Digital Home Info

Why would I post videos to YouTube?

Adam Small — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:09:12 +0000

Yesterday I was speaking to a customer and they asked me why would they want to post videos to YouTube. This lead to a great discussion on the merits of video marketing and the value of YouTube in particular.

Some of our take away points:

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the U.S. – behind only Google (it’s owner)
YouTube passed 20 Billion pageviews/month in October 2011
The average YouTube user watches 7 hours of video per month
YouTube can push Videos to Facebook and Twitter
You can put links to Virtual Tours and your site in video descriptions

So even if only 1 percent of the pageviews on YouTube are real estate related that is still 200 Million pageviews a month. This is 200 Million opportunities per month to promote your listings or promote yourself as the real estate agent of choice.

Why wouldn’t you post videos to YouTube?

Digital Home Info Enhancements

Adam Small — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:19:15 +0000

Over the last month we have made a number of small enhancements to Digital Home Info. These enhancements include:

Music on the YouTube Real Estate Videos – If you have selected a music file to play on your Virtual Tour then the music will now be included in the YouTube video that we generate.
Panoramic photos are now included in the YouTube Real Estate Videos – Our YouTube videos will now scan panoramic from right to left.
Email Photo Uploading – We have made the process of uploading and inserting photos into an email easier. The process now directly inserts the photo into the email instead of having to drag and drop it from the gallery on the right side of the screen.
Email Photo Gallery – You select photos from your photo gallery and insert them directly into the email at full size instead of having to resize them once they are inserted.
Photo Trim – Sometimes photos imported from an IDX feed will have whitespace on the edges, especially if it is a vertical photo. This whitespace just doesn’t look right so we have placed a “Trim” link under each photo that will replace the whitespace with black space. This looks much better in the Virtual Tour.

If you haven’t yet had a chance, check out these enhancements and let us know what you think.

*NOTE – music has not been added to existing videos. To rebuild your video for existing listings rearrange the order of your listing photos in the gallery (make sure to restore the desired order).

How to upload panoramic images

Adam Small — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:47:33 +0000

We are commonly asked if our Virtual Tours support panoramic images. Yes, our Virtual Tours do support panoramic images. The steps below show you how to upload and set parameters on panoramic images.

Login to the Digital Home Info portal.
Click on the “Listings” tab.
Click on the “Edit” link for the listing that you are working with.
On the “Edit Property” page select the “Gallery” tab.
Press the “Add New Images” button.
Press the “Browse” button to find and select the desired image.
Press the “Upload” button.
Once the image has upload (it will be removed from the list) close the upload screen by clicking on the “X” in the upper right corner.
When the screen refreshes the panoramic will be in the list of images. Under the thumbnail of the panoramic, click on the “Edit Info” link. This will show a pop up screen.
In the pop up you can:

Add an Image Title
Add an Image Description
Change the time in seconds that an image is displayed on the Virtual Tour.
Change the direction an image moves in the Virtual Tour.

For a wide panoramic image select “Left to Right / Right to Left” in the “Direction of Image” drop down list.
Press the “Save” button.

Your panoramic image is now uploaded and setup to pan across the screen. If you need any help or have any other questions please feel free to contact us.

Easy Image Stitching for your Virtual Tours

Adam Small — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:50:25 +0000

Do you like panoramic photos in your virtual tours? Did you know that there is software available at no charge that will automatically stitch your photos together? Microsoft has released ICE (Image Composite Editor). This is a program that can be used to edit photos, stitch and crop images. Some of the features include:

Accelerated stitching on multiple CPU cores
Support for “structured panoramas” — panoramas consisting of hundreds of photos taken in a rectangular grid of rows and columns
No image size limitation — stitch gigapixel panoramas
Photoshop layer and large document support
Automatic exposure blending
Choice of planar, cylindrical, or spherical projection
Orientation tool for adjusting panorama rotation
Automatic cropping to maximum image area
Native support for 64-bit operating systems
Wide range of output formats, including JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PNG, HD Photo

So if you want an easy way to make panoramic images check out Microsoft’s ICE.

Real Estate Infographic – Social Media Infographic

Adam Small — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:03:01 +0000

According to the infographic (by FIXR) below Social Media is delivering a greater ROI than Blogging. Have you experienced this?

Real Estate Infographic – Real Estate On The Go

Adam Small — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:52:45 +0000

The inforgraphic below outlines how the iPad has changed the work habits of REALTORS®. Has it changed yours?

Real Estate Infographic – Real Estate Industry & Social Media Use

Adam Small — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:39:30 +0000

Real Estate Marketing was altered forever with the advent of Social Media. REALTORS® are using social media more and more every day to promote their listings. The infographic below (put together by POSTLING) outlines how the Real Estate Industry is using Social Media.

‘Pervasive Fraud’ Among Massachusetts Mortgages, Officials Say | Realtor Magazine

Adam Small — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 18:48:45 +0000

The register of deeds in South Essex County, Mass., told NBC News his department has uncovered 26,000 mortgage documents containing fraud. The Massachusetts’ attorney general has filed a lawsuit against five major banks, alleging they illegally foreclosed on home owners in the state by using deceptive loan servicing practices, such as

http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2011/12/06/pervasive-fraud-among-massachusetts-mortgages-officials-say

Neighborhood Blogs Offer New Way to Reach Buyers

Adam Small — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:58:33 +0000

http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2011/12/16/neighborhood-blogs-offer-new-way-reach-buyers

It’s not just about selling the home but also the neighborhood in reaching today’s buyers, real estate agents say. Here’s how some are doing it through blogging.

Fed Leaves Rate Alone, More Upbeat About Recovery

Adam Small — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:57:28 +0000

http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2011/12/14/fed-leaves-rate-alone-more-upbeat-about-recovery

At its Tuesday meeting, the Fed reaffirmed its pledge to keep the federal funds rate — which serves as a benchmark rate for many types of loans, including mortgages — near zero until mid-2013.