WellcomeMat has certainly been one of the more talked about names within the RE.net whenever people are talking about online video. To date, they have focused mainly on connecting videographers around the country with real estate professionals looking for help creating video, though they certainly have a fantastic embeddable video player. I know Joel loves what they are doing and I certainly agree with the importance of having a real estate distribution strategy. I thought it would be interesting to do a short Q&A via e-mail with Christian Sterner, the co-founder of WellcomeMat, to shed some further light on how real estate professionals are using online video.

Q: What gave you the itch to start WellcomeMat?

A: There was a gaping hole in the real estate marketplace between what was being done (virtual tours/pictures), and what was possible (interactive video). In 2004, I read an article about a broker in NYC that was shooting a video of all his listings, and having interested parties come into his office to watch the videos on a TV before going to visit places in person. He was putting a wonderful idea to use, but clearly needed a better way to deliver video to end users.

Q: The quick pitch – what does WellcomeMat do in 3 sentences or less?

A: WellcomeMat has fun while fundamentally changing the real estate marketplace. We make the world’s interiors/exteriors viewable from your favorite chair, try hard to make stars out of people using video in the real estate space, and go to great lengths to help everyone that is not using video to start.

Q: How many videographers are in your network & what types of video are they creating for real estate professionals?

A: We currently have close to 1000 videographers in our national network. The majority of the videos that we see are listings, but agents/brokers are getting very smart: city tours, neighborhood tours, and “market update” type videos are literally making stars out of agents in their local areas and we see these types of videos being used more frequently. We have quite a few people telling us that they have total strangers approaching them on the streets because of their videos.

Q: You said that professionals are creating both videos to showcase listings in addition to videos to demonstrate their knowledge in their local market – can you give us an overview of each and some sample videos to take a look at? (not sure the best way to word this question – feel free to revise it if you want)

A: On the listing side of things, the guy that we like to bring up the most in our conversations about agents using video is Doug Heddings (author of True Gotham). The reason why we like him-other than the fact that he is one of the best agents in NYC-is because he had no desire (none whatsoever) to get in front of a video camera. We pressured him, and he NAILED his first video tour. The truth is that great agents can do great videos. You don’t have to be a broadcaster: that’s not the point. The point is that video is the single best way to present a property when your goal is to save everyone involved time. And, if you can nail a tour in person, you can nail it on camera. This is Doug’s first video tour ever (and the first time that this videographer shot a real estate tour):

Apartment for Sale – New-York, NY 10036 – Real Estate Video Tour

On the city/neighborhood tour side of things, we have quite a bit of this going on — here’s one focused on Miami:

Miami Madness for the Hotels – Florida DV – Indian Rocks Beach, FL 33785

*This one is not necessarily real estate centric, but paints a good picture of what’s possible.

Q: Are there any geographic areas where you really see video taking off?

A: No doubt…video is taking off in the areas where there are a) large amounts of creative video professionals, and b) large quantities of higher end real estate. So, primarily the east and west coast.

Q: Is the down-market having an effect on adoption of your platform?

A: Yes, when it took zero effort to start a bidding war, we had a harder time getting people to do videos. Now, people need to stand out amongst amassing inventory. Video is the best way to stand out and match buyers to the places that they want to see in person.

Q: Any future additions to the site that you can clue us into?

A: Phil DiGiulio (some like to call him Phil “DiVideo”) and I fight all the time about how to best position the product. When we argue a lot more than usual, we know that good things are coming. Right now, we are battling about the video player/editor. This thing is off the charts, and will debut in less than a month. I’d confidently stack it against any player on the web, real estate focused or not.