Michael Seward's articles on the benefits of real estate video tours have been featured on REALTOR.com (click here).  He was also asked to write the "Why Video?" page on RealEstateInvideo.com

More and more homebuyers are turning to the internet when shopping for a home. With more and more inventory, it is paramount that homesellers do whatever they can to make their listing stand out. If you look on the MLS and REALTOR.com and other real estate search sites, more and more real estate agents are utilizing virtual tours. This is in addition to providing a series of photos. While these are useful methods to making a particular listing stand out from the crowd, there is a more powerful tool available that has become more practical with the advent of faster internet connections—the full motion video tour. Real Estate professionals click here.

Check out this example of a video tour:

There are many advantages to utilizing a video tour to help sell your home. In addition to posting it on real estate search sites, you can also share them on social networking websites. Video tours can also be put on a DVD to be played at the property during showings and open houses. Why would you need a video tour of a home when there are potential buyers already there? A video tour can be narrated and can point out the various features of your home that a casual observer might not realize. Remember that many times a Buyer’s Agent may be showing your property and your listing agent may not be there, so a video tour at the property is like always having your agent present at all showings to “sell” your home. A narrated video tour guarantees that your home is being shown in a proactive manner.

Another advantage of a real estate video tour is that you can include community information. The city or town where a home is listed is an important consideration for a homebuyer. It’s always a good idea to make sure that a homebuyer is aware of the benefits of a particular community.

A lot of time goes towards preparing a home for a showing. Homesellers take the time to clean the house and spend money after they leave so the property can be shown. Homesellers often become frustrated after a showing because a potential buyer was expecting something different than photos or virtual tours revealed. A video tour can save homesellers time and money on showings because only truly interested parties will come look at the property. They will already have an intimate familiarity with the home.

Open houses are a great way to get potential homebuyers into your home. A video tour is like a having an open house 24 hours a day, 7 days a week without having to leave the comfort of your living room! They also provide a broader reach. Someone who is relocating from California to Massachusetts will unlikely make it to an open house on a Sunday between the hours of 1 and 3PM. However, they will be able to view a video tour of your property online. They will also be able to share it with friends and family around the world.

Dynamic video tours with narration, music, and motion are also more interesting to look at. Therefore, people who aren’t even looking for a home are more apt to share it with friends and family—you never know who will be watching and possibly buying!

Finally, video tours allow for increased “search engine optimization”. Whenever a “google search” is conducted, many search results are revealed. Video tours are a useful tool to help get your home higher on the list of results. It’s another way to make your home stand out from the crowd.