Remember the old saying about "The only thing you can be really sure about is death and taxes"? Well, I could add one more: "Land is not self-replicating". And it's true, someday the real estate market will eventually run its course, but probably not in our lifetime. Going into the Millennium the real estate market is booming. I would venture to say that there are three things you can count on in ANYTOWN, USA: (1) There WILL be a church, (2) there WILL be a gas station, and (3) there WILL be a real estate office. In this installment of The Idea Factory, let's delve into the lucrative real estate market and see how we can tap into it.
I happen to live in an area well know throughout the country for it's pristine waters and moderate year round temperatures (sound like a real estate pitch yet?). Our #1 source of income is tourism and retirees. Both markets are of great interest to real estate salesmen. Therefore we have what you would call an over-saturated glut of real estate companies, all competing for essentially the same markets. I looked in the local phone book and counted over forty, which is a lot if you consider the town of Mountain Home, Arkansas, scored less than 10,000 in the last census, with a population of around 45,000 in Baxter County.
My very first video job was for a real estate company. An old high school buddy of mine stepped into running the family business and approached me with the idea of producing an "armchair tour" of the area to send and show to prospective clients. This was in 1980. I had just purchased a JVC CR-4400 portable �" mini U-Matic recorder and a single tube JVC G-71 camera. I edited the entire 30-minute video with straight cuts and manually edited on the fly using the pause control on the recorder with a Sony U-Matic player feeding the master footage. No way to fade. No CG's or title pages. I overdubbed the narration on the finished edit on channel one audio and then went back and dubbed the soundtrack on the other channel. We've come a long way, baby!
We took that video to Chicago, rented a large meeting room at the Hilton, made legal agreements with local licensed real estate operators, and invited a select target group of retirees who answered a mail out campaign conducted by the real estate firm. After a swank luncheon, we made a three-hour presentation to them that included me taking my turn at the podium with an explanation (and build up) of the video they were about to see. While I talked, dual projection screens on each side of the dais showed tasty and inviting slides of fishing, fun, and relaxation. We showed the video on six 24" television monitors placed at strategic areas covering the entire viewing area of the audience and I arranged an elaborate array of RF DA's to distribute the signal. I took the audio and amplified it through the house PA system, which consisted of 8" ceiling speakers located throughout the large meeting room. It wasn't too loud, but it evenly distributed the audio to everyone. In addition, I added a small PA system at front stage to focus the main body of audio to stage center. This also helped the segments in the video, which had no narration, but relied on the music track and visuals to tell the story.
The video consisted of footage shot of the area. Beautiful scenery, Clear Mountain streams, trout fishing, water skiing, scuba diving, sail boating, hiking, and plenty of opportunities for the artist and photographer. The music track was laid back but not "sleepy", and overall had a relaxed feel about it. I chose piano and acoustic guitar arrangements with a country flair, without sounding too much like "Deliverance". The narration segments filled in information like driving distance from major cities (especially Chicago), and touched on nearby regional attractions like Branson, Missouri and the Mountain View Folk Festival. When the video shifted to the town of Mountain Home we showed police, fire, schools, business, industry, recreation, churches, and shopping. The narration told of average yearly temperatures, tax rate structures, local government issues, and other pertinent information sought by someone that would be interested in moving to a new and better place to retire. We ended the program with some real estate examples of suburban living and the wide-open spaces of Ozark ranchettes located within short distance of all the amenities.
This one-day extravaganza with this particular group of people started a connection for my friend's business that spanned the next four years, and secured him a yearly award of being recognized as a million seller for many years thereafter. They had the vision and the savvy. I had the technology and the desire. Remember that this was twenty years ago! It's not the gear. It's what you do with it.
In the last twenty years I have probably produced more than a dozen real estate promotional videos (I still call them "Armchair Tours"), and I still produce them basically the same way. In that time I have learned a few things about both the real estate market and how to produce a promotional video for multiple clients in the same market. I have learned, for example, that it is better to maintain my own footage library than charge new clients for going out and shooting essentially the same shots over and over again. This means that I have to keep up with the changes in the town and area. Additions to schools and hospitals and city or government offices moving locations for instance. New attractions should be added to the database, and updating or renovating major facilities like a golf course or shopping mall should also be cataloged.
This approach can also realize more business for you. As you scout each shooting location you are making contact with a potentially new customer in a completely unrelated fashion. Many times I have been on location shooting some footage when I have been approached by the owner/operator who is interested in producing their own sales, promotional, or training video, or even a television commercial.
I have master tapes that I use just for when I go out to add new footage to my collection. I always shoot enough different angles that I can edit just a small portion for each client's needs. The tough part is to produce each video in such a way that it doesn't look like a "copycat" from their competitors version (which I probably also produced). That's not too difficult. There are many ways you can approach the "hard sell". Some clients don't even want a hard sell, but rely mainly on the scenery and serenity to sell the concept. Others prefer CG pages to tell the facts and like me to use Toaster wipes between segments to "pep it up". Usually I create a LightWave 3D animation of their flying logo or something for the open to give their production a more professional attitude. Whenever possible I use or recreate their trademark.
I have also discovered that aerials can be so important in telling a story about a geographical location. About once every three years I hire a pilot to fly me along a route that I shoot from a couple of different heights. I shoot about two hours in a 3-4 hour flight and cover the "downtown" area and any special landmarks (or faithful clients). When I open the video and start running narrative about the spectacular beauty of this area, nothing says it more than a 2,000-foot aerial of the 500+ mile shoreline lake with it's twin bridges spanning the midsection and the water gleaming with sunlight. I have written off the cost of acquiring the footage several times over from just the charges to some corporate and industrial clients whose aerials I used in their videos.
So far I have discovered that I can still make enough for the search time it takes to find the perfect shot and the time it takes to digitize the footage into the Flyer. Sometimes I might charge a client a stock footage usage fee, but it is very nominal and I still retain the ownership of the footage used. Naturally, any interiors/exteriors of real estate offices are property of the client, and location video shooting time is charged on an hourly rate. I include CG prep and rendering time, as well as music selection and recording of narration into my hourly post production rate. As you can tell I subscribe to the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid).
The final thought: It always starts with a single job done well. Then, another real estate agent sees the video and wants YOU to do the same thing for him. Only they'll want it just a little bit different. Or a LOT different. Either way, You get the job! You just have to learn to be flexible and say much the same thing in a refreshing new way or with another angle. Once you get a few of these videos in your demo reel, it should get easier to convince the next agent that they need your services as well. The trick to sell and make a convincing pitch is the use of the stock footage you have taken the time to build. Anytime you can save the client valuable shooting time you are saving them production dollars. And you spend more time producing great videos from the comfort of your own air-conditioned workplace, and less time outside shooting redundant subject material.
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