from a recent video shoot at El Milagro, a luxury property located in Rancho Santa Fe, California.
Taste it. Use the first few seconds of your video to let people know where it is going. Give them a taste of what’s to come, and that includes the flavor and flair of the area. If your video is just about the house, regardless of how amazing the property might be you’re missing an opportunity to attract a deeper pool of potential buyers.
Recently, we teamed up with Concierge Auctions to produce a feature video of a luxury estate owned by sports betting icon Billy Walters in Rancho Santa Fe. When we arrived, we were simply blown away. Here we were on an astounding 9-acre property that was full of eye candy at every turn. We could have produced a 30-minute documentary on the history and details of the property alone.
But then we talked to Walters about why he poured more than $7 million into renovating this one-of-a-kind estate. His answer was simple: Rancho Santa Fe! Immediately, we knew how and where the video of El Milagro, “The Miracle,” would go. Remember, the goal is to let buyers see the property while giving them more than just doors and floors.
Touch it. Now that you’ve promised something, it’s time to think like FedEx and deliver. Video gives you the best chance to experience something without actually being there. In order to do this effectively, you have to use sound — not just dialogue, but what we refer to in the video production and television world as natural or “nat” sound. Kids splashing in the pool, the trickling sound of a waterfall, the wind through the trees … just a second or two is all you need to salt the senses and pull the viewer into the video.
Then you can move to a sound clip with a police officer who touts the neighborhood as one of the safest in the county, or interview the neighbor who has lived nearby for 30 years. Whoever it is, just talk to people and get creative. Let your viewers feel the home and the ‘hood, firsthand.
We also spent a few minutes in the downtown area flagging down residents and asking them why they loved Rancho Santa Fe. By the time we were finished, we had people driving up in their convertibles asking if they could be the next “guest ambassador.” We realized we didn’t need to spend a lot of time trying to sell the neighborhood ourselves when so many others could do a much better job of it. After all, they live there, and video is the best way to bring those residents to life.
Tell about it. The most important component of any video is the story. As we like to say, “Tell it to sell it.”
Every home has a story. Rather than spew out a bunch of numbers from the MLS about bathrooms and square footage, focus on feelings. Take the time to dig deeper and understand what will most likely connect with potential buyers.
As we experienced with Billy Walters, the seller is usually the best place to start. We spent as much time as we could talking to Walters and other members of the community to get a true feel of what Rancho Santa Fe was like.
Making a quality real estate video really is as simple as “taste it, touch it and tell about it!” Remember these 3 “Ts” for your next video and you’ll have a better chance of leveraging that video to find the right buyers for your homes.
Scott Haws is the co-founder and CEO of Narr8 Media, a video production company hyperfocused on innovation within the real estate industry.
