Have you seen this guy’s ad in airline magazines?  He claims he changed his lifestyle and got the body of a 20 year old while in his 60’s.  I’m skeptical.

So I look at the before and after photo and my first reaction is, “Come on…they photo shopped his head on that body!  No way that’s real!”  Now, I’m not saying it’s not real, but I just can’t be sure.

So as I am accustomed to doing, I immediately relate this back to Coldwell Banker Real Estate.  And for me, it’s all about the reliability of photos to tell a story.  Real Estate websites are built on 10 photos and a property description and you get a sense for what the property is all about.  But seeing is believing.  I want to see this guy at the beach.   Otherwise, I’m not buying it…

Or, I would be just as happy with a video of him at the beach.

Same with houses.  Photos are great, but because we have seen a huge number of videos from our Coldwell Banker ® agents all across the country, you start realizing about the power of video in real estate.  Video can tell a truer story about a home than simple photos.  How the rooms on the first floor flow into one another.   How the backyard really does back-up to woods and how close the home is to that lake.  Hearing the seagulls in the background of that home video tells me they really are close to the beach!

Photos can tell the story, but clearly not as well as video can…and as a consumer, you can be more sure of the property details when a video accompanies the property listing.  And that’s why our agents are so into video…to make the online research process easier, more fun and offer greater transparency.  That’s why on the all-new coldwellbanker.com, we seamlessly integrate video into the property detail page so you get the full picture of the home….and we are the only national site that offers this.   And that’s why we offer the best (by far) real estate channel on Youtube (www.youtube.com/coldwellbanker) with over 13,000 videos and over 1.5 million visitors in the past year!

So when you see a listing on another website and there are only photos, ask yourself the question…does  that house I am looking at really look like Dr. Life,  or will it disappoint me when I see it because it actually looks more like that other guy on the boat.  Did the photos tell the real story?