If you asked me five years ago to predict the place of video in real estate in 2019, I would have said “omnipresent.” In 2014, GoPro’s HERO3+ cameras — which supported 4K ultra high-definition video recording — were selling like hotcakes, and this new company called Matterport announced a comprehensive product platform for capturing spaces in 3D. Free editing programs seemed to be popping up every day and cameras were getting cheaper with every new release. And the fundamental need for high-quality imagery in real estate didn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Of course, I would have been wrong about the ubiquitousness of video (a fact that’s clear from the results of our reader survey on the topic). Homes without video tours sell every day for full asking price. Plenty of real estate professionals don’t use video in their marketing. And there are many reasons for this: Video isn’t easy to do well, and it can get expensive. Attention spans are low, so if videos aren’t concise and catchy, they don’t get enough views to justify the investment of resources. And with the rapid movement of listings, there hasn’t been as much of a need to use this marketing tool to sell homes.

But that doesn’t mean agents and brokerages who haven’t made the multimedia plunge can keep going on as they always have. Indeed, the fact that video isn’t as commonplace as perhaps it should be means that it still offers a smart way for real estate professionals (and companies) to differentiate themselves, and our cover story highlights those who are doing just that on a variety of levels.

If you’re using video in a unique way — or if you have no intention of ever appearing on screen or behind the camera — I want to hear about it! Drop me a line at meg.white@agentpublishing.com.