We are too much misled, surely. Too much miscounseled, misdirected, misinformed. Too many of the people we turn to for advice on selling homes don’t actually sell homes themselves — never have — and, in consequence, too often, they are too much mistaken.<\/p>\n
Consider that 2006 was to have been the Year of the Real Estate Video — except it wasn’t. Nor was 2007. And nor, neither, will be 2008. Video is useful for telling stories and for communicating personality. In expert hands it can be an incomparable tool for conveying arcane or abstract ideas. As a real estate marketing tool, it is at best a role-player — and most often — owing to crappy production values and even crappier pre-planning — it serves more as a detriment than a benefit to the marketing of a home.<\/p>\n
Good photography, by contrast, is the real estate marketing tool of the millennium. Houses sit still, and what buyers want, more than anything, are scads of detail-rich images that also sit still — so they can examine, repeatedly, every last one of those details.<\/p>\n
We will sometimes do video in a role-playing way for our listings, but the second most popular feature on our web sites, after the photographs, is the interactive floorplan<\/a>. Buyers love to see exactly how their furniture is going to fit into the home — and the more they commit their minds to the home, the more committed they are to buying it. The scientific name for this intricate process is: Salesmanship.<\/p>\n For years now, we have dreamed of an even more fun, more engaging, more interactive tool to put on our sites: Virtual redecorating. Change the paint. Change the flooring. Change the cabinets and countertops. “You almost<\/i> love this home, folks, and you haven’t even liked<\/i> anything else. What can you do to make this place your own?” The name for this again? Oh, yes. Salesmanship.<\/p>\n And guess what? It’s here<\/a>. Obeo, about whom I knew nothing until this morning, has solved the virtual tour problem in a way I not only don’t hate, but actually like<\/i>. And they have given me virtual redecorating, Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We are too much misled, surely. Too much miscounseled, misdirected, misinformed. Too many of the people we turn to for advice on selling homes don’t actually sell homes themselves — never have — and, in consequence, too often, they are too much mistaken. Consider that 2006 was to have been the Year of the Real […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,9,5,19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-marketing","7":"category-photography","8":"category-real-estate","9":"category-technology","11":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2849,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2849\/dont-blog-your-listings-how-about-this-dont-try-to-pass-sales-call-reluctance-off-as-social-media-marketing-expertise\/","url_meta":{"origin":2552,"position":0},"title":"Don’t blog your listings? How about this? Don’t try to pass sales call reluctance off as social media marketing expertise","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I know, I know -- I owe, I owe. I owe Jeff Brown a discussion of every little last thing we do to launch a new listing with maximum impact. And I owe The Lovely Wife a discussion of the role of self-promotion in real estate weblogging. But... We listed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":308,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/308\/overall-august-real-estate-market-results-for-mls-listed-homes-in-the-phoenix-area\/","url_meta":{"origin":2552,"position":1},"title":"Overall August real estate market results for MLS listed homes in the Phoenix area","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 8, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"In the Arizona Regional Multiple Listings Service at large, 6,170 homes sold in August against an inventory of 46,830, an implied absorption rate of 7.6 months. There are 6,185 properties listed as \"Sale Pending.\" All of these numbers are largely unchanged from July. The historical numbers make it plain that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6299,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/6299\/us-adults-may-not-want-foreclosed-homes-but-homebuyers-sure-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":2552,"position":2},"title":"“U.S adults” may not want foreclosed homes, but homebuyers sure do","author":"Greg Swann","date":"December 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link). \u00a0\"U.S adults\" may not want foreclosed homes, but homebuyers sure do Did you see in the news where only 47% of U.S. adults would consider buying a foreclosed home? An amazing number, isn't it? What does it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1848,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1848\/oh-good-grief-not-another-one-stealth-real-estate-start-up-is-long-on-promises-short-on-details\/","url_meta":{"origin":2552,"position":3},"title":"Oh, good grief, not another one! “Stealth” real estate start-up is long on promises, short on details","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"If Groucho Marx were to come back to us as a hen, aghast but still sardonic, what would he (she?) do? Peck around in the dirt, no doubt. Comes next a \"stealth\" start-up called roost.com, which promises \"to fundamentally change how customers find & move into their next home.\" When\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4812,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/4812\/other-types-of-credit-may-be-feeling-the-crunch-but-home-mortgages-are-still-readily-available\/","url_meta":{"origin":2552,"position":4},"title":"Other types of credit may be feeling the crunch, but home mortgages are still readily available","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link). \u00a0Other types of credit may be feeling the crunch, but home mortgages are still readily available Bad news about the economy is coming in from all directions, so you may be in the mood for some good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1687,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1687\/what-makes-a-home-sell-marketing-preparation-and-especially-price\/","url_meta":{"origin":2552,"position":5},"title":"What makes a home sell? Marketing, preparation — and especially price","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This is me from last Friday's Arizona Republic (permanent link): \u00a0What makes a home sell? Marketing, preparation -- and especially price I looked at houses with a long-time client last week. We shopped ten houses, of which two were actually in turn-key condition. Two others were fix-ups in every way\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2552\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}