Table of Contents
- Using a Home Walkthrough Video to Help Sell Real Estate
- The Quickest Way to Create a Home Walkthrough Video – 5 Steps
- Let PhotoUp Edit Your Home Walkthrough Video!
In real estate sales, a home walkthrough video walkthrough is often the perfect tool to show off properties.
According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), home walkthrough videos drive 157% more organic search results to your online listings.
Home walkthrough videos attract buyers’ attention more effectively than static images alone — leading to more showings and offers.
Therefore, in today’s post, you’ll learn how to create a home walkthrough video quickly and easily.
Using a Home Walkthrough Video to Help Sell Real Estate
Before we explain how to quickly create a home walkthrough video tour, we need to talk about the benefits of using these videos to sell your listings.
A home walkthrough video is a powerful marketing tool. For example, listings that include a video tour receive 403% more inquiries than listings without one.
Creating a video walkthrough of your home allows you to show off your home’s best features while also allowing potential buyers the opportunity to get a quick glimpse of your home’s layout.
To help put this effective marketing tool in perspective, a home video walkthrough is:
- A short video of a property — using a mobile phone or another recording device
- Focused on the layout of a home, providing a spatial context beyond what photos alone can convey
- An easy and affordable way to call attention to a listing
- Extremely easy to share across multiple online platforms increasing market exposure for the home
The typical video walk-through is roughly up to 2 to 5 minutes in length and usually includes sound — be it narration, music, or both.
Still not convinced? Zillow statistics show that listings promoted by a video walkthrough sold on average 14% faster than listings without one.
Also, you’ll likely reach more buyers by posting your videos to YouTube, the second most popular search engine behind Google.
So, why not invest in home walkthrough videos to best market your listings?
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The Quickest Way to Create a Home Walkthrough Video
Now, let’s go through 5 easy steps to quickly create an effective home walkthrough video.
Step 1 – The Equipment Needed
Special or expensive equipment isn’t always necessary to make a quality home walkthrough video.
Most smartphones now have quality cameras and advanced capabilities. However, you will still need more than just your phone’s camera.
Consider using the following if it is readily available:
- A DSLR camera
- Wide-angle zoom lens (16–35mm) / 17–40mm
- Tripod with a slider
- A second tripod head that sits on top of the slider
- And if you have a drone, bring it with you!
Don’t underestimate the importance of using a tripod. You’ll be amazed at how big of a difference it can make, and they’re not too expensive. There are even tripods that work with your phone.
How about your camera settings? The following is often a good starting set-up:
- Use the highest frame rate possible in 1080p
- Set your shutter speed at least 2x the frame rate (1/50 or 1/100 to prevent flickering
- Set your white balance to 3000K — 5600K
- Aim to shoot at eye level if possible
- Keep your ISO as low as possible
- Pay attention to the sharpness of your image
Natural light is usually all you need for all your interior and exterior shots, so planning your shoot around the weather is key.
A partly cloudy day will likely get the best results. If it’s a very cloudy day, you might want to reschedule.
Step 2 – Getting the Property Ready
Before you take any photos or videos, go through the entire house and help it look its best.
Things to consider when preparing for the shoot:
- Make sure the home is clean, tidy, and organized
- Remove personal items, such as pictures of homeowners
- Declutter all surfaces, including counters, tabletops, and shelves
- Remove any pets
- Ensure that cabinet and closet doors are closed
- Smooth out any wrinkles on bedspreads
- Close toilet seats and shower curtains
- Adjust throw pillows, window treatments, artwork, plants, etc.
Careful and thorough preparation ahead of time will make the shoot go easier.
Step 3 – Planning the Shot List
The importance of planning cannot be over-emphasized. Carefully make a list of the areas and spaces you want to feature and highlight.
When doing this, consider who your target buyer is, and then try to cater the video to that type of buyer if possible.
Generally, it’s best to go into any shoot with this basic shot list in mind:
Indoor shots
- The main entrance to the home
- Living room, great room, and family room
- The kitchen — including appliances, countertops, and cabinets
- Dining room or dining area
- Each bedroom and bathroom
- Don’t forget the home’s amenities — fireplaces, whirlpool tubs, window seats, spacious closets, and so on
Outdoor shots
- Walk from the street to the door
- Open the door
- Include various perspectives of the home’s exterior
- Highlight the backyard and any pools, gardens, decks, or seating areas
For key rooms like the kitchen, the living room, or the master suite, make sure to get enough shots and camera angles to paint a full picture for the buyer.
Including video of the surrounding areas helps paint a picture of what it’d be like to live in the neighborhood. Highlight nearby parks, the downtown area, the business district, and any other neighborhood amenities.
Step 4 – Shooting the Video
Quality matters — you’ll want to make sure that your home video walkthrough appears professional and is in HD quality.
You also want the video experience to be smooth and steady, without shaking or abrupt turns or movement. To achieve this, you’ll need to rely on slides and glides.
Slides help with the steady movement of the camera from front to back. One important tip — make sure you can’t see the slider in the shot.
Glides and slides are easy to use:
- Start with the slider just outside of a doorway to introduce the room
- Next, using sliding and panning, try to capture a wrap-around effect
- If you don’t have a slider, pans and tilts can also work for detailed shots of almost any space, highlighting features such as hardwood floors, tile, or countertops
Step 5 – Drone Footage
If want to go beyond an average home walkthrough video, include some drone footage. Using a drone for aerial shots of the home and the surrounding area adds perspective and interest to any video.
For example, capture footage from both the front and back of the house. Then if it’s safe, take it out further to get creative views of the property and the local community.
If there’s water nearby — a lake or river for example — make sure you capture this, too.
Now that we’ve explained how to quickly make a home walkthrough video, let’s move on to the last step — editing your video — and this is where we can help.
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Real Estate Video Editing
If you thought photo editing took time... we're here to help.
Let PhotoUp Edit Your Home Walkthrough Video!
For around just $30, PhotoUp can take your raw footage and turn it into a polished and persuasive home walkthrough video.
PhotoUp’s expert home walkthrough video editing includes:
- Clip review, trimming, and arrangement
- Your business logo, an intro, and outro
- Custom titling
- And, commercially licensed music for a more enjoyable, finished video
Quick & Easy Video Editing Order Process
In just 3 simple steps, you’ll get a professional quality video:
1. Upload Your Files
Upload all your video footage, logos, and/or custom audio files to Dropbox, Google Drive, or another delivery link and include that link in your order form.
2. Login to PhotoUp
After signing up for a free PhotoUp account, you simply login and select video editing to place your order.
3. Delivery of Your Real Estate Walkthrough Video
We usually deliver your edited video within 24-36 hours, if uploaded on weekdays and before 9:00 pm on a Friday, local time.
Your final video will be between 2-3 minutes in length, delivered in 1080p quality (+10 credits for 4K quality), and available via Dropbox.
For more details, you can check out our video editing service demo:
As simple as that!
And here at PhotoUp, we do more than edit videos — we’re a leading global real estate marketing company offering a full range of services, including:
- Photo editing
- Virtual staging
- Single property websites
- Real estate photographer websites
- Custom house portraits
- Virtual Assistants
- And more!
Here’s an example of before & after photos of our virtual staging services:
With powerful marketing tools like these you can help sell a listing faster and for above market rate!
So, get started with PhotoUp today, and let our expert editors help you produce amazing and compelling home walkthrough videos — and more!
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post on the quickest way to create a home walkthrough video.
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