Some of the biggest names in real estate are logging onto YouTube.com and MySpace.com, Web sites typically favored by young people for watching videos of animal stunts and cataloging their friendships.
Teens may have popularized these sites, but young adults — some of whom can afford to buy real estate — are also surfing them. Since it often pays to stay current, heavyweights like Trump, Tishman Speyer and SJP Properties have already posted videos and created MySpace pages — or are in the process of dong so — to promote new developments and resales.
MySpace reported that over 50 percent of their 55-million-plus audience is over the age of 35. Ross Anderson, senior vice president at Sherman Advertising, said that matches his clients’ target audience.
“The great thing about MySpace.com is that you make friends with people that meet our demographic profile and could be potential buyers,” said Anderson. “You can then send out bulletins, blogs, videos and images to a network of interested people.”
Anderson is working with his client, Trump Plaza Jersey City, a joint development between Metro Homes and the Trump Organization, which has a MySpace page and YouTube videos promoting its properties. Tishman Speyer is creating MySpace pages for Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town, Anderson said. SJP Properties, another client, will soon market the Platinum condo on MySpace.
Besides offering 360-degree views of a listing, videos allow potential buyers to get a glimpse of the surrounding neighborhood, finishes and the seller’s personal touches. One Century 21 video for 196 Scholes Street in East Williamsburg flaunted the panoramic views of the Manhattan skyline from the penthouse’s three balconies. It also had a brief interview with the developer, explaining the layout of the units and the building’s amenities.
The MySpace page for Trump Plaza Jersey City has three videos highlighting its amenities. One describes the nightlife of Jersey City and has eight renderings of the development and links to the condo’s sales Web site.
For Trump Plaza Jersey City, Sherman Advertising chopped the sales center video into one-minute segments, which Anderson said gives buyers a taste of the development.
Other brokerages are getting into the online-video arena. At Century 21 New York Metro, approximately 30 to 40 percent of the brokers are expressing interest in marketing with YouTube, said Mike Simon, president and CEO. The brokerage is a client of publicist Kelly Kreth, a big proponent of Internet videos.
“One of the challenges is deciding what kind of apartment is right for a YouTube video. We don’t use it for international listings, and the quality of the video isn’t commensurate with very-high-end apartments,” said Kreth.
Dottie Herman, CEO of Prudential Douglas Elliman, said that younger brokers at the firm are using these Web sites to advertise listings, but she expressed some reservations.
“No one is spending money just because you post a video of an apartment,” Herman said. “It can’t capture the real essence ofthe listing. It’s just a new way to expose properties differently to different audiences.”
But the cost of these Web-based promotions is another attraction.
West New York Pictures has produced a number of New York City-based real estate videos for YouTube. Kreth has formed a partnership with West New York Pictures to create, edit and market YouTube videos. One video production costs about $1,000; posting it online is free. The medium is cheaper than a black-and-white print advertisement in the New York Times. Those start at about $400 a day.
“The videos are really effective,” said Darren Sukenik, a Prudential Douglas Elliman executive vice president. “It has really upped our presence on a bunch of different links. When all my buyers under 40 begin their search online and are web-savvy, YouTube videos are really the next best way to market listings.”
But just posting videos on YouTube is not enough — brokers have to ensure that their videos get watched. YouTube videos by Century 21 had over 1,000 views in a
three-month span, while Trump Plaza Jersey City YouTube videos had about 60 views in three weeks and attracted about 20 MySpace friends.
“You can share the videos online, but it’s like a tree falling in the forest,” Anderson said. “There are millions of videos on YouTube. It’s really about what’s going on to make people watch our videos. We’re reaching out to meet our demographic profiles and get hundreds of thousands of views.”
According to Anderson, potential buyers will get emails and MySpace messages with embedded videos and links to information for the residential developments.
For Philip Kent Kiracofe, an executive vice president at Century 21 NY Metro, a real estate video posted on YouTube paid off handsomely. Kiracofe received an all-cash offer on a $1.5 million Upper West Side fully-furnished two-bedroom he marketed with YouTube.
“The distribution mediums are exciting,” Kiracofe said. “It’s easy to share, and users are as likely to forward a link to a listing as they are to a video of a penguin falling off an iceberg.”
For his 211 West 71st Street listing, Kiracofe interviewed the seller about the designer innovations, including accent lighting in the kitchen and 11 LCD panels installed around the apartment.
“We try to be on the young and hip side,” Kiracofe said. “It’s a great thing to exploit while it’s still a novel and new concept.”
Anderson said that using YouTube and MySpace to market real estate is only the beginning.
“Mobile videos and mobile brochures are the next thing,” he said. “Once a prospective buyer texts a condo, they can receive a mobile brochure or video. It’s about instant gratification.”