A company called
http://www.realtourlive.com/ offers audio on demand flash tours that anyone can create. Type in the words and the best voice synthesis on the planet reads back your copy. It works real nice. Looks awesome and it smokes everything I've seen. You have to call to get in right now.
I've created Virtual Tours since 1999 professionally for realtors and others. We have a unique business model where we post the images to our own web site, and anybody can browse the images. Have a look! SIHomeTours.com Currently over 250 listings online. We posted 64 last month. That's about one weeks work for my friend in CG Mo. I make good money but he makes it hand over fist.
On the back end of my site, that you'll not see, are agent logins with charts of how many views, creating open house listings, and adding notes. The site owner has an easy to use interface to enter data and upload photos so that listing pages are automatically and dynamically created - very quickly, saving you lots of time. Invoicing and a sophisticated price compare utility that keeps the price of your listings updated and removes sold or withdrawn listings AND generating invoices. That's how you make money in this, volume and automation.
Realtors like that they can spend more time $elling, instead of fooling around with cameras and computers. Buyers like the tours. Sellers like how good their house looks.
There seems to be a surge in interest of virtual tours lately so we're having a training session soon. Several of us who are successful and have been doing this daily for five years or more are telling all our secrets.
http://www.virtualtoursummit.com/ebs As you can guess, I think it's the way to go. Decent Video requires a high skill level, expensive equipment, dolly's, lights, cords, lots of editing... and more. Bouncy hand held video will make you sick fast, as will panning too fast. (My wife works at a TV station. I've done video. Some places I've shot in the past would require a truck full of lights to do video.)
I can shoot a house in 20-30 minutes in any lighting condition and have it online in the evening with 10-30 minutes of post processing. We've automated nearly everything to optimize the workflow. And since we don't give the images to the realtors, we've built up a great web site with lots of traffic, which is a valuable business asset in itself, constantly growing.
I recommend a 5+ megapixel camera. A big external flash. Super wide angle lens (10mm - 20mm equivalent in 35m format.) We've used the 0-360 with success and I've not seen the new Kaidan lens. We're actually still using the BeHere lens. And of course a great web site. (we can help with that.)
I did stitching in the beginning with an Apple QuickTake camera and I didn't like it then. I don't like it now but the results are easier and better. But not as good in my opinion as the BeHere. Especially for the time involved.
I can't do it here but I've also proven that bad photos can harm a listing. (A guy in the Wall St Journal did it first, actually.) It really pays to have a professional using professional equipment. Saves the realtor time and the picts are better.
/kelly thomas
A Proven Business Model with
Proven Technology and Proven Results
http://www.virtualtoursummit.com/ebs
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