Gary North

Lesson #1: The Video

YouTube and Google Video are revolutionary tools. They pay for the bandwidth. You use it.

As a salesman, you have two primary tasks: (1) get a potential buyer to see your property; (2) get him/her pre-sold before spending face-to-face time on the sale.

An on-line video helps with both.

Get a camcorder. You can buy one for $70.

Buy a $25 lapel microphone.

If you are an agent who has listed the home, go inside. Write down the benefits in each room on a sheet of paper or a note card. This will take most of your investment of time.

The goal is to create a script. Don't say "the living room's walls are white." The viewer can see this. Say, "The bright interior of the living room adds a sense of warmth. This is perfect for large family get-togethers."

Once you have the outline of your script, one for each room, start with the bedrooms. Do the script verbally until you are comfortable. Then turn on the camcorder and chat your way through the room.

This verbal patter doesn't have to be perfect. It does have to sound as though you're the owner, who is enthusiastic about the house.

You can do this with rural property, too.

If you want to make it really professional, use a video editor to splice in text, such as Bedroom #1, Bedroom #2, etc. There is freeware out there to do this. But it's not required.

It's wise to do two shoots. You can digitally splice in each segment. Then do it again. Use the best presentation of each room.

Here is a professionally done ad. It's what you can aim at. But it's a little too professional for my taste. I'd rather have no music and a "real person" narrating it.

Here is a list of free video editing software:

Why not begin with Microsoft's product, Movie Maker?

You can get free instruction on-line.

For Lesson #2, on promoting your video to potential property buyers, click here: