Tough Economy Calls for More Impactful Property Marketing

New Survey Shows Videos and Professional Photography Increase Home's Perceived
Value

CHICAGO, Aug. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent survey conducted jointly by VHT,
Inc., and PropertyPreviews.com highlights the impact that videos and
professional photography have on the perceived value of a property. According
to the survey results, the use of a video in marketing a property increases
the perceived value of a home by nearly six percent while professional
photography increases the perceived value by nearly 12 percent. On a $500,000
home, this equates to an increase in perceived value of $30,000 and $60,000
respectively.
Additionally, when asked how likely they were to visit the homes marketed
with professional photography, seven times as many respondents indicated that
they were "very likely" to visit the home as compared to those who said they
would visit a home which showed only property information.
"In this difficult housing environment, real estate professionals and home
sellers need to do all they can to differentiate their property," said Brian
Balduf, CEO of VHT. "While perceived value is not the same as what someone
ultimately pays for a property, it sets the benchmark as to what this property
is worth in a buyer's mind compared to other homes in the same neighborhood.
First impressions often have a big impact on a buyers' decision making process
on which homes to visit and how much to offer".
Professional photography and video creation services are readily available
to real estate professionals, with costs ranging from free to a few hundred
dollars. The use of these services has increased significantly as evidenced
by the number of real estate related videos on sites like YouTube.
"Professional photographs and videos are just as essential as a yard
sign," said recent home seller Patricia Potocki of Palatine, IL. "The small
investment made by my real estate agent was absolutely worth it and really set
my home apart from other properties in the area."
"More than 84 percent of prospective home buyers start their search on the
Internet, so the use of video to market a property is essential," said Jeff
Harris, General Manager of PropertyPreviews.com. "Videos are free to create
on PropertyPreviews.com so the return on investment is significant and home
sellers should be demanding it."
The data also shows that individuals who viewed a video of a property felt
the listing would be on the market for a shorter period of time when compared
to similar homes.
Video is relatively new to real estate marketing, but with the
pervasiveness of interactive real estate property platforms, including
YouTube, Video on Demand TV and the iPhone, the demand for visual marketing
has skyrocketed. According to a recent comScore Video Metrix survey, 74
percent of U.S. Internet users viewed videos online in the month of May 2008.
To capture the viewpoint of the typical prospective home buyer, the survey
included responses from several hundred individuals, evenly distributed
nationally among male and female, between the ages of 35 and 54 with more than
$75,000 in household income.
The respondents were shown descriptions of homes, some of which also
included a video and some professional photography. They were then asked
about their perceived value of the home; how likely they were to visit a home;
and how quickly they thought the property would sell. The survey methodology
was designed by a graduate Research class at the Kellogg School of Management
at Northwestern University.
Survey Results Summary:
* 320 respondents viewed homes in the $400,000-$600,000 range.
* Respondents that viewed listing information accompanied by professional
photography valued the property at an average price of $460,735, an
increase of 11.5 percent or $52,896 over the average perceived price of
the description-only property, $407,839.
* Respondents viewing a video valued the home at an average price of
$432,329, an increase of 5.7 percent or $24,490, over the average
perceived price of the description-only property, $407,839.
* Survey respondents believed a home with professional photography was
three times more likely to sell within the standard listing period than
a home marketed with only descriptive information.
* When asked how likely they were to visit the homes listed with
professional photography, seven times as many respondents indicated
that they were "very likely" to visit the home as those who said they
were "very likely" to visit a home with only descriptive information.

Editor's Note: Survey result charts can be found at
http://www.vht.com/news/index.aspx#surveys .
SOURCE VHT, Inc.

Mark Bouffard, Arras Group for PropertyPreviews.com, +1-216-333-5959,
mbouffard@arrasgroup.com