It’s all about Equipment!!!

We found an interesting article on Real Estate Photography. 

 This article is by Digicams.com, reald below.

Real estate photography

The digital camera is an essential tool for real estate agents, architects, designers and others who regularly take photos of real property. A digital camera can also be an important tool for individual sellers who must photograph their own home.

Whether a professional or not, the importance of taking well-composed and exposed photos of real estate can not be understated. Using a few tried and true techniques can produce near-professional looking images without the need of buying expensive equipment.

Wide angle lens for real estate photography

While a wide angle lens isn’t required for taking photos of real estate, it is certainly a plus. Cameras and lenses with wide angle capability capture more of a scene than a normal lens.

Not only can a larger area of the scene be photographed with a wide angle lens, but wide angle allows you to stand closer to the main subject. As a result, it’s often possible to take photos free from unwanted objects in the foreground such as trees and poles. 

If you haven’t purchased a digital camera, consider one with a 28mm (35mm equivalent) lens. Or check if the one you already own accepts a wide angle converter lens. 

Composing real estate photos

Make a habit of checking the composition in the viewfinder or on the LCD before taking a photo. There are no hard and fast rules for composing real estate shots, but do keep in mind a few principles.

• Do some staging. Temporarily move distracting items from the scene such as a car in the driveway or a For Sale sign on the lawn. For interior shots, tidy up the room so it looks uncluttered. 
• Highlight positive areas of property.
• Before snapping the shutter button, review the scene so vertical or horizontal line are perpendicular.
• Take shots from different angles so nothing obstructs an important part of the scene.
• Moving slightly to the left or right, or back a few steps, before taking a photo can improve composition. Check the composition on the LCD.

This article includes tips from the more comprehensive, illustrated eBook Photographing Your Home with a Digital Camera. The eBook contains essential information for taking near-professional looking photos of a home.

 We hope you’ve enjoyed this article.  If you have questions or need our assistance, please contact us anytime
Sincerely,

Brad Claghorn
Buildatour.com, L.L.C.
(314) 256-9252
contact@buildatour.com

Experts Say the Florida Real Estate Market Will Turn Around in 2008

We know that many agents are wondering whats going to happen in the market over the next few years, and frankly, we are too.  So, we read all the blogs and news articles we can.

We think that one good article is from Lance Mohr.   

Lance has written what we belive to be a well-researched article on the Florida Market.  Read it below.

“Throughout the course of 2007, there have been innumerable news reports detailing problems involving the Florida real estate market. For example, the number of home mortgage foreclosures reached an alarming record high. The home mortgage market itself tightened significantly now leaving many people in a difficult position when it comes to home mortgage financing.

Some of the “bad news” associated with the Florida real estate market comes after an extended period of growth and prosperity. For example, before the recent slump in the Florida real estate market – including the Tampa real estate market – property values across the state (including in the Tampa area) actually increased a remarkable 65% over the past five years. The reality is that there were nearly no other locales in the United States (or anywhere else in world for that matter) that enjoyed such a tremendous increase in property values than what was experienced in the Tampa area and Florida during the past half decade.

Because of the importance of the Florida real estate market, hundreds of experts have spent a great deal of time analyzing the dynamics of the marketplace in the Sunshine State. These experts have reached some common agreement on what trends we can expert in regard to Florida real estate during 2008.

First of all, while the gyrations we have seen in the Florida real estate market (and in the real estate market elsewhere in the United States) go beyond what might be called a simple “market adjustment,” the reality is the net result of the volatility of the real estate market in Florida and elsewhere will not be as severely negative as many imagined would be the case earlier in 2007.

There likely will be some price adjustments in the early months of 2008. In reality, it probably can be argued that the accelerated rate in which property valuations bounded over the course of the past five years may have resulted in some artificially inflated properties. While this may have some adverse consequences to some sellers during the coming year, it obviously can be helpful to people looking to buy a residence in Florida.

With all of this noted, it is likely that the drop in real estate prices or valuations likely will not be tremendously deep. Indeed, prices are likely to stabilize early in 2008 and then begin a more moderately paced rebound. Therefore, if a person is not pressed to sell real estate immediately, it might behoove them to hold off putting their home on the market until 2008.

The bottom line is that while there have been and will continue to be some challenges associated with the Florida real estate market (including the Tampa real estate market). Those complications and difficulties certainly will not be as dire as some originally predicted early in 2007. As Donald Trump said in my blog – you want to buy property within the next six months. You buy when people are selling and you sell when people are buying.”
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If you would like to contribute to this blog, please send your articles to contact@buildatour.com.  You may feel free to write an article about your Real Estate Business, Services, Expertise, etc.  If the article is approved, we’ll post it to this blog right away.  We only screen articles based on illegal, immoral, profane, or explicit material(s). 

We look forward to hearing from you. 

 Contact Us:
Buildatour.com, L.L.C.
(314) 256-9252
contact@buildatour.com

Another Atricle on the Kodak V570

We’ve written several post on the positve attributes of this camera.  We’d like to share a few other review of this camera here. 

PopPhoto.com has written a review of this camera …. Click here. 

We have at leat 3 customers that use this camera.  We think it would be more, if agents knew about it. 

As an agent, I’ve seen the agency I worked for spend as much as $400 for a point and shoot camera with a 50mm lens.  That’s a travesty …. but, of couse until a year, or year and a half ago, they really didn’t have a choice in the point and shoot category.  It seems to us that Kodak changed all that.  We simply have to get the word out.

 We’re ordering one for marketing purposes.  We’re told that you can pick up a refurbished unit with full warranty up for $160, or a new one for $249 (again from Kodak’s site).

 If you use this camera, or have anything to offer on this subject, please contact us.
Buildatour.com, L.L.C.

(314) 256-9252
contact@buildatour.com

New Updates Coming

Stay Tuned …… We’re currently working on several updates.  The top priority, based on customer input is “Burn to CD”.  This should be available before the end of the year. 

We’re also working on:

1)  Soon, the branded and unbrande links will appear on your “My Tours” page immediately after logging in to your Buildatour.com account. 

2)  The preview period for unpurchased tours will be extended from 24 hours to 5 days.

3)  Fort Lauderdale MLS, and possibly others, requires that “NO TEXT” info appear in tours linked directly to their system.  We’ll be adding an optional checkbox to the “Edit Tour” page that will make the tour open without the top and bottom fly-in bars. 

4)  We plan to add an extra email field that will allow photographers to receive all Buildatour.com correspondence. 

These updates should be available by the end of the year … hopefully sooner. 

If you have questions or need our assistance, please contact us anytime. 

Buildatour.com, L.L.C.
(314)256-9252
contact@buildatour.com

It’s Never Been Easier!!!

We’ve recently completed an update that should make tour building much easier, and most importantly, faster.  We’ve added bulk upload and streamlined the tour building process. 

 Many of our regular customers are recognizing the value of this update, and we’re very pleased to offer them …. AND YOU this fast, inexpensive, and no obligation solution to your VT needs. 

 Pleae contact us anytime.

Sincerely,

Brad Claghorn
Buildatour.com, L.L.C.
(314) 256-9252
contact@buildatour.com
 

Lens Perspective

When taking wide-angle photographs, it is important to pay careful attention to Lens Perspective.  Many photographers have a tendency to make pictures with the camera mounted at “eye-level”.  Making photos from this level with a(n) ultra-wide lens results in vertical lines (corners, windows and door frames) being skewed.

When using a wide-angle lens, we recommend lowering the camera to somewhere between chest and waist level.  It is our experience that this level results in less tilted wall corners, etc. 

Wikipedia has a good article on this subject.  Click here to read it.  

Larry Lohrman also has several articles on the subject.  Click here. 

If you have questions or need our assistance, please contact us anytime. 

Buildatour.com, L.L.C.
(314) 256-9255
contact@buildatour.com

Problems with viewing Tours before Paying

Some of our customers have had the problem of not being able to view tours pior to paying for them.  We have determined that this problem is related to Pop-up Blockers or Firewall Settings. 

 Please set your pop-up blockers to allow pop-ups from www.buildatour.com.

Also, please turn off you firewall long enough to preview your our. 

 This problem does not effect tours after purchased, and is related to the technology we employ to keep links unusable before purchase. 

 If you have questions or need our assistance in any way, please contact us anytime.
Sincerely,
Brad Claghorn
Buildatour.com, L.LC.
(314) 256-9252
contact@buildatour.com

Receiving Your Links Via Email.

When you purchase a tour(s) from Buildatour.com, you will receive two links to each tour.  One link will be Agent-Branded, and one is MLS/IDX Compliant, i.e. no agent or contact information.  This unbranded link is a rigid requirement of the majority of local MLS’s, so be sure to upload the unbranded link to your MLS.  Agents who upload the branded link to their MLS can generally be fined for this infraction … fine amounts vary.

Showcase Listing Enhancement Subscribers with Realtor.com and Agents who purchase a Realtor.com Link ($19.95 each for Non-Showcase Listings), will have their Agent-Branded Links uploaded to Realtor.com.

After purchasing a tour, you will receive a “Buildatour.com Confirmation” email.  Please be sure your SPAM Filter(s) will accept email from contact@buildatour.com.  See example below:
______________________________________________________________________
Thank you for using Buildatour.com!

$9.95 – Tour 3751
- Link: http://www.buildatour.com/tour/buildatour-full.html?id=3751
- Unbranded Link: http://www.buildatour.com/tour/buildatour-full.html?id=3751&u=1
_______
$9.95 – Total Amount

Your tour(s) will be avalable for twelve months.
Thanks again,

Buildatour.com
contact@buildatour.com
______________________________________________________________________
If you loose your links for any reason, please contact us for assistance.  We’re always happy to help. 

Thank You,

Buildatour.com, L.L.C.
(314) 256-9252
contact@buildatour.com

Deleting Photos

If you would like to delete photos from your tour, please do the following:

1. Log In to your Buildatour.com account.

2. From the “Members … My Tours” page, click the “Photo Manager Icon”.

3. Then click the category you’d like to delete photos from, i.e. Exterior, Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, etc.

4. After doing this, you will see ALL the images within the particular category, and a Blue Pencil beside each thumbnail image. Click the Blue Pencil … then you will see the following screen:

5. From here, simply click the “Delete” link at the bottom of the page. You will be asked if you’re sure you want to delete this image as seen below:

Click OK, and your photo will be immediately deleted from your tour.

Make sure you really want to delete the image. Once deleted it cannot be retrieved from our server. We recommend that you keep all tour images on your hard drive(s) until the listing is SOLD.

As always, if you have further questions regarding this topic, or need our assistance in any way, please contact us anytime.

Sincerely,

Buildatour.com, L.L.C.
(314) 256-9252
contact@buildatour.com

A Suggestion to Photographers / Real Estate Agencies

For those Agencies and Photographers using our services exclusively for their clients, we would like to make the following suggestions for managing multiple accounts.

If you are building tours for multiple clients (agents), we recommend that you create a separate FREE account for each Agent you provide services for. It’s a good idea to keep a database or spreadsheet of these usernames and passwords. You will probably want to share these with your individual clients, since most agents will want to enter their own text details, select music background, etc.

If you’re serious about starting your own business using Buildatour.com as a platform, please feel free to contact us anytime.

Sincerely,

Buildatour.com, L.L.C.
(314) 256-9252
contact@buildatour.com