Discovery Museum Reno - Virtual Tour

I was fortunate to have provided a full virtual tour of the facility last week.  It wasn't complete as of yet but enough for me to break out my Nikon and burn some pixels.  Everyone I met was very helpful and understood that I needed two days to complete the shoot. The virtual tour has been submitted to the marketing manager and I'm waiting for his changes if any.  As you can see, their website has not been updated.  These are some of the still images I made while working on the virtual tour inside the museum.

Children can climb up the trays.

A closer look at the trays for climbing.

The top stair view in the museum.

Yes it's a tree.

Corner view from upstairs.

A peek into the Spark Lab.

It really looks like a fun place for children.

Sit in the plane and use the controls.

A real truck tire.

I have other works that may be of interest other than my website or follow me on twitter. Another recent shoot I did in Reno was of the Tomato Toss.  That was a fun day and the photos are posted for all to see.   If you have any comments (good or bad) about my work I'm always open to them.  What people like is great and what they don't like can be very helpful.

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Selling your home?

In my travels around town I keep my eye out for Real Estate signs.  You know the sign post in front of a home that show that the home is for sale and who to contact at what agency. 

 

After a few weeks I notice that the sign will change, meaning that the home owner has changed firms.  I really don't believe that this is so uncommon, when I was selling my home a few years ago I changed agents more than once.

My reason for changing brokers was because the agent put a sign in the ground and never did any marketing.  The agent would have an open house but we all know that open house is for all the other agents not really for the public.  Sure my listing agent took a few photos of the home, one outside and two inside.  Not a very good representation of any home.  

After a few weeks our agent came to us and wanted to lower the listing price of the home.  I'm sure this is a common thing to happen to everyone trying to sell their home.  We knew that we had listed our home under market value to begin with because we were ready to sell.  When our agent (both agents we listed with did this) asked us to lower the listing price by $20k to $50k we flipped out.

The reason for my posting?  Well, as a virtual tour photographer here is what I suggest.  Anytime you get ready to sell your home don't let the broker run your listing.  Ask the agent what is the marketing plan short term and long term.  How long will you have to sign a contract with this agent? Of course you will have other questions and be sure to have your list ready, don't hire the first agent you meet.  

Lastly, hire a virtual tour photographer.  Get your tour on a CD and have the listing agent post it on the web. Keep up to date of the status, ask to see how many hits you get on that tour, know what your agent is doing with your listing.  After all they make 6% of every dollar your home sells for, make them work for it.

I don't want to paint a grim picture of brokers and agents, but if you don't keep up to date of what they are doing with your listing - WHO WILL?

The virtual tour you have done - that you pay for will be a huge asset for you.  You get to watch the hit status and know what is going on with your home for sale.  If you decide that after your contract has run out with your agent, you can now take your home for sale to another agency of your choice and have them post the tour for you on their website.  You keep in control of how the home shows, what the price is and the marketing.  

If you are in the Northern Nevada area and need a professional HD Virtual Tour, I would be happy to provide you with one.  Not only will you be able to post this tour on Facebook, Youtube and all the other social networking sites but you will be able to let the agent post it to his website.  Should you decide to change agents (for what ever reason) you still have the home posted out there, you give the new agent a copy of the tour and your back in business.

I'm easy to find, call or email me for more information.

Hot August Nights

Volunteering -

I was invited to volunteer over the weekend to help the team from Better Homes & Gardens in Sparks, NV.  They had selected a home to renovate for the owners who didn't have the money or the knowledge to do it themself.
I understand they do renovations quite often and I hope I can offer my services again in the future.  This team of realtors really deserve a lot of credit for what they do.  Not only do they donate their time, money and get other trades to volunteer, but they do all the work until it's complete.  I'm impressed.  I didn't have but a few hours to donate as I forgot it was my wifes birthday so I had a commitment that couldn't be changed. 
I don't have a lot of expertise as a trades person so I offered to document the event as much as I had time for.  I can't say enough about these people, they really give back to the community and they will have my business for life.  I'll attache some photos from the day and later will create a silde show and upload to my website.  At the moment my site being revamped so it may take a few more days.  If you are interested in seeing all the photos, contact me and I'll let  you know when they are posted.
One more small thing before I forget:
Better Homes & Gardens / Mason-McDuffie / Rodney Lee broker / Sparks, NV / 775-685-2323. 

Upper Highlands Homes

Every time I visit these homes I'm taken by the view.  It has a view from one end of Nevada to the other, I really mean to say that it is spectacular.  Take a look for yourself:

Sure you can't see much from this photo but once you step into the back yard you will agree, spectacular.  This is a view from another back yard in the same area.  Great view but doesn't compare with the one above.

Virtual Tour of "The Upper Highland Homes" in Sparks,NV

I provided a virtual tour for the Upper Highland Homes in Sparks, NV and I wanted to share with anyone who would like to see these homes or my work. Keep in mind the views are spectacular and the homes are great, what else could you ask for?

 

http://rtvpix.com/RE-9698-B6LF6W-01

Real Estate Marketing

Real Estate marketing is not what it was 5 years ago.  Considering 3 out of 4 people are currently online, that's 75%.  The numbers are growing and as a Realtor you would need to part of the new marketing ways.

90% of home buyers searched for homes online in 2009
Realtor.com had over 14 million hits in May of 2010
Real Estate online sies had 175 million hits in May of 2010

The numbers are surprising!

In 2009 less than 33% of Realtors  used social media - in 2010 it increased to over 85%
It is estimated that 65% of Realtors use Facebook
Over 60% believe that the internet is an important tool for lead generation
Perspective clients are online looking for a property
98% of 25 to 50 year olds use the internt to search for a home

The first thing smart sellers are asking or look for is "Your Marketing Plan"
What are you doing to market every listing you have?
Where are you placing your marketing effort?
How often are you marketing your listings?

Sure as a Realtor you suggest to your clients: create curb appeal, stage the home and provide a virtual tour.  What do you do next as the listing agent?  Will this listing be another of hundreds of listings that are lost in the MLS guide?

There are many things to consider for marketing and as a virtual tour provider I can work with you to guide you through the maze.  It takes time and effort to continually market each listing on a regular schedule.  I don't just take the photos, hand them over and walk away.  I work with each agent to market themselves and their listings.