A vacant property comes with more costs than you might expect, and that number will only grow the longer it remains unoccupied. How you market your rental property determines how quickly you can find tenants.
Creating compelling listings may work, but having other marketing materials like video walkthroughs can streamline the process. It even gives you a competitive advantage in the rental market.
Key Highlights:
- Video walkthroughs help your listing stand out by giving prospective tenants a realistic view of the property's layout, increasing engagement, attracting remote renters, and reducing the need for unnecessary in-person showings.
- Prepare the property before filming by completing visible repairs, deep cleaning every room, decluttering, and boosting curb appeal to create a strong first impression.
- Use proper lighting and equipment to produce professional-looking videos. Maximize natural light, turn on interior lights, and use a smartphone or camera with a tripod or stabilizer for smooth footage.
- Plan a logical walkthrough route that mirrors an in-person tour, moving from the exterior through the main living spaces and ending with outdoor amenities for a seamless viewing experience.
- Enhance the experience with clear narration by highlighting key features, recent upgrades, included appliances, storage, parking, and neighborhood amenities in a natural, conversational tone.
Why Video Walkthroughs Matter
Video walkthroughs can provide potential tenants with a better sense of the rental space that photos alone can’t give. Instead of looking at individual rooms, the video makes viewers understand how they all connect to imagine themselves living in the property.
It can increase engagement on your listing and even attract tenants who cannot attend in-person showings. As more tenants begin their search for available rental properties online, having video walkthroughs makes you more transparent, which contributes to building trust.
To sum it up, video walkthroughs can:
- Attract more tenants
- Increase online engagement
- Reduce the need for open houses
- Build trust through transparency
Video Walkthrough: Step-By-Step Process
When you decide to make a virtual tour yourself, these simple steps will enable you to achieve what most would hire professionals for.
1. Complete Necessary Repairs
If the property has any maintenance issues, it’s best to take care of them now, especially if they will be visible in the recording. The smallest flaws can be noticed by eagle-eyed renters, since evaluating the rental space is the whole point of a video walkthrough.
What you need to repair can include damaged walls, scratched floors, loose cabinet hardware, broken blinds, scuffed paint, or broken light fixtures. Finishing repairs also means you get one task out of the way to make a rental unit rent-ready.
2. Deep Clean Every Room
Once repairs are finished, you can get to polishing the property by deep cleaning all the rooms. You can start by decluttering the place and removing unnecessary or personal belongings. It’s harder to visualize a place’s potential when it still looks like someone else’s.
Remove dust, fingerprints, and other signs that the property is neglected. You can hire professional cleaning services if you don’t have the time or the tools to do a thorough enough job, and it can save you time by delegating the task.
3. Improve Your Curb Appeal
Video walkthroughs often start from the outside of the property, imitating how prospective renters arrive during open houses. Take the time to make the exterior of your home appealing to make a strong introduction.
Do that by mowing the lawn, trimming branches, sweeping walkways, cleaning the front door, or power washing the walkways when needed. Pay attention to outdoor amenities as well, such as furniture or appliances.
4. Maximize Natural Light
Just like high-quality photos, your video would benefit from a good light source. The best for that is natural light, since it creates a more welcoming environment for your property. Open your curtains or blinds before filming.
Even with natural light, turning interior lights on is still crucial to illuminate areas that natural light might not reach. It shows potential tenants how much light they can expect during nighttime and makes your light fixtures more noticeable.
5. Use the Right Equipment
You don’t need professional equipment to create high-quality video walkthroughs. A modern smartphone with 4K recording can be enough, but if you can source a DSLR camera, then you can use that for better-quality footage.
There is other helpful equipment you can use, such as a tripod, a stabilizer, an external microphone, and a wide-angle lens. Anything that can help you capture stable footage can help significantly. A shaky handheld video won’t attract as many tenants as you’d like.
6. Plan Your Route
Before recording, it's best to plan out the order in which you’ll show your property. Most video walkthroughs are designed to be as close to an actual in-person showing as possible, which means cuts aren’t recommended.
The walkthrough typically includes:
- Exterior
- Front Entrance
- Living Room
- Dining Area
- Kitchen
- Bedrooms
- Bathrooms
- Laundry Rooms
- Storage Room
- Garage
- Backyard and Outdoor Amenities
7. Write a Script Following the Route
You can add a narration to make the walkthrough more informative for your viewers. You can briefly explain details like room dimensions, recent renovations, included appliances, storage space, parking options, outdoor features, and community amenities.
Speak clearly and avoid reading from a script word-for-word. A conversational tone will make the video feel more inviting and friendly. You can even add scenarios to help potential renters envision a life in your rental property.
Rental Property Video Walkthrough FAQs
Why should I create a video walkthrough for my Fort Myers rental property?
- A video walkthrough gives prospective tenants a better understanding of the property's layout than photos alone. It can increase listing engagement, attract out-of-town renters, reduce unnecessary showings, and help your rental stand out in a competitive market.
Do I need professional equipment to film a rental property walkthrough?
- No. A modern smartphone capable of recording in HD or 4K is usually sufficient. Using a tripod or smartphone stabilizer, along with good lighting, can significantly improve the quality of your video.
What should I include in a rental property video walkthrough?
- Start with the exterior, then guide viewers through the main living areas, kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, and any additional spaces like the garage, laundry room, or backyard. Highlight unique features, recent upgrades, storage options, and community amenities.
Hiring Professionals for Marketing Materials
It’s understandable if you don’t want to create video walkthroughs yourself. Between the preparation and the equipment you might need, there’s a lot to prepare to create a video that can be both appealing and informative.
Royal Palm Property Management will have the tools and experience to film virtual tours that can make your rental property look like a home renters can imagine themselves in. We don’t just market vacant properties. We market the lifestyle a home can provide.
Contact us, and let’s discuss how we can reduce your vacancy rate fast.