"They're gonna see this and break in my house!"

Ok, looking for some feedback on this one. Had a homeowner today that was upset about the idea of doing a video tour of her home. Stated she was afraid someone would see the layout of her home in the video tour and break in the house.

Anyone else had this objection come up and if so, how did you handle it? or how would you handle it?

The issue came up for the first time a few weeks ago....  Did the video and photos... the lady demanded the video be taken down a few weeks later because she was broken in to.

It was a crappy house, they stole their TV (wow.. surprise...  the video made a criminal aware that someone actually had a TV!), and her jewelry (wow, she must have laid her jewelry out on the bed for me to photograph....)

Get real.  I'm sure it was some dumb kids in the neighborhood and they stole what every dumb kid who breaks into a house tries to steal:  money, liquor, electronics and jewelry.  Duh.

Videos do nothing more than 1) an open house, 2) still photographs, and 3) an agent taking a so called buyer through your house.

If someone WANTS to break into your house, there are many ways to do it and many ways to find out what's inside -  if that's your thing.  A video or photos won't encourage it.

I always tell people to remove anything that they believe to be valuable so it's not photographed, but that just seems to be obvious.

You are absolutly right, Fred. Those were all my initial reactions as well.

Prior to starting this business, I spent 11 years in law enforcement. The type of people that break into houses aren't smart enough and don't care enough to browse for targets on the internet. If they want in your house...they're going to break in. They don't need to spend time "researching". My mom's house was burglarized last year, and she's never had a video tour of her house published online.

It's good to recognize this as a potential concern for some homeowners, however. As far as how we respond...I think you hit the target there as well. We encourage them to put away any valuables while we shoot the video tour, and if they are excessively concerned about it, we then explain that opening your home up to strangers is an unfortunate but necessary by product of trying to sell your house and that a video tour is no different than the other types of access offered to potential buyers.

 Now you can charge them extra to use the video to prove their inventory when they file an insurance claim.

 Good one Lee! :)  I had someone ask me about that a few weeks ago... lol

Too Funny...and a total bummer.  I had the exact thing happen yesterday.  A woman just cancelled my first narrated tour order because her daughter "the cop" didn't like the idea.  I guess her husband travels all the time and she lives alone on this equestrian property.  I kind of understood given the desolation of the place.  But the property has been on a while (big shocker) and the photos show everything worth stealing anyway. 

By the way...hello everyone.  I've been silently learning from Professor Light for a few years now after buying your how-to and reading every word I can find you've written on the internet....and I think some of St. Louis is finally catching on.  Sort of.  I've still alot to learn though and its time i get in on the conversation.  Thanks in advance for all the money I'm going to make. :)  

 When I worked for Coldwell-Banker, we shot 50 houses a day (not just me!), and did that 5 days a week.  I don't recall ever having this issue.  Anyone selling a home is open to people seeing where it is, and what they have inside.  A video is not going to change the hearts of men.

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Check out the 'I Want Video' Web TV show for more tips on using video for your business!

A couple of years ago I filmed a house where the homeowner wouldn't let me shoot one of his walls with his collector tea pots (hmmm??).  He was also so paranoid that he wouldn't let the realtor actually list the address of his home!  Guess what..it's STILL on the market.  Hmm?  I wonder why?  Unfortunately these types of homeowners are also the first ones to jump down the realtor's throat for not marketing their home effectively.

Actually... I was just thinking about this again.  I have a client with 2 listings.  I did a video on one of them ($3.9M listing).  The other is listed at $12M.  The owners of the $12M home have only allowed a photo of the front gate into the estate.  You can't even see the house!  It has been listed on and off for the last 10 YEARS... I guess they're not in a hurry.  It's 22,000 square feet, so I'm sure the market for that type of home is extremely small... it has been among top few highest priced listings on the WFRMLS for most of the last decade.

Hey... it'll still be on the market when I make my fortune... oh, wait, I wouldn't want to pay the insurance or maintenance on that thing either. 17 bathrooms seems a bit much for a single guy. :)

 Dustin:  I did a $10M house a couple of months ago.... they weren't thrilled about having the house videotaped.  What we did is create a full, 10 minute video (16,000 square feet) of the home, which the broker distributes on DVD to qualified buyers and also has put behind a wall requiring registration.

I cut a 3 minute "mini video" highlighting the house quickly, mostly exteriors, which is posted on the MLS for the world to see.

That made everyone happy.

Of course, with property taxes of $111,000 per year, it ain't gonna go too quickly me thinks...!

From the Realtor side of this conversation . . . The National Association of Realtors has insurance for stolen items when the property is listed for sale. She should talk to her Realtor about a claim as well.

Filmmaker side: Charge $500 when they want you to put the video on DVD as evidence! :-D