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What
does a standard virtual tour cost?
Unconditional
Guarantee.......What's the catch?
How
long does it take you to shoot a home virtual tour?
Do
you limit the number of pictures or rooms for the tour?
Can
I preview my tour before it is posted?
My
association does not allow full agent advertising on virtual
tours that are linked to the MLS ...Will you create a page
that is legal for my association?
Can
I get a custom web address for my listing?
Does
my web designer need to know anything special to put the tour
on my web page?
I
don't have a web designer, can you just give me a link to
run the tour?
Do
you do web page design?
I
don't understand, what does it mean for you to host the tour?
If
you host the tour can you create a page with my picture and
logo?
Why do you charge extra
to host my tour?
What
is involved in having aerial photos taken?
Can
you shoot aerials of more than one property at a time?
Can
I ride along when you shoot the aerial photos?
Why
are real estate tours worst case?
Will
you write the description for my listing?
Do
you do private virtual tours?
Do
you do weddings?
Do
you take credit cards?
What
does a standard virtual tour cost?........There
really isn't a "standard" virtual tour. I will give
you a quote of how much your tour will cost before I shoot
the tour. If you are not happy with the tour when you preview
the tour you will not be charged.......Back
to Questions
Unconditional
Guarantee.......What's the catch?........There
is no catch…….I'm willing to put my money where
my mouth is. There are no up front fees of any kind, period;
and you are not under any obligation to accept my work. If
you do not like my virtual tour or photography, just say so
and that will be that. I will tuck my tail and slink off with
a broken heart.
If you like the tour, I expect full payment upon acceptance,
unless you have made other arrangements with me beforehand.
The only exception to this rule is for aerial photography…..You
will have to pay for the helicopter rental up front. The rate
at the present time is $750.00/hr. for the helicopter........Back
to Questions
How
long does it take you to shoot a home virtual tour?.......Usually
1 to 3 hours, it varies by the size of the house and number
of areas to shoot (pool, guest house, barn, etc.).........Back
to Questions
Do
you limit the number of pictures or rooms for the tour?.......No,
I don't have any limits on the number of photographs or rooms..........Back
to Questions
Can
I preview my tour before it is posted?.........Yes,
this is where my guarantee comes in. If you don't like the
tour you don't pay for it. (I've never had anyone dislike
one of my tours, and I work very hard so that won't happen.)
The tour will not be posted or delivered until you approve
it. The content of the tour is your responsibly, so look it
over carefully before you approve it. I will e-mail a link
to you for preview before it is posted or delivered...........Back
to Questions
My
association does not allow full agent advertising on virtual
tours that are linked to the MLS...Will you create a page
that is legal for my association?........Yes,
I need to know what your association allows on the page. If
you prefer, the page that is linked to the MLS can have nothing
at all on it other than the tour. If you do your own web site
or have a web site designer, it is a very simple task to create
a page that the MLS will allow.......Back to
Questions
Can
I get a custom web address for my listing?........Yes
you can, if the name of the web address you want is not taken.....In
general there are two ways to go about this; you can "park"
a domain or you can get a full web site. The difference is
domain parking is very cheap but you need a server to host
the web site files. A "real" web site has hard drive
space and usually an e-mail box or two. There are many places
on the web that provide these services. If you want me to
do it, I charge $25.00 per year for parking and $25.00 per
year for hosting. So a custom name with me will cost you $50.00
per year. The shortest amount of time a web site can be registered
is a year..........Back to Questions
Does
my web designer need to know anything special to put the tour
on my web page?.......No,
it should be a simple task for your designer to incorporate
the tour into your web site. The tour is ready to go when
I deliver it. Just put a shortcut to the index.htm file of
the tour and it will run. If they want to add your logo or
picture etc., all they have to do is edit the index.htm file.
If they have a quick question I will be happy to talk to them....
Here is a sample
custom page where the agents' web designer has incorporated
part of the tour in her web site and added a link to the full
tour. She has also parked a custom name for this property
that is linked to her custom page for this property, it is
www.ardillaroad.com.........Here
is a sample "standard
tour page" with the agents picture and logo. This
agent has also parked a website name for this property, it
is www.crosscanyons.com.
I have worked
with many web designers over the years and none of them have
had any trouble at all. I have had some trouble with the so-called
"web designers" that use fill-in-the-blank templates.
They have no knowledge of coding and are very limited in their
abilities. If your designer doesn't understand what to do
after taking a look at the index.htm file on the tour or if
they want to charge you some outrageous fee for setting up
the tour, I would be looking for a real web designer.........Back
to Questions
I
don't have a web designer, can you just give me a link to
run the tour?.........Yes,
I can host the tour for you. I charge $25.00 to host your
tour for one year. I'll send you a link to put on your web
page and you'll be in business..........Back
to Questions
Do
you do web page design?........Yes
I do......I will be happy to work with you on a custom web
page or a complete web site. I charge $60.00/hr. for web site
design.........Back to Questions
I
don't understand, what does it mean for you to host the tour?.......For
your tour to be accessible on the web, the files must reside
on a web server. Where the tour files are located is the host
server. Some of you don't have a full-blown web site, (i.e.
corporate broker site, canned real estate page service, etc.)
and are not allowed to upload files to the server. If that
is the case, I will host the tour for you and it will reside
on one of my servers. To access the tour just add a shortcut
to your web page pointing to the tour index.htm (I'll send
you a link to put into your web page)........Back
to Questions
If
you host the tour can you create a page with my picture and
logo?.........Yes,
send me the files (picture, logo, etc.) you want included
on the tour page. There is a $25.00 charge to set up your
web page for your first tour. Here is a sample
tour with the agent's picture and logo. If you use the
same page layout (logo, picture, background etc.) for subsequent
tours there is no charge..........Back to Questions
Why
do you charge extra to host my tour?.........My
hosting companies charge me by the amount of hard drive space
and bandwidth used. I was surprised at the tremendous amount
of traffic my tours generate; the tours get hits from all
over the world (which is good news for you and/or your clients).
Over the years I have used and tested many different hosting
companies.......I have found that there is a good news/bad
news thing going on with hosting companies. While there are
hosting companies that are very cheap (some are free), allocate
you a tremendous amount of hard drive space, and actually
offer a nice set of services, they limit the amount of bandwidth
per account. This is fine for small web sites or personal
web sites, but it will never do for a corporate or business
site. You do not want your clients/customers with a fast internet
connection waiting on your server. The only limits to the
speed of a corporate site should be on the users' end, not
the host server.
The hosting companies I use guarantee the bandwidth of
my servers, but as with most things, quality costs a little
extra. The hosting companies I use are not the cheapest, but
they are reliable and fast.....Back
to Questions
What
is involved in having aerial photos taken?.......I
need to visit the site with you before the shoot. This allows
me to get the gps coordinates, decide what time of day will
be best to shoot the photos, and get a good look at what you
want photographed. I will need the parcel number of the property
so I can bring the related maps that will be needed by the
pilot...........Back to Questions
Can
you shoot aerials of more than one property at a time?........Yes
I can; for example if you are a broker with several properties
to shoot, or if a few agents in an office want to pool their
money and shoot their properties.....The helicopter charges
by the hour, so it is more cost efficient, especially if the
properties are in roughly the same area...........Back
to Questions
Can
I ride along when you shoot the aerial photos?.......Sure
you can, actually I prefer it if you come on the shoot. I
shoot from a Jet Ranger helicopter with the doors removed.
This gives me an unobstructed view of what I'm shooting. If
you prefer you can usually sit up front in the number two
seat. Even though this is a four passenger helicopter there
is only room for you and maybe one guest. My camera gear takes
up quite a bit of room, so if you want to bring a guest along
one of you will end up in the back with me holding my second
camera and lenses........It is a wonderful experience if you
aren't afraid of heights and don't mind getting bounced and
twisted around a little........I can't believe I get paid
to have this much fun. ..........Back
to Questions
Why
are real estate tours worst case?......The
life span of a tour done for a business is indefinite. I'll
use a beach resort as an example. The resort is willing to
spend the money for "perfect condition" shooting
and lighting setup. For example, the entrance to the resort
will be shot in the morning, and the pool area will be shot
in the evening to take advantage of the soft lighting conditions
these particular times of day offer. This type of tour can
take days or even weeks to achieve the right shooting conditions.
The view shot from the balcony of the ocean side rooms will
not be of the marine layer, it will be shot on a beautiful
clear calm morning....The life span of a real estate tour
on the other hand is very short (at least the agents and sellers
hope it's short), and the advertising budget for any one home
is limited... As far as shooting conditions go, take a walk
around any house and you will probably be facing the sun on
one side of the house or the other. If you aren't facing the
sun then it's either cloudy and gray or the sun is directly
overhead (harsh light and dark shadows). That's the easy part;
anyone that has tried to take interior shots of a home knows
how difficult that is. Real estate agents want a quality virtual
tour that is done fast, cheap, and under terrible conditions.
That's why I describe real estate tours as worst case..........Back
to Questions
Will
you write the description for my listing?.......Nope.
I'm just not that wordy. I can create the whole tour with
custom everything faster than I can string three sentences
together in a description.......I will however, run the description
through the spellchecker and get rid of the abbreviations.
For example, if you want me to use the description from the
MLS I will change the "br's" to bedrooms, etc. You
will have the opportunity to check the wording before the
tour goes live when you preview the tour for apporval..........Back
to Questions
Do
you do private virtual tours?........Yes
I do. I was surprised at the number of requests for private
tours. I've done several tours for people that wanted to show
their new home to friends and relatives out of the area. I
have also done tours for exclusive listings........Back
to Questions
Do
you do weddings?........I've
been asked this many times. The answer to your question is
absolutely not. Why, you ask? Take all the reasons I said
real estate tours are tough to do and add two sets of emotionally
charged in-laws, a crazy, nervous bride and bridesmaids, a
groom that doesn't know what planet he's on, a couple of drunk
groomsmen, rude kids playing with your equipment, etc. etc.
and on top of all that, every person in the place is a pro
photographer shooting over my shoulder with their point &
shoot....I would rather do a virtual tour of an erupting volcano
than a wedding.
.....Back to Questions
Do
you take credit cards?........Yes,
I do. You can pay with your credit card through Paypal.........Back
to Questions
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