WellcomeMat App Lets You Post Video on the Go
WellcomeMat, the online real estate video site, has launched a new iPhone available available today in the iTunes App Store.
Using the app you can now shoot off-the-cuff video walkthrus of your listings on your iPhone 3GS and post them immediately to WellcomeMat, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.
From their post on their blog:
Do it yourself video just got a helluva lot easier and we are glad to be the company making it happen. The Flip camera got us one step closer to video being easy to do, acting as a hard drive for videos that are shot in web-ready formats. Now people can post their videos straight from their iPhone: no chords, no format changes, no compression and no barriers.
I think this is a phenomenal step forward for real estate video — though I’d love to see it have even greater integration with some of the more real-estate specific search sites; Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow etc.
More importantly than Realtor produced videos however, what really excites me is an app like this opens up the realm to anyone, armed with an iPhone, to create on-the-spot, near real-time video assessments of properties.
Privacy concerns aside, properly curated and geo-tagged video reviews of properties could be a boon to online house hunters. It would take Google’s Street View to a whole new level.
Let the cameras roll!
Riannon | Sep 28, 2009 | Reply
If we start using listing videos then what are we agents for?
Christian Sterner | Sep 29, 2009 | Reply
Joel,
“I think this is a phenomenal step forward for real estate video — though I’d love to see it have even greater integration with some of the more real-estate specific search sites; Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow.”
You’re right to call us out on needing more integration with search sites, but believe me when I say it’s not us holding back. For years I’ve been having conversations with search sites that don’t take video seriously because it’s not mainstream yet.
Additionally, until search sites call out the difference between listings with and without videos attached, we won’t be able to measure the success rate of video listings vs other types of media. Kind of a waste if we can’t measure success you know?
Thanks for the thoughts…our team is extremely excited about mobile video. Quality will go down, but for now we’ll embrace volume.
David Marine - Coldwell Banker | Sep 29, 2009 | Reply
I’m glad to see apps like this start coming out as I believe video listings will become much more important in the months of head and apps like this also give credence to YouTube marketing efforts like what we’ve done on youtube.com/coldwellbanker. But integration on other real estate sites will be key.
Tim McDonald | Sep 29, 2009 | Reply
I’m with you on the openness of video in the hands of consumers. I relate it to a hotel’s pictures versus those on TripAdvisor by travelers. You get to see a truer image. But more importantly, I believe the consumer supplied content will carry more of a message as opposed to an advertisement.
Overland Park Kansas Broker | Oct 12, 2009 | Reply
Video is what will set agents apart in the short term to come. The agents that don’t or won’t use are going to fall farther behind the tech curve. I have a slight problem with after a home sells. Are we/should we delete the videos off these sites, or do we leave them posted???
Laurent | Oct 24, 2009 | Reply
I’m not a fan of doing these kind of things yourself. In my opinion, you should hire a professional to take your photos and videos.
It’s really not that expensive and the end result will be much better than anything you could ever get by taking pictures and videos on a mobile phone. You can even make it one of the perks of working with you in your listing presentations.
Unless what you want is a poorly lit, grainy and shaky video with your breathing and the floor cracking as you walk around the house for soundtrack, you should hire a professional and focus on what you do best.
Uploading videos from your iphone is a lot of fun when it’s facebook we’re talking about but not when it comes to your business. You should let a professional shoot, edit and do the voice overs for your real estate videos.
Taking your own photos or videos with a phone camera is a very bad idea.