5 Simple Steps to Making the Best Real Estate Videos

Real estate professionals know how important video has become to the industry. There are millions of video tours on Youtube today and video blogs have become all the rage for top real estate pros. The problem with many real estate videos is that the quality can be poor. Just because you are taking an amateur video doesn't mean it has to look like an amateur video. Here are five simple steps to making great real estate videos with your smartphone:

Step 1: Record Horizontally - Recording horizontally gives you a wider view. Conversely, when recording in a vertical position, you're only recording part of the image. This looks okay if the video is viewed from a smartphone, but since most real estate videos also make it to YouTube and other websites, vertically recorded videos do not present as well as horizontal views.

Step 2: Tripod and Tripod Attachments - There's nothing worse than seeing a real estate video that is shaky or that moves around a lot. This can make people dizzy and it's a huge turn-off for viewers. There's a simple fix for this: use a tripod. Tripods are built for regular cameras, but there are low-cost adaptors available. Joby sells a great all-in-one tripod for smartphones called Gorillamobile for $40. There are other options for tripods, as well. For adaptor and brackets, photo retailer Adorama has a $10 product called the Heavy Duty L-Bracket that attaches to your tripod and holds your phone in place. Studio Neat Glif is available for $20, and does the same thing as Adorama's product. These sites also have iPad options. Other websites to check out are Amazon.com and HDhat.com.