It seems like the more time that goes by, the busier we all get. When I first started selling real estate in 1991, we used big books from our MLS that had grainy black and white photos of houses for sale. There was only one exterior photo and very little information about the house. Since the books came out every two weeks, by the time they were printed, the information was out of date. Many buyers would start with a big list of potential houses and spend their weekends looking at neighborhoods and exteriors of houses to decide which places they wanted to see in person.

Thankfully the Internet changed that. Satellite maps and multiple photos allowed potential buyers to narrow down their lists so they didn’t have to spend all of their “free” time looking at houses in person.

Now videos let us take that one step further. Walk through tours of a house allow a buyer to get a true feel of the flow and size of rooms in a way that static photos can’t. I distribute my real estate videos on YouTube, AOL, Google Video, Yahoo Video and on real estate specific video sites like Zipvo and WellcomeMat. It’s exciting to meet a buyer in person and have them say, “the house is exactly what I expected it to be”. (I just wish that YouTube allowed you to choose what thumbnail you’d like to show when the video isn’t playing since what they generate looks pretty crappy.)

Here’s a video of a house for sale in Medford, MA:

This week, our MLS started allowing unbranded videos (with no address of the house or agent information) to be attached to our properties for sale in the MLS. I think this is great - the speed of life may continue to pick up, but this is one way to save some time when looking for a house and a great way to showcase your home for sale.