How Useful is "YouTube.com" as a real estate tool? Certainly we can see the latest on Ben Roethlisberger of Pittsburgh Steelers fame, learn amazing facts about US presidents (this is one of the most watched videos right now!), see more about Whitney Houston (c'mon) or even learn how to shave your head (fun!). But for selling real estate? We've found it's not very useful.

YouTube is more a mass media opinion page or silly human tricks page than a useful selling medium. Let's think about this:

• The dollars involved in a real estate transaction are so huge (much more than most people are allowed to spend at the office without board level approval!) that the quality of the exposure must match the value of the home; sheer viewer numbers alone aren't worth it
• The production values (image clarity, text or dialogue, ability to showcase the home) just aren't supported in YouTube's environment
• Target audience quality is also minimal - there's no way to accurately target the message in an environment such as YouTube's.
• The agents who are the early adopters of this medium are more focused on making themselves the hero than the property. Simply put, you're not buying an agent; you're buying a property.

A good real estate professional, who represents the sellers of a home, expends an enormous amount of effort (and money) to prepare a home to be sold. You as a seller should demand the home be the "hero" of the exposure, not the agent Likewise, the Buyer's agent needs to be well versed with the facts of the market that drive pricing (comparables SOLDS, days-on-market metrics, market trends, etc.) and less inflicted with an opinion.

Bottomline, is YouTube a great medium for real estate? Probably not.

DS