Hollywood meets Okanagan real estate

By Tarrah Harvey

KELOWNA With actors, aerial views, and high end products, it’s not your average real estate video. It’s a trend that has been seen in bigger markets like Los Angeles, and is now being brought to the Okanagan. Matt Van Emmerik, from Showcase Photography, along with local real estate agents have worked together to create a high production value video to motivate buyers in a competitive real estate market, giving a whole new meaning to the ‘virtual home tour.’

“The video production is quite extensive, we started first thing in the morning, I shot all day long, straight into the night, says Van Emmerik, we tried to show an entire day living in this home.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The video production is quite extensive, we started first thing in the morning, I shot all day long, straight into the night, says Van Emmerik, we tried to show an entire day living in this home."

Remax Kelowna real estate agent, Nate Flavel, says the home was designed for entertaining and they wanted to best display that in the video.

“We chose a middle aged couple and showed the process of them getting up in the morning, enjoying their coffee, him going off to golf and then her planning a surprise party” says Flavel.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We chose a middle aged couple and showed the process of them getting up in the morning, enjoying their coffee, him going off to golf and then her planning a surprise party" says Flavel.

But it can be expensive. Videos like this can cost anywhere from 500 to 5,000 dollars to produce. It’s something that Remax agent Kris Mclaughlin says is geared towards luxury properties and those looking for a vacation home in the Okanagan.

“The more you can give them as a realtor so they can look at it from the comfort of their own home with their busy lifestyle, they will narrow it down to three homes that they can go out and see, says Mclaughlin, so this type of video really lays that out and shows that a lot stronger.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The more you can give them as a realtor so they can look at it from the comfort of their own home with their busy lifestyle, they will narrow it down to three homes that they can go out and see, says Mclaughlin, so this type of video really lays that out and shows that a lot stronger."

But Mclaughlin says he sees it moving into other markets eventually.

“The kids playing around and just showing the lifestyle of a family style property, I think that’s going to be the next video that we jump into.”

With real estate typically slow at this time of year, Van Emmerik hopes this type of marketing can stand out among the competition.

“So many realtors are vying for those listings, with an effective video marketing done this way it’s going to improve their chances dramatically” says Van Emmerik.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "So many realtors are vying for those listings, with an effective video marketing done this way it's going to improve their chances dramatically" says Van Emmerik.