REALTOR Marketing Challenged by Gas Pumps

According to the NAR Survey of Home Buyers and Sellers (2007), buyers who search online real estate want to see the following (In order of importance):

1. Pictures
2. Property Descriptions
3. Virtual Tours
4. Area info
5. Maps
6. Agent Info

Now, most real estate agents look at this list and immediately see #6 and get all upset. What? It’s not about me? They don’t want to see my high-school photo? Oh no!

Of course, they completely skip numbers 1-3, as countless entries in our blog continue to point out that too many sellers would be better off putting their own photos online, considering the complete lack or poor quality of some of the stuff that shows up on REALTOR.COM. And yes, the average listing sheet is still pathetic, compared to some of the print marketing that other companies – like computer and car companies – send out.

Yet even if more photos get online, and we work harder to write meaningful, interesting descriptions of properties, it’s still amazing that so many listings lack video tours online. In a world where Generation X and Generation Y are constantly entertaining themselves on YouTube, you just have to wonder how REALTORS can’t yet figure out how to put at least one video tour on every listing. Just one. I mean the average twelve year old can upload a video from their cell phone to YouTube with one eye closed and a mouse tied behind his back, but professionals being paid thousands of dollars will come up with every excuse not to put videos on every listing.

Now, it’s not like just anyone is using video to sell online. I mean, sure, it’s only car companies and faucet companies that really use video to sell their goods. For example, my favorite from Mercedes Benz:

Click the picture above and you’re going to get an awesome 55 second video from Merzedes Benz that grabs your attention, teaches you something about their product – which, at about $150,000 is as much as some houses REALTORS sell – and then provide you the option of a further guided tour with the sales lady who brings you right into the front seat of the car and takes you for an online drive. Just AWESOME!

And did I mention faucet companies? Yes, that’s right: The people who make KITCHEN SINK FAUCETS sell them online with a video clip.

Look at that – it’s a FAUCET – marketed by a powerful, emotional-response evoking video.

Now, it’s perfectly understandable that most REALTORS would look at these videos and say: Hey! We don’t have that kind of production studio or graphics capability. And you know, I’d agree with that entirely. But heck, what about a simple video taken with your standard digital camera, uploaded to YouTube and inserted into your listings? Just press the “other” button on your camera and take a video. if you’re really bold, try narrating it at the same time, even. It’s understandable if you’re not ready to create such a wonderful video as this AWARD WINNING REALTOR video from Mike Lefebvre at Century 21 Commonwealth in Massachusetts:

I’d be happy with something more basic; even just a shaky vid clip of the kitchen, pan the living room and even a spin-me-around in bathroom will do. Anything, really. Just ANYTHING in motion will do!

Of course, if we don’t see more video on REALTOR listings, things might get really ugly. I already caught a lot of flak from my suggestion that REALTORS were like vending machines… People were really “offended” that I suggested they were outdated, coin-operated stand-in-the-hallway junk food dispensers. And while I stand by my initial thoughts, perhaps I was a little hasty. Maybe I picked on the wrong machine – sorry vending machines. Perhaps REALTORS without videos on their listings are not like vending machines at all.

One thing’s for sure: REALTORS without video on their listings aren’t even like gas pumps. Like these new gas pumps in the rest stop on the Mass PIke:

So, I can watch “Gas Pump TV” while I’m making a $75 gas purchase – but I can’t get a single video on most real estate listings that are asking me to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars, including the REALTORS’ commissions.

Can anyone explain that to me?