Tough Economy Calls for More Impactful Property Marketing

New Survey Shows Videos and Professional Photography Increase Home's
Perceived Value

CHICAGO, Aug. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent survey conducted jointly by
VHT, Inc., and PropertyPreviews.com highlights the impact that videos and
professional photography have on the perceived value of a property.
According to the survey results, the use of a video in marketing a property
increases the perceived value of a home by nearly six percent while
professional photography increases the perceived value by nearly 12
percent. On a $500,000 home, this equates to an increase in perceived value
of $30,000 and $60,000 respectively.

Additionally, when asked how likely they were to visit the homes
marketed with professional photography, seven times as many respondents
indicated that they were "very likely" to visit the home as compared to
those who said they would visit a home which showed only property
information.

"In this difficult housing environment, real estate professionals and
home sellers need to do all they can to differentiate their property," said
Brian Balduf, CEO of VHT. "While perceived value is not the same as what
someone ultimately pays for a property, it sets the benchmark as to what
this property is worth in a buyer's mind compared to other homes in the
same neighborhood. First impressions often have a big impact on a buyers'
decision making process on which homes to visit and how much to offer".

Professional photography and video creation services are readily
available to real estate professionals, with costs ranging from free to a
few hundred dollars. The use of these services has increased significantly
as evidenced by the number of real estate related videos on sites like
YouTube.

"Professional photographs and videos are just as essential as a yard
sign," said recent home seller Patricia Potocki of Palatine, IL. "The small
investment made by my real estate agent was absolutely worth it and really
set my home apart from other properties in the area."

"More than 84 percent of prospective home buyers start their search on
the Internet, so the use of video to market a property is essential," said
Jeff Harris, General Manager of PropertyPreviews.com. "Videos are free to
create on PropertyPreviews.com so the return on investment is significant
and home sellers should be demanding it."

The data also shows that individuals who viewed a video of a property
felt the listing would be on the market for a shorter period of time when
compared to similar homes.

Video is relatively new to real estate marketing, but with the
pervasiveness of interactive real estate property platforms, including
YouTube, Video on Demand TV and the iPhone, the demand for visual marketing
has skyrocketed. According to a recent comScore Video Metrix survey, 74
percent of U.S. Internet users viewed videos online in the month of May
2008.

To capture the viewpoint of the typical prospective home buyer, the
survey included responses from several hundred individuals, evenly
distributed nationally among male and female, between the ages of 35 and 54
with more than $75,000 in household income.

The respondents were shown descriptions of homes, some of which also
included a video and some professional photography. They were then asked
about their perceived value of the home; how likely they were to visit a
home; and how quickly they thought the property would sell. The survey
methodology was designed by a graduate Research class at the Kellogg School
of Management at Northwestern University.



Survey Results Summary:
* 320 respondents viewed homes in the $400,000-$600,000 range.
* Respondents that viewed listing information accompanied by professional
photography valued the property at an average price of $460,735, an
increase of 11.5 percent or $52,896 over the average perceived price of
the description-only property, $407,839.
* Respondents viewing a video valued the home at an average price of
$432,329, an increase of 5.7 percent or $24,490, over the average
perceived price of the description-only property, $407,839.
* Survey respondents believed a home with professional photography was
three times more likely to sell within the standard listing period than
a home marketed with only descriptive information.
* When asked how likely they were to visit the homes listed with
professional photography, seven times as many respondents indicated
that they were "very likely" to visit the home as those who said they
were "very likely" to visit a home with only descriptive information.

Editor's Note: Survey result charts can be found at
http://www.vht.com/news/index.aspx#surveys .