extate, the UK-based real estate search engine, rolled out video tours on all its listings last week. You can see an example of the implementation on their search results page – extate: SW1
To view a video of a property, just click on the live (green) video links under any of the listing descriptions. The video pops up and auto-plays in a Lightbox-style window. Very slick.
I was particularly impressed with extate’s upload function, which is specifically designed to receive a video file from a mobile phone via MMS. I can definitely see agents out on the road taking advantage of this feature; taking a quick video clip with their phone and uploading it automatically to the site. Especially once the ultimate Realtor phone finally launches.
Check out extate: oxford to see an example of how the uploading process works. Click on the greyed-out video link to see how you add a new video file. I imagine there will need to be some verification process or community ‘flagging’ ability to ensure that the video is relevant, but I love the simplicity.
I’d also love to see one of the real estate search engines on this side of the pond adapt this technology.
Right after the Inman Connect conference, I wrote that Video Killed the Virtual Tour. extate is one of the first mainstream real estate search engines to implement video and we’re also seeing companies like WellcomeMat or reallyo spring up to help Realtors post video on line. I expect we’ll be seeing much more of this in the future.
