Homes.com’s Secrets of Top Selling Agents is rolling out a new podcast series of “unplugged” interviews with some of the heaviest hitters in real estate who have not only found their niche, but are dominating in it. A few weeks back, we published an article regarding the FAA’s new regulations on using drones for real estate. The response was huge, making it quite clear that this is a hot topic among agents and brokers.
After this, we knew it was time to sit down with Raj Qsar, a seasoned pro at using video for real estate, to get more insight into this new technology. Head over to Raj’s website,theboutiquere.com, to see some of his amazing video content and to get a better idea of why there is no better person to fill in the information gaps about using drones to market your listings! Here’s just a little recap of our sit down with Raj:
According to Raj, there’s A LOT that goes into being able to legally fly a drone for real estate. He says that he operated the drones himself when they first became popular and that his company owned 2 DIJI drones (the most user-friendly) that were equipped with GoPro cameras to capture aerial footage. But between the strict and continually changing operating guidelines, expensive liability issues and high costs of equipment, he now hires a company with a lot of experience to do the filming for him.
After traveling across the country and internationally for real estate events, Raj has found that cost has become an agent’s biggest concern when it comes to using drones and video. His response to this was simple, “It’s going to cost you more not to do this stuff in the long run than it will to put the money up front.” He states that agents need to recognize that instead of trying to reduce costs by keeping the use of drones “in-house,” they should invest in someone who specializes in this area. The properties that his team lists using video tend to move faster compared to the rest of the market. This is why he can’t stress enough that agents who invest more money in marketing will ultimately see their listings sell more often and at a faster rate than those who don’t.
These were just a few of the highlights from this exciting interview, so be sure to tune in for the full podcast! Head over to the Secrets of Top Selling Agents website to find even more educational sessions like this.
In the future, selling houses might be less about realtors and more about video creators. While traditional open houses and “for sale” signs aren’t going away anytime soon, in years to come it could be a viral video that gets a buyer to sign on the dotted line.
Straightforward video tours have been around for some years, but we’ve gone beyond that and taken a look at five fabulously creative ways people have used video to sell property around the world, from music videos to high-tech drones via 3D fly-throughs.
Plain video house tours are all well and good, but what if instead of a dry, room-by-room tour around a property, you used the video to tell a story and sell a lifestyle?
The Boutique Real Estate Group is very good at this, producing a series of glossy ads for houses that engage you with a simple plot device, making them much more interesting than the average tour.
In this example, seeing the kids run through the beautiful rooms as they find a suitable cubbyhole for a game of hide-and-seek is just a genius way to show the home’s family-friendly, attractive living spaces.
Now that the days of paper trenches are (nearly) long gone and you’re swimming in digital options galore, how do you know what works and what might not equal the ROI you had in mind?
Your schedule probably redefines busy, so why sleuth around for the answers? Just come to me for the digital dirt and I’ll set you up with the wisdom and guide you to the tools that actually ramp your business Cloud-bound (i.e. skyrocketing success in all matters ROI and keeping your clients and employees delighted).
For my team at The Boutique Real Estate Group, we’re OCD about providing world-class experiences for our clients; It’s our marching theme for Real Estate Connect NYC. We’re in the business of writing our client’s story. When they look at a property, they imagine and dream and wonder. When you set up your Real Estate business with the right tools, you’re able to kick off their story with a happy prologue.
Excited to get started? Wonderful! We’ve vetted the digital market for ideas that struck magic and tools that did wonders for our client base.
Check out the top five mantras and tools that help us set the bar sky high for client experiences:
Always Keep It Mobile and Tablet Friendly: Give us location independence and freedom to create, share & sign on the fly. We are all traveling 100 mph in a 55 mph world so this is essential to any business. If it’s not mobile it does not exist.
Apps Give you “Crystal Ball Powers” – Gmail apps integrated into your Chrome Browser give you Crystal Ball Powers that allow you to tailor messages, track responses and “big brother” inbound emails so you can work some magic with your clients.
The C in CRM Stands for (Client) Conversion: CRM integrations for your website (SMS notifications & auto-email responders) let you respond & convert clients quickly and track progress seamlessly.
Real Estate Apps –> MLS Touch + RPR Mobile + Property Radar App – Seriously – the entire Real Estate world in the palm of your hands. You are truly a real estate guru…
Invest in a Company Intranet – Creating specific channels to streamline communications to specific topics (Technology, Social Media, Contracts, Staging, Creative Design, CRM, Competition). And it has to be mobile.
We’re the pioneers behind Real Estate digital disruption. Now that I’ve shared my secrets, I pass the mobile phone (i.e. baton) to you to socialize your words of wisdom and tools of choice. Every winning tidbit leads to a massive win-win: inspired agents and brokers who’re empowered to make dreams come true.
Please share away in the comments below.
Get to know my team at The Boutique Real Estate Group:
On January 1, 2013, Raj Qsar launched his great experiment: a brokerage that eschews more traditional real estate methods in favor of a new and creative marketing approach. The Boutique Real Estate Group began its journey on that first day of 2013 with three agents, a creative director, a social media manager and an office manager — and it’s taking southern California real estate to a new level. The experiment worked.
Raj Qsar is the principal and owner of The Boutique Real Estate Group and a 10-year veteran of real estate sales and marketing. Raj shared his vision of the Boutique with me, and it’s a compelling story of the birth and growth of a real estate brokerage that tends to do things a little bit differently. It’s a story of success that provides insight into a free-thinking yet savvy group of professionals who, in Raj’s own words, have formed “a technology company that is super-passionate about creative design. And oh, by the way, sells real estate as well.”
I wanted to tell a story
Ask the people who know Raj and The Boutique to describe what sets them apart, and you are likely to hear “video.”
That seemed a good place to start my discussion with Raj, so I simply asked, “why video?”
Instead of the expected responses — “Video is the future!” or “Real estate is visual, it lends itself to video” — what I heard was, “I wanted to tell the homeowner’s story. A story not just about the home, but about the neighborhood and why they loved living there.”
Raj found a wedding videographer who took a narrative approach to his work: Instead of taking the standard pictures of bride, groom and wedding party, the videographer was telling the story of the couple. Believing that this style could translate to real estate, Raj contacted him and said, “I want you to tell a story. A story about a house.”
“What do you mean, a story about a house?”
This was in 2009, before video was a buzzword, before video was cool. Real estate “video” at that time typically consisted of a fancy slideshow: still images pieced together using zoom effects, with pleasant music playing in the background.
“That’s not video, that’s pictures stitched together to appear video-like. It’s fake video,” Raj told me.
Raj was at a listing presentation for an expired property. It had languished on the market for nine months with only five showings and no offers. Raj pitched the idea of a “real life” video to the sellers, one that would focus on why the sellers had lived in and loved this home for so many years. It would highlight not only the home, but also weave the community and local businesses into its story line. They loved the idea.
Raj walked away with the listing and a promise to create a new kind of video.
There was one problem: he had no idea how to do that. Passionate about creative design, Raj knew where to find the right people to pull this off. They storyboarded some ideas, professionally staged the home, took amazing photos, shot true video footage of the home and neighborhood, created an online marketing campaign, translated that campaign into multiple languages and set off to sell the property.
That was just the beginning.
“We are so OCD about every fine detail that we re-shot and re-edited the video several times, even going through multiple soundtracks and music choices before we went live.”
With the video complete, Raj delivered it to his sellers and asked them to share it with friends, family and neighbors. The home was in a small, tight-knit, gated neighborhood, and the owners shared the video with their Bunko group — which included about 70 of the neighborhood’s 100 homeowners.
Raj is proud of the fact that they took that listing and got an over-list price offer in two weeks.
But he’s prouder of the fact that the video was so well received that over the next three years, they listed 13 homes in that subdivision, setting price records almost every time.
The owners loved the video. They shared it with other homeowners who loved it. It was high quality, it was memorable, and it made the phone ring when people were looking to sell.
In case you think this reception of a property video was just dumb luck, there are other similar stories. A condo association played a video produced by Jeremy Lehman, The Boutique’s CTO, at their board meeting because it highlighted the neighborhood so well. A couple of the board members were considering selling their homes. Who do you think they called? The Boutique group has now listed 15 of those condos.
The video brokerage
Raj considers video a catapult to get in front of sellers. While a video may not sell a home directly, the quality and effort Raj’s brokerage puts into video sets them apart from the masses. It identifies them. They are now locally (and I would argue, nationally) thought of as “the video brokerage.”
As time marched on, Raj took video production in-house. He bought the equipment and brought in experts, lowering the production cost and allowing them to shoot videos on about half of their listings. If there is a story to tell, they will tell it in multiple formats, across multiple platforms, including video.
But Raj stresses that it’s not just video. When The Boutique takes a listing it usually spends about three weeks getting it ready before submitting it to the MLS.
At this point in the conversation, I stopped Raj and said, “Three weeks? Who takes three weeks to get a home in the MLS?”
“We do,” said Raj. They storyboard the property and neighborhood, professionally stage the home, hire select professional photographers, process and edit those photos, shoot and edit video, create a 90-day content calendar that maps out how the listing will be promoted on various social and listing syndication sites and discuss how will they share the home’s story. Then, and only then, is the property ready for the MLS and their marketing push.
The first hire
Ask most fledgling brokers or team leaders about their first hire and they will probably say they brought in a transaction coordinator, buyer’s agent or office manager. In fact, every person I’ve talked to who built their own team or brokerage started by hiring one of those people.
Until I talked to Raj, that is: His first hire was a creative director.
Their graphic designer on staff — on staff, not contracted out — is degreed. “It’s not like we are using the broker’s assistant’s cousin who just graduated from junior college to do our design work,” said Raj.
That attitude defines Raj and The Boutique. He wants the best, and only the best, for his brokerage, his agents and his clients.
This tenet is reflected in part by their technology standards: The Boutique is Apple-based, and all agents must be on Apple products. No agents design their own marketing material; it all goes through the in-house creative designer, and everything goes through the videographer. They have three preferred listing photographers, and those are the only three that agents can use. Before even going into the home, however, it is staged by their in-house stager. Why so much quality control? Raj said, “We make our agents do these things because we know they work, and they give our clients and agents the best chance of success.”
On lead generation
Pretty pictures are nice, but ultimately you need leads. I asked Raj about his strategies for lead generation and listing syndication.
Raj said they are on all of the major platforms: Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com and Homes.com. “By far and away we’ve seen the most benefit from Zillow. The quality of leads and amount of leads that come in from Zillow is superior to the rest. Our rep makes a big difference too. He’s a partner with us.”
One of the first things The Boutique does when they get a new agent is have them sign up for the “pro” level on all the major search sites. This ensures agent buy-in and facilitates lead management and consistency.
“Speed of response to Internet leads is critical,” Raj informs us. “We used to route leads to agents on a round-robin basis. As we got more sophisticated, and realized that if you don’t reply to a lead in two minutes that you’ve lost it, we brought in an in-house lead incubator whose job is to qualify and curate contacts.” The Boutique generated 3,600 inbound leads in 2014 though portal advertising and in-house lead generation efforts. Staffing a lead incubator position has freed up Raj’s agents and shifted them from receiving brokerage leads to receiving appointments.
There is no Plan B
Talk to Raj for two minutes about real estate and you will see that he is a very passionate man with a strong focus on creative design. This comes through not only in his listings, but in his philosophy on running a brokerage.
“It’s all about the consumer and their experience. We are hired to sell a property, but a property isn’t just bricks and mortar and walls. Every home has a story and if we tell that story well, we can create an emotional response — and when a buyer is emotionally involved in the story, they are more likely to purchase.”
How does that vision scale? Can it scale? What are Raj’s future plans for The Boutique Real Estate Group?
“I’d like to open another five offices in southern California in the next five years,” Raj told me.
“What about expanding outside of SoCal?” I asked.
“I get those calls about once a month. Some big-box brokerage or franchise will approach me about expanding. We love what we do. We hustle, we sell a home and we reinvest than back into the business. We add to our knowledge and technology. I have no Plan B. This is what we love, this is what we do.”
Video marketing in action
The Boutique Real Estate Group is known as “the video brokerage,” so we’d be remiss if we didn’t include some sample videos.
“It’s not all about the price point,” Raj tells us. “Yes, we are focusing on the luxury market by providing luxury services to our agents and clients. These services are what truly set us apart. We respect where our industry has been but we are pushing the envelope and going in a whole new direction — and we are just getting started.”
Visit The Boutique’s YouTube Channel to see how they market their listings — and their brokerage.
Here is a recent listing video that exemplifies The Boutique’s philosophy of storytelling.
And here is a video for a magnificent luxury estate in Hawaii. The Boutique Real Estate Group was brought on as a co-lister for this property due to their skill and expertise in social media, video and creative design.
No points for tweeting, schmoozing or defending the status quo
In 1982, the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) was introduced which in effect, launched the Internet. Nothing has done more to transform culture, the economy and real estate in the last three decades. In honor of the 33rd anniversary, we are recognizing 33 people who are changing or will change the real estate industry in 2015 and beyond. No points for tweeting, schmoozing or maintaining the status quo; this list includes only those who are poised to change the industry and are taking actions to do so.
Get to know Raj Qsar, Principal/Owner of The Boutique Real Estate Group, the exclusive representative for Leverage Global Partners in Newport Beach, Corona Del Mar, Balboa Island, Newport Coast, Huntington Beach, and Sunset Beach, CA, USA.
What was your vision in founding The Boutique Real Estate Group?
I reflect back on a quote that crossed my news feed some years ago. “Excellence is never an accident. It is the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, skillful execution, and the vision to see obstacles as opportunities.” The Boutique had our “ah-ha” moment back in 2008 as technology and social media found Real Estate. We knew there had to be a better way of not only marketing luxury real estate but there also had to be a better way of managing the mountain of paperwork and people involved in a real estate transaction. Our vision was clear. We had to digitize the real estate experience. The world is on the web – advances in technology are changing the way businesses interact with clients. People are on their smartphones, heads down and focused in a hyper-local world, yet our listing content grabs worldwide attention.
We know we need to be where our clients are, so we can be at the forefront of their minds all the time whether it is on a smartphone in Newport Beach or on an iPad in China. You will never find our clients running to a fax machine and most likely our clients will never even pick up a pen to sign anything. We are a paperless office, completely mobile and can run an entire real estate transaction from our iPads and iPhones. Our technology does not require our clients to be tech savvy – it only requires our agents to understand the benefits of technology and to implement that technology into our client experience. With this simple direction built on technology first, our brokerage concept came to life and then layered on in-house design, creative marketing strategies, world-class social media and internet optimization.
How has social media, creative marketing, and in-house design changed or impacted your approach to business?
Real Estate marketing has truly evolved over the last 10 years. The Boutique has developed a comprehensive in-house strategy which showcases our client’s home through real-life video (actual movies with creative storylines), Architectural Photography, 360 HD V-Tours (amazing technology), custom built individual property websites for each & every home, in-house staging & interior design, custom graphics & design, and a social media content strategy that reaches people on a global scale. We have had the pleasure of being able to bring all aspects of our marketing standard completely in-house. What that means to our agents & clients is that we have complete control over our designs, feel and strategy when marketing luxury real estate. When surfing the web for real estate, our listings stand out: they have a unique look & feel and buyers recognize our listings as being “boutique-ified.” Every part of the marketing strategy has been touched by our in-house team to ensure the story has been told on that particular home. Hours of storyboarding a listing video, post-production of each and every photograph, creating a content strategy for each social portal and custom in-house designed print brochures & booklets for each of our listings. This is all done with intention and skill to give our clients the upfront best chance of success when marketing their home on the open market.
How do you like to spend your free time?
I am an Orange County Native and growing up, my parents would always take us to the beach to play, surf, BBQ and just enjoy our time together. So this tradition has carried onto my family as we spend most of our free time on the beaches of Orange County. When we travel we look for resorts on the beach anywhere in the world. One of our fav spots is Nantucket Island off the coast of Boston. We have spent many summers on Nantucket and it truly has a piece of our hearts. Most recently, we have developed a true passion for wine and all the intricacies it brings to life. Most family gatherings as we break bread we are also opening a nice bottle of wine, which of course always has a story behind it.
Leverage Global Partners is proud to have Raj Qsar and the team at The Boutique Real Estate Group as our partners in the network.
THE BOUTIQUE REAL ESTATE GROUPJOINS LEVERAGE GLOBAL PARTNERS, THE FASTEST GROWING NETWORK OF INDEPENDENT LUXURY REAL ESTATE BROKERAGES IN THE WORLD
The Boutique Real Estate Group Becomes Exclusive Leverage Global Partner for Newport Beach, CA.
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For Immediate Release
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Beverly Hills, CA. – 10/31/2014 – F. Ron Smith, President of Leverage Global Partners, recently welcomed The Boutique Real Estate Group as the Network’s exclusive member in Newport Beach, CA. A unique alignment of the most prestigious independent real estate brokerage firms around the world, Leverage Global Partners offers its members the opportunity to better serve their clients’ relocation and real estate portfolio needs by establishing each member firm as key players in the international real estate arena.
“We personally vet each real estate brokerage before offering them membership, so we are certain that The Boutique Real Estate Group is an innovative and forward-thinking market leader, offering exceptional service to their clients and to the communities of Newport Beach,” said Smith. “We are thrilled to welcome them to Leverage Global Partners.”
“This partnership is seen as a win-win for both our agents at The Boutique and our clients on an international level. Leverage gives The Boutique the unique opportunity to connect with some of the most respected brokerages worldwide and to make that important connection to a trusted & well respected colleague anywhere in the world.” Says, Raj Qsar, Founder of The Boutique Real Estate Group. “Its been an amazing year for us at The Boutique as we continue to grow and empower our agents and our clients with the most innovative techniques in our industry. The relationship with Leverage and our recent acquisition of FPRE has positioned us well moving into 2015 and beyond.”
As a member of Leverage, The Boutique Real Estate Group will be promoted as the Network’s exclusive representative for the Newport Beach area, facilitating a framework in which the company can expand and compete with larger franchise networks. Through Leverage’s “Just Ask” referral program, The Boutique Real Estate Group associates are offered personal introductions and provided access to top firms around the world, ensuring them incomparable networking ability in the worldwide luxury real estate market.
In addition to offering exceptional service and connectivity, Leverage differentiates itself from existing international luxury real estate associations by increasing the online and social media presence of their members, and providing marketing tools designed to help a member expand their individual business.
Leverage promotes the presidents of member firms and extends media access for their members’ properties through a robust public relations outreach and digital platform.
Leverage Global Partners is rapidly expanding its membership base and currently has members in numerous dynamic communities around the world, including Paris, Los Angeles, New York, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Vancouver, Tokyo, and Bangkok.
About Leverage Global Partners
Leverage Global Partners aligns the most prestigious independent luxury real estate brokerage firms from around the world – only one exclusive member per community – creating a unique global network of professionals that serve the relocation and real-estate portfolio needs of their clients, nationally and internationally. Founded by the visionaries of a leading independent luxury real estate firm in Beverly Hills with over US $4 billion of collective sales expertise, Leverage Global Partners offers its member cutting-edge marketing resources in social media, public relations and communication. In addition, Leverage promotes unique real estate developments around the globe. www.LeverageRE.com
About The Boutique Real Estate Group
The Boutique Real Estate Groupis a boutique real estate brokerage founded in Orange County, CA, that focuses on brilliant design, beautiful marketing & luxury services. The Boutique has created a culture that spurs collaboration, technology and social media with a unique marketing approach. This design and tech-forward approach has earned The Boutique Real Estate Group accolades and awards worldwide: 2014 Inman News Innovator Award nominee for “Most Innovative Real Estate Agent,” 2014 “Next Generation Real Estate Brokerage”, 2013 and 2014 “Top 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders in The USA”, and 2013 “Top 20 Real Estate Videos in the USA.”
The Boutique Media Contact:Raj Qsar949-612-2535Raj@TheBoutiqueRE.comLeverage Media Contact:Jenny Mueller 310-500-3657 Jenny.Mueller@LeverageRE.com
A home by any other name might smell as sweet, but it’s hard to imagine this home being named anything else. These are the Hawaiian words for “Royal House”. When it came time for us to tell its story, we decided to create a logo that embodied the spirit of the place.
Given the theme of royalty, we started with the idea of a crest. It is topped with a classic Hawaiian image of thekahili and paddles ( 1 ). The kahili was the royal standard of the ali’i, the chiefly class of ancient Hawai’i. The paddles are, of course, symbolic of the islanders’ seafaring nature.
At its center is a pineapple ( 2 ), a long-standing symbol of hospitality (also the detailing in the home’s balcony railings). The pineapple sits on a slight hill ( 3 ), as does the residence. It is situated above the beaches, occupying a place of prominence on the landscape. This also prevents anyone on the shore from seeing into the home, maintaining the overall sense of privacy.
The dwelling is encompassed by a fortress wall ( 4 ) which opens only to the sea – a feng shui element that emanates security and protection, while giving respect to the ocean. In our logo, flowers face inward ( 5 ) to signify the way in which nature has been gently integrated with the architecture – another feature of feng shui design. As a final flourish, the wall is dotted with nine circles ( 6 ), as a nod to the home’s address: 9 Kapalua Place.
The logo was, for us, an opportunity to discover and exhibit the character of Hale Ali’i itself – stately and warm, hidden away, yet self-assured. We hope it draws you in to explore in detail what more it has to offer.
There was a guy, and he had a DREAM! Meet Raj Qsar; Founder, Visionary and ‘Chief Dreamer’ at The Boutique Real Estate Group in Orange County AND NOW also in their brand new swanky office in Corona Del Mar, LITERALLY 1 block from the gorgeous beach!
Raj is a differentiator. He stands out and that was the plan. The Boutique Real Estate Group tell AMAZING visual stories with high end, stunningly gorgeous videos and by asking (and answering) the all important question ‘Who wants to live in this home?’
(Raj referenced a particular story where the home revolved around a baby grand piano and the song “The Summer Wind”. Check it out HERE)
Raj Can’t do it alone. He made it clear on the journey to achieving all of his dreams, he needed to establish a great team where each member has their strength and support each other. He’s heavily invested in marketing because as he believes, his clients deserve it!
“Our business is client driven. We are doing what we do here not because we want to be a video production company, and not because we want to be an ad agency or marketing company. We’re doing it because it gives our clients the best chance for success. Done.” ~ Raj Qsar
We also talk briefly about friend Mark Fitzpatrick and his super high end marketing agency RUHM for those VERY SPECIAL unique properties that require even more. (A-MAZING mini movies, websites, print, social, analytics & PR so you’ll want to check out FOR SURE!)
There’s a reason for every choice. Every detail… every touch point…every consideration has been made when you experience The Boutique Real Estate Group and that extends from the moment you engage whether online or off, in their swanky new diggs, and throughout the real estate process, and everyone works hard to set the bar high and ensure the client has an extraordinary experience!
The market has spoken, and we say ‘Boutiquify us!’ #tbreg
