InfoTube.net homes for sale website, combined with a flat fee MLS listing places your property in front of millions of home shoppers each month.    But, in a difficult housing market with far to few buyers and far too many sellers, there is another way to reach millions of new buyers per month…Video.

Making a Video about the benefits of living in your home is easy and fun to do.   Dust off that digital camera you don’t often use, and put it to work selling your home to a whole new audience.   

Tips for Shooting a Good Video Home Tour without Editing:

1. Plan Your Tour and Your Shots:   Decide what property features are important and how you will highlight them visually.   Make sure you clean and stage the area’s that will be on video so your house looks its best.   Plan the order of the shot in the same sequence as someone would tour the home.  Start with the front walk up, entry, etc. to make your video easy for the viewer to follow.
2. Get familiar with your camera. The on-off switch, zoom and record buttons.   You can pause between scenes by touching the “shoot” button and resume filming by touching it again.  (Practice a little to see how the camera works inside your home.)
3. Use the video camera like a still camera.  You can walk with a camera, but the video will be shaky. Keep the camera as still as possible.  A tripod is an excellant tool used to steady the shot.  
4. Shoot 3 Basic Shots of each Feature:  Start with a Wide Shot to establish the location.  Zoom slightly to use a Medium Shot to follow action or frame a view or scene.  Use a Close Up shot to show off a detail or something special.
5. Watch how much you zoom.  The camera registers better if you move closer to the subject, versus just zooming in.  Also, avoid using the zoom if you are hand holding the camera.   You won’t be able to keep a steady shot.
6. Try to shoot at least 10 seconds for each shot.   If you are panning the scene, 10 seconds will produce a nice flow and the viewer won’t get sick trying to watch while the room spins.
7. Lighting is a must.   Do not shoot toward a bright window.  Lower the blinds and turn on all the lights, if you can’t get another angle.  Lamps or drop lights aimed at the subject and positioned behind the camera are an ideal way to light your space.  If shooting outdoors, try a cloudy day, early morning or late afternoon when harsh sun won’t wash out color and details.  Also when shooting outdoors, make sure the subject is facing the sun.
8. Plan to bring emotion and life into your presentation.   Include historical facts, neighborhood shots, nearby attractions, special views, street scene’s, neighborhood schools and parks, splashing hot tubs and roaring fires.   Add fresh flowers in the kitchen and dining room.  Set the dining room table.  Place candles around tubs and fireplaces.  Add color outdoors with inexpensive hanging baskets or pots of flowers.   You don’t need to plant them unless you want to.  You can hide the pots in the dirt or behind shorter plants. 
9. Time the Video.   The majority of viewers will not sit through a video longer than 3 minutes, unless it is really compelling.
10. If can have a lot of fun Editing, if you have a newer computer.  Movie Maker is Free on Microsoft software.  IMovie is free on Apple.  While you don’t have to edit to make a great video, editing is great for adding captions, music or voice overs, or selecting the best scene.  We will discuss editing and special effects later next week.

Video’s don’t sell a home all by themselves, but they certainly attract serious buyers.  Do yourself a huge favor and upload your home video tour to InfoTube.net today…we will put it on Youtube for you.