By Kevin Hawkins with Korey Hawkins | Vol. 2 Post 8
Real AI is a 100% human-created weekly roundup of all things AI in real estate and emerging AI innovations in other sectors likely to impact real estate, posting a new edition every Friday.
Will AI fix the real estate video conundrum?
Since the debut of YouTube in 2005, real estate agents have been inundated with the message that video is perhaps the single most powerful marketing tool available. Since then, as a recent review of a video platform by Inman’s Craig Rowe points out, the adoption of video as part of most agents’ marketing arsenal has remained anemic.
Sure, video tours of homes quickly became a standard listing tool. Yet when you scan a typical agent’s YouTube channel of those video tours, you see a few dozen views at best. One must wonder how many of those clicks were other agents, the seller, or friends and family versus active home buyers.
As Craig points out, the lackluster use of video in real estate is not without a lack of constant effort by industry marketing experts who continue to push video’s power or the ease and availability of tools that make creating and editing video easier.
Admittedly, some agents have mastered how to leverage the power of video, creating local content libraries that drive views and help sell homes. Not listing videos, but hyperlocal videos that showcase the amenities and features of a local neighborhood: presenting views of the best restaurants, shops, parks for people and pets, schools – even best local Instagram spots.
But the greatest barrier to video remains: Most agents hate to see themselves on video.
True, many successful agents are leveraging easy-to-create short video tools like BombBomb. This week, North Carolina Regional MLS announced it is providing the Ask The Agent video platform to its 12,000 members.
Moreover, during COVID, most agents had to rely on video – Zoom calls, FaceTime home tours, and more – to connect with clients; many overcame their phobia about being on camera.
Can AI fix all of this? We’re betting it will.
What’s the big difference AI will make in revolutionizing real estate videos?
Two enormous changes. The most important is how fast AI can create hundreds of short, personalized videos. Once you peek at the AI video engine like the one Ylopo is developing, the long promise of generating real business from video will arrive.
And that will be the game-changer that will help reluctant agents get over themselves and their fear of being on video: more transactions.
Sure, AI can create video Avatars who become you or your team’s spokesperson. But what if AI creates for you two dozen individual short videos featuring you that are highly personalized (name and the address of the listing) and sends them out first thing every morning to every buyer who has looked at a specific listing on your website more than four times last night?
No equipment is needed, not even a camera. No shoot setup, no post-production editing – totally automated and touch-free is what AI for real estate videos will deliver.
AI could become the “Easy Button” that agents need, and the true power of video can finally be used regularly by the average real estate agent in many new and exciting ways.
Will these videos feature an AI label? Likely – and that’s a good thing. Could they be banned? I don’t see how they could be. Will it matter to the buyer? Maybe initially, but later, when AI videos become more widespread, probably not.
The age of the AI real estate video revolution is coming.
We think agents and their clients will be blown away – by the content and the results.
A look at Sora: the new AI video generator from OpenAI
Last week, OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT, announced a minimal release of its latest AI breakthrough: Sora. Sora creates incredibly realistic and imaginative scenes from text.
Type in your instructions, and this state-of-the-art AI video generator uses advanced AI algorithms to create high-quality, customizable video content from textual descriptions.
According to OpenAI, Sora can “understand complex instructions and generate videos that meet specific user requirements, offering unprecedented creativity and efficiency in content creation.”
Even in its first-gen phase, the Sora content we’ve viewed is wickedly good and, therefore, scary. Here’s a link to the initial samples OpenAI released:
Currently, while Sora is only available to a select group of testers and early adopters, Sora AI is expected to become widely available in the coming months. (Unless it encounters a Gemini-type back to the drawing board error.)
What could Sora mean for real estate agents and brokers?
Marketing content creation: Generate high-quality promotional videos that spotlight the services an agent offers sellers and buyers, “best of” neighborhood videos, or agent biography introductions – all saving enormous amounts of time and resources versus traditional video production.
Educational and training materials: Produce informative videos for clients on home buying and selling processes, terms, and timelines, enhancing client education and engagement.
Market trends and updates: Create based on data hyperlocal videos showcasing zip code, community, or neighborhood information to demonstrate an agent’s deep knowledge of their local market and professional expertise.
Sora’s promise to streamline content creation could be the tipping point to generate universal agent use of video as the backbone of every marketing campaign.
AI Five Fast Facts
- As of 2024, there are nearly 67,000 AI companies in the world, 14x more than the number of AI companies in 2000 – Statista
- China (58%) and India (57%) have a higher AI deployment rate than the US (25%), despite the US having the largest growing economy for AI – IBM
- The demand for AI and machine learning specialists is expected to grow by 40%, with more than 100 million people working in the AI Marketplace by 2025 – World Economic Forum
- 44% of business executives surveyed said they experienced cost reduction after deploying AI technology in their company – McKinsey
- Around 82% of consumers feel that ChatGPT will endanger content writer jobs – Harpa.ai
Source: Upmetrics
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