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Key Takeaways
Planning your route, preparing the property, and using proper lighting can make a rental video tour look more professional.
Stable filming, multiple takes, and simple editing help create a clear and engaging viewing experience.
A short video that highlights the property’s best features and ends with a clear call to action can attract prospective tenants and reduce vacancies.
Everyone’s heard the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” This couldn’t be more true in the world of real estate. When you’re looking for a home for sale or rent online, one of the first things that grabs your attention is the listing photography.
If you come across a listing with blurry, cropped, or limited photos, chances are, you’ll ignore it. This is why it’s so important for landlords to take quality pictures of their rentals. However, everyone is doing this.
Thanks to smartphones and social media tutorials, any landlord can take professional-looking pictures of their rental with minimal effort.
Before, professional photos were enough to make your unit stand out. Now, if you want to make your rental stand out, you need to think outside the box. This can include offering incentives, upgrading the property, or filming a video tour of the unit.
In this guide, the experts at Ravago Group Properties will go over the best tips and tricks for filming an engaging and professional-looking video of your rental. Let’s dive in!
Plan Your Video Tour
If you simply start filming and go with the flow, chances are you’ll either freeze or ramble. Either way, this will make your video tour look amateurish.
Proper video production begins with careful planning. Think about the areas of the property you want to showcase and what you want to say beforehand.
Prepare the Property
The goal of a video tour is to showcase your property to tenants. To do this, you need to make sure the property is in top shape. Before filming, take the necessary steps to get your property ready to rent so every room appears clean, functional, and inviting.
Additionally, consider staging the unit (especially if it’s empty) or making upgrades so it looks more welcoming and appealing to tenants.
Open the Blinds or Turn On the Lights
Lighting is key when it comes to photographing or filming a property. Even the nicest, most luxurious rental can look terrible under the wrong lighting.
If you want your rental to look its best, then you need to make sure you have adequate lighting when filming your video tour.
You can do this by opening all the blinds to let the sun in and filming early in the day. If your rental doesn’t get much natural light, don’t worry. You can turn on the lights for a similar effect. Avoid filming at night or in low-light conditions.
Stabilize Your Camera
You don’t need to hire a professional crew to get some good shots of your rental. You can do the job with your phone and good lighting. However, you’ll have to make sure to keep the phone (or camera, if using one) stable during each shot.
You can do this by using a tripod or a smartphone gimbal. Otherwise, you run the risk of ending up with a shaky, amateurish video.
Shoot in Landscape Mode
If you’re using your phone, follow standard video production tips and film the property in landscape mode. Filming horizontally provides a wider field of view, making it easier to capture each room in full.
This format is also more compatible with most video platforms.
However, if you’re thinking of advertising your rental on social media, consider filming a separate video in a vertical format. But keep it short. This will give you the perfect video to engage prospective tenants on social media.
Get Multiple Takes
Don’t settle for only one take.
Even if you think you’ve got the perfect take, it’s still a good idea to take a second or third take. This might take longer, but it’ll help you achieve the best final result.
Showcase the Best Features
The goal of a video tour is to get renters interested in your rental. So, this is the perfect time to showcase all the features that make your property stand out from the rest. This includes a new granite countertop, modern fixtures, square footage, or even a pool.
This will make it easier to attract tenants. Highlighting recent improvements can also show prospective tenants how carefully you have selected renovations for your property.
Keep It Short and Sweet
The biggest challenge when listing a property for rent online is that prospective renters don’t spend a lot of time looking at listings. They might see the pictures and (maybe) scan the description before jumping to the next listing.
A video can help you retain prospective tenants’ attention for longer. However, this doesn’t mean that tenants will sit through a 10+ minute video. Keeping the video tour on the shorter side (less than 5 minutes) will increase your chances of tenants watching all of it.
Cut and Edit
Once you have the final shots, then it’s time to put everything together. Follow video editing tips to trim unnecessary footage and create a smoother final product.
You can use an app like CapCut or KineMaster (on your phone) or iMovie, Openshot, or FlexClip (on desktop) to cut and edit your clips. Once you have all the shots you want to use, you can tie them together with some simple transitions.
Additionally, make sure to adjust the lighting to make sure it's consistent across the entire video. Also, you can add royalty-free music or narration to enhance the viewing experience.
Close with a CTA
Calls to action (CTAs) are a strategy used in marketing to encourage people to do something. Closing your video with a CTA can go a long way.
You can add your number or drop a link for people to see the listing or apply for your rental. This simple detail can give renters the push they need to inquire about your rental.
Bottom Line
Video tours are an effective way to market rental properties. They allow prospective tenants to get a better sense of the property than photos alone can provide.
In some cases, these videos can reduce the need for initial showings by highlighting the property’s size, layout, features, and overall appearance.
A professional property management company can help create compelling listings, attract qualified tenants, and fill vacancies more efficiently.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should a video tour replace professional rental photos?
A video tour should complement your photos rather than replace them. Photos allow prospective renters to examine individual rooms and features at their own pace, while video helps them understand how the spaces connect.
Using both formats can create a more complete and persuasive rental listing.
Is it better to film a rental while it is vacant or occupied?
A vacant, clean, and staged property is usually easier to film because there are fewer distractions and no personal belongings in view.
If the rental is occupied, coordinate filming with the residents in advance and avoid capturing identifying information, valuables, or private possessions. The finished video should keep attention on the property itself.
How often should landlords update their rental video tours?
Record a new video whenever renovations, appliance replacements, layout changes, or other noticeable improvements make the existing footage inaccurate.
You should also replace a video that no longer reflects the property’s current condition.
Accurate marketing helps prevent disappointment during showings and gives prospective renters realistic expectations.
Should a video tour include information about the surrounding area?
Briefly mentioning nearby parks, shopping, transportation routes, and other convenient amenities can help viewers understand the property’s location.
Keep these descriptions factual and avoid allowing neighborhood footage to overwhelm the tour. The rental’s rooms, condition, layout, and standout features should remain the primary focus.
Can a property management company help market a rental beyond the video tour?
Yes. A professional property management company can combine video footage with quality photos, an engaging description, appropriate pricing, listing distribution, inquiry management, and scheduled showings.
Ravago Group Properties uses professional marketing and local market knowledge to help Las Vegas area owners attract qualified applicants and minimize vacancy.
