Key Takeaways
- First impressions matter most – A video tour should quickly grab attention and highlight the best features right away to make your rental stand out.
- Preparation is key – Clean, declutter, unlock doors, and set up good lighting before filming to create a smooth and professional tour.
- Film smart – Use steady shots (tripod/gimbal or steady posture), shoot horizontally, and keep the video under 3 minutes to maintain viewer interest.
- Showcase strategically – Mix wide panning, reveal shots, close-ups, and outdoor views to give renters a full sense of the property while emphasizing standout details.
You may have heard it said before, but what does it mean? Put simply, what someone believes about a thing is more important than what the thing really is. Or, how people respond to a message has more to do with how it makes them feel than what the message is about.
This is one of the most powerful ideas to keep in mind when trying to find new tenants for a rental property. Based on this, your top priority when marketing your rental should be to create not just the right impression, but to create the right FIRST impression.
So, in the first few seconds of them encountering your ad, you must GRAB their attention and HOLD it. How do you do this above the roaring noise of the internet? The key is to create a resonating video of your property.
A good video will make people stop their scrolling and click in to watch your ad. In this guide, Specialized PM Houston will guide you how to film a great video tour of your rental.
How to Create an Engaging Video Tour of Your Rental Property
Needed Equipment
A decent smartphone with a good-quality camera and a tripod or gimbal stabilizer (optional, but necessary for keeping your video smooth).
Getting Ready
Clean and declutter each room by getting rid of unnecessary or personal items. And speaking of cleaning, don’t forget to clean your camera lens.
Use Natural Lighting
Use natural lighting, but do not film when the sun is very bright; your video will feel overexposed. Instead, wait until late afternoon.
Even when using natural lighting, keep all the lights in the home switched on. This will make your video feel more alluring. Close the blinds if you think you have too much sunlight in a room.
Unlock Doors Beforehand
Unlock and open every door in the rental property. You don’t want to be struggling with doors and locks while filming. Arrange all items in the room to make it easier to navigate the space quickly and efficiently (think feng shui).
Highlight the Best Things First
This is not the time to leave the best for last. As soon as you enter a room, draw viewers’ attention to its standout features. Conversely, you want to hide or avoid the less desirable features in a room. If the view outside a window is bad, close the blinds.
Audio
It is easier to add a narration to the video as you shoot, but you will get better results if you shoot first and then add a voiceover later.
Adding a voiceover later also lets you shoot brief shots that you can stitch together afterwards for a more professional look for your tenants. Add soft background music to enhance the appeal of your video. Just beware of copyright issues.
Always Shoot in Horizontal
Don’t shoot in portrait mode. It doesn’t give your audience a wide view of the room. As a result, they will struggle to get a good sense of the dimensions and layout of the property. Shooting in portrait creates a disjointed view of the property, often making rooms appear long and narrow.
Keep Your Hands Steady
A gimbal stabilizer or tripod can help you here. But if you don’t have one, use this trick. Hold the phone close to your chest with your arms pressed to your sides. When panning, do not move your arms. Instead, swivel from your hips, waist, and legs. This will keep the shot steady.
Keep it Short and Sweet
You do not want your video to be longer than three minutes. That is more than enough time to show the best things about your property. Longer than three minutes, and you risk losing the interest of your audience.
Tips to Shoot the Video
There is a vast difference between what your eyes see and what your camera views. You may have a plan in your mind, but the execution can come out differently.
Shoot different parts of the rental from different angles and then choose the best-looking ones. Here is a list of shots you may want to try:
A Reveal Shot
There are different ways to do this, depending on your goals.
You can begin by shooting a close-up of one outstanding feature of the room and then slowly back away to let the rest of the room reveal itself. This helps to show the context of that specific object.
Another way is to shoot from the floor, without revealing the features of the room you want to show. Then move slowly into the room, letting the rest of the space come into view.
Close-Up Shots
These are best for helping your audience see the details of any feature you as a landlord want them to remember.
This could be shots of a room’s lighting, door hardware, dining area, countertop, decor items on walls, or even design patterns on the flooring.
A Panning Shot
This gives a sweeping view of rooms, letting your audience get a panoramic view of the space as if they were present in the rooms.
The angle for these kinds of shots matters. Typically, you want to do it from a corner of the room. Test different room corners and always remember to move slowly.
Outdoor Views
To shoot a view of the outside of the house, a good strategy is to show the outside view from inside the house while walking toward the front door, and then cut to a video of the landscaping.
Bottom Line
Finally, remember to mimic the movements of a prospective renter doing a walkthrough of the property. Walk into spaces, shooting them as though you were seeing the room through the eyes of a would-be tenant.
Contact Specialized PM Houston today to learn more!
