Making a Killing in Virtual Real Estate

Last month, Ryan Kunzmann went to a bar in New York to see his 58,000 square feet of property. No, it’s not the world’s biggest bar—his holdings are virtual.

Kunzmann was one of about 20 people meeting to chat and compare their little slices of Genesis City, a digital metropolis they’re hoping will eventually become a major hub for virtual-reality commerce. Kunzmann, who does tech support for a property management website, says he intends to turn one of his larger stretches into a virtual museum or art gallery. “There’s a lot of great art out there that people don’t get to see,” he says. “Especially if you don’t live in a big city.”

While this sounds like a lark, or perhaps another iteration of the faded online world Second Life, there’s already real money behind the blockchain-based real estate. In December, Kunzmann paid $15,000 for 62 plots of about 1,100 square feet apiece, and he recouped his investment three months later by reselling a mere eight of them. Today, resellers can reliably get as much as $30,000 for a Genesis City plot. Credit network Ripio.com paid almost $150,000 for a spot next to the main square where visitors appear when they enter the city. The record is $200,000, sold by a user who’d recently bought the same plot for $13,000.

Scarcity is driving the speculation. Unlike Second Life, or games such as SimCity, Genesis has fixed virtual dimensions, some 90,000 plots that make it about the size of a digital Washington, D.C. Argentine coders Esteban Ordano and Ari Meilich created the city, part of a broader digital world called Decentraland, using the Ethereum blockchain. Another key factor, they say, is that no single corporation can suddenly change the terms of their virtual world or own users’ data, which helped Decentraland’s initial coin offering raise about $26 million in 30 seconds last year. The decentralized nature of Ethereum has also made it easy for users to trade the fixed supply of Genesis real estate among themselves, which contributed to a jump in virtual land values after an auction of plots helped raise an additional $28 million.

The early adopters haven’t built much on their plots yet, but they’ve already divvied up Genesis City into themed neighborhoods, including ones modeled on Las Vegas, cyberpunk fiction like Blade Runner, and—this being the internet—a red-light district. What’s there so far looks like a piecemeal mash-up of video game aesthetics and projects in need of developers. “Once virtual reality becomes a mass movement, and we’re heading in that direction, we’ll come to a critical mass of users that will need a platform to discover content,” says Meilich. Besides VR headsets, visitors will be able to use web browsers to view the plots.

Like other founders of startups who have raised money through ICOs, Meilich and Ordano have based their business model on their cryptocurrency, Mana tokens, which were worth 2¢ apiece when they began trading in September, rose as high as 29¢ in January, and are now about 12¢, according to cryptocurrency rankings site CoinMarketCap. Decentraland is usually among the 20 most used applications on the Ethereum network, according to DAppBoard, a website that monitors such activity.

Making a Killing in Virtual Real Estate

Last month, Ryan Kunzmann went to a bar in New York to see his 58,000 square feet of property. No, it’s not the world’s biggest bar—his holdings are virtual.

Kunzmann was one of about 20 people meeting to chat and compare their little slices of Genesis City, a digital metropolis they’re hoping will eventually become a major hub for virtual-reality commerce. Kunzmann, who does tech support for a property management website, says he intends to turn one of his larger stretches into a virtual museum or art gallery. “There’s a lot of great art out there that people don’t get to see,” he says. “Especially if you don’t live in a big city.”

While this sounds like a lark, or perhaps another iteration of the faded online world Second Life, there’s already real money behind the blockchain-based real estate. In December, Kunzmann paid $15,000 for 62 plots of about 1,100 square feet apiece, and he recouped his investment three months later by reselling a mere eight of them. Today, resellers can reliably get as much as $30,000 for a Genesis City plot. Credit network Ripio.com paid almost $150,000 for a spot next to the main square where visitors appear when they enter the city. The record is $200,000, sold by a user who’d recently bought the same plot for $13,000.

Scarcity is driving the speculation. Unlike Second Life, or games such as SimCity, Genesis has fixed virtual dimensions, some 90,000 plots that make it about the size of a digital Washington, D.C. Argentine coders Esteban Ordano and Ari Meilich created the city, part of a broader digital world called Decentraland, using the Ethereum blockchain. Another key factor, they say, is that no single corporation can suddenly change the terms of their virtual world or own users’ data, which helped Decentraland’s initial coin offering raise about $26 million in 30 seconds last year. The decentralized nature of Ethereum has also made it easy for users to trade the fixed supply of Genesis real estate among themselves, which contributed to a jump in virtual land values after an auction of plots helped raise an additional $28 million.

The early adopters haven’t built much on their plots yet, but they’ve already divvied up Genesis City into themed neighborhoods, including ones modeled on Las Vegas, cyberpunk fiction like Blade Runner, and—this being the internet—a red-light district. What’s there so far looks like a piecemeal mash-up of video game aesthetics and projects in need of developers. “Once virtual reality becomes a mass movement, and we’re heading in that direction, we’ll come to a critical mass of users that will need a platform to discover content,” says Meilich. Besides VR headsets, visitors will be able to use web browsers to view the plots.

Like other founders of startups who have raised money through ICOs, Meilich and Ordano have based their business model on their cryptocurrency, Mana tokens, which were worth 2¢ apiece when they began trading in September, rose as high as 29¢ in January, and are now about 12¢, according to cryptocurrency rankings site CoinMarketCap. Decentraland is usually among the 20 most used applications on the Ethereum network, according to DAppBoard, a website that monitors such activity.

Florida Real Estate Is Booming

Here’s news the mainstream media will ignore or shoo to the back pages … shhh, Gov. Rick Scott might get some credit … but facts are facts: The residential land market in Florida is “very strong as a result of the improving economy, combined with the continued influx of almost 1,000 people per day to the state.”

Not my words, they come from “Lay of the Land,” a new market report via Florida Trend. The report provides an accounting of verified land sales from 2017.

“As demand for residential development land increases, sales of agriculture land in the paths of progress increase,” says Dean Saunders, owner of Lakeland-based Coldwell Banker Commercial Saunders Real Estate and publisher of the report.  “With the capital earned from selling land for high development prices, sellers are reinvesting in other rural agriculture land.”

Saunders, once a legislative aide to U.S. Sen. Lawton Chiles and later a Florida legislator, conducted his “Lay of the Land” conference in April at Champions Gate near Orlando. It was the ninth such annual event his firm has sponsored.

Where is all the residential growth occurring? Much of it is along the I-4 corridor from Tampa to Daytona Beach. 

Chief Economist for the Florida Chamber of Commerce Jerry Parrish told conference attendees that from Jan. 1 to April 6, 83,524 people had moved into Florida, and the state’s adjusted gross income grew by $2 billion. He said people from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Connecticut — in that order — lead the migration into the state.

Of 19 counties specifically studied for the report, the real estate market in counties along the Treasure Coast and surrounding it — Indian River, St. Lucie, Brevard, Martin, and Okeechobee — was the hottest.

In Indian River County, 5-acre ranchette lots sold at the bottom of the market in the $10,000 to $12,000 range. Compare that to prices two counties to the south in Martin, with a few sales in the $25,000 to $50,000 range for home sites of approximately 5 acres.

Other highlights in the report:

— Average cost of a usable acre in Central Florida is $56,672. But the range is big and depends on a lot of factors (jobs, shopping, recreation, for instance) … Martin County, over $200,000 per acre; St. Lucie County, a little below $20,000 per acre. 

— In all of Florida, the most significant sale in 2017 was a sale in Martin County, Pero Farms to Gladstone: 3,518 gross acres for $55 million.

— The citrus industry “continues its tailspin” because of citrus greening and Hurricane Irma.

— Citrus groves no longer productive are selling in the $3,500 to $5,300 per acre range, while better-producing groves are fetching $5,000 to $8,000 per acre.

— Okeechobee County farm sales ranged from $4,849 per upland acre, where conversion from citrus was required, to $7,080 per upland acre for a turnkey farming operation.

— Gone are the recession days when there was a large inventory of single-family building lots — that’s pretty much gone now.

— As for the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), lands in the central region of the EAA, within Palm Beach County, “are the most desirable, with prices exceeding $11,000 per acre.”

Florida land brokers “are all slammed; we are all busy,” Saunders said. He attributed the recent high land sales activity in part to high consumer confidence and tax reform. The development of solar farms, Florida’s huge population growth and a strong housing market also bolster land sales.

He singled out 1031 exchanges for their contribution to land-sales activity. Those are the exchanges that allow landowners to sell one piece of real estate and defer taxes on the sale by buying another. The 1031 exchanges are a great deal, Saunders said, adding, “Don’t pay Uncle Sam; go buy something else.”

Bullish-on-Florida Saunders’ parting three words to conference goers repeated the theme: “Buy some land.”

Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith  

 Article from: http://sunshinestatenews.com/story/florida-real-estate-booming

Visit us at www.REIEdExperts.com

Florida Real Estate Is Booming

Here’s news the mainstream media will ignore or shoo to the back pages … shhh, Gov. Rick Scott might get some credit … but facts are facts: The residential land market in Florida is “very strong as a result of the improving economy, combined with the continued influx of almost 1,000 people per day to the state.”

Not my words, they come from “Lay of the Land,” a new market report via Florida Trend. The report provides an accounting of verified land sales from 2017.

“As demand for residential development land increases, sales of agriculture land in the paths of progress increase,” says Dean Saunders, owner of Lakeland-based Coldwell Banker Commercial Saunders Real Estate and publisher of the report.  “With the capital earned from selling land for high development prices, sellers are reinvesting in other rural agriculture land.”

Saunders, once a legislative aide to U.S. Sen. Lawton Chiles and later a Florida legislator, conducted his “Lay of the Land” conference in April at Champions Gate near Orlando. It was the ninth such annual event his firm has sponsored.

Where is all the residential growth occurring? Much of it is along the I-4 corridor from Tampa to Daytona Beach. 

Chief Economist for the Florida Chamber of Commerce Jerry Parrish told conference attendees that from Jan. 1 to April 6, 83,524 people had moved into Florida, and the state’s adjusted gross income grew by $2 billion. He said people from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Connecticut — in that order — lead the migration into the state.

Of 19 counties specifically studied for the report, the real estate market in counties along the Treasure Coast and surrounding it — Indian River, St. Lucie, Brevard, Martin, and Okeechobee — was the hottest.

In Indian River County, 5-acre ranchette lots sold at the bottom of the market in the $10,000 to $12,000 range. Compare that to prices two counties to the south in Martin, with a few sales in the $25,000 to $50,000 range for home sites of approximately 5 acres.

Other highlights in the report:

— Average cost of a usable acre in Central Florida is $56,672. But the range is big and depends on a lot of factors (jobs, shopping, recreation, for instance) … Martin County, over $200,000 per acre; St. Lucie County, a little below $20,000 per acre. 

— In all of Florida, the most significant sale in 2017 was a sale in Martin County, Pero Farms to Gladstone: 3,518 gross acres for $55 million.

— The citrus industry “continues its tailspin” because of citrus greening and Hurricane Irma.

— Citrus groves no longer productive are selling in the $3,500 to $5,300 per acre range, while better-producing groves are fetching $5,000 to $8,000 per acre.

— Okeechobee County farm sales ranged from $4,849 per upland acre, where conversion from citrus was required, to $7,080 per upland acre for a turnkey farming operation.

— Gone are the recession days when there was a large inventory of single-family building lots — that’s pretty much gone now.

— As for the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), lands in the central region of the EAA, within Palm Beach County, “are the most desirable, with prices exceeding $11,000 per acre.”

Florida land brokers “are all slammed; we are all busy,” Saunders said. He attributed the recent high land sales activity in part to high consumer confidence and tax reform. The development of solar farms, Florida’s huge population growth and a strong housing market also bolster land sales.

He singled out 1031 exchanges for their contribution to land-sales activity. Those are the exchanges that allow landowners to sell one piece of real estate and defer taxes on the sale by buying another. The 1031 exchanges are a great deal, Saunders said, adding, “Don’t pay Uncle Sam; go buy something else.”

Bullish-on-Florida Saunders’ parting three words to conference goers repeated the theme: “Buy some land.”

Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith  

 Article from: http://sunshinestatenews.com/story/florida-real-estate-booming

Visit us at www.REIEdExperts.com

Single women account for more real estate purchases than single men

It’s the gender gap you don’t hear so much about: Single women are buying homes and condos at what may be more than twice the rate of single males, and the trend appears to be accelerating.

Consider:

●Single women accounted for 18 percent of all home purchases last year compared with just 7 percent by single males, according to survey data from the National Association of Realtors. This makes single women the second-largest segment in the entire home-purchase marketplace, behind married couples.

●Citing data from the most recent U.S. Census Current Population Survey, which covered 60,000 households, Ralph McLaughlin, chief economist for consulting firm Veritas Urbis Economics, found that the share of home purchases by single women in 2017 — including never-married individuals, widows and divorcées — hit 22.8 percent, the highest on record. The gap between single women and single men was not as dramatic as in the Realtor study, however.

[Forget owning, renting is becoming the end game for many millennials and baby boomers]

●Home builders have picked up on the trend and increasingly are designing homes and subdivisions to appeal to women’s preferences, including singles. Pat McKee, president of McKee Homes, a builder active in four North Carolina markets, has found that in some of the company’s developments, significant percentages of the homes — upward of 50 percent in one case — were purchased by single women in their 30s, 40s and older, so this is not just a phenomenon limited to younger singles. Many of these buyers, he told me, “are tired of living in apartments and now feel confident enough to buy a new home.”

●Single female purchasers tend to be more likely to see buying a home as an investment, according to Jessica Lautz, director of demographic and behavioral insights for the National Association of Realtors. Single women pay slightly more on their purchase, on average, than single men — $185,000 compared with $175,000 — and are more likely to have children younger than 18 in their households.

●Rising rents appear to be a hotter button for single women than for men. In a recent tracking study conducted by research and publishing firm Builders Digital Experience, 23 percent of single women cited rising rents as a “trigger” motivation behind a home purchase, well above the 16 percent average for all recent buyers.

Colleen Fleming of Chicago illustrates some of the aspects of the single-female buyer trend. She’s an instructional design program manager for the American College of Surgeons and, working with a Re/Max broker in the city, recently bought her first home — a two-bedroom, two-bath condo with parking space in an uptown neighborhood. The condo cost $307,000 — more than she had originally planned — but far below what comparable units would command in the hyper-expensive San Francisco Bay area, where she previously lived.

[Home buying guide: Opening the door to ownership]

“I found it more feasible to buy” than expected, Fleming said in an interview. She “definitely looked at it in investment terms,” but most important of all, “I had gotten to the point where I wanted having a place that’s really mine, where I could make the changes I wanted. Now financially it was a possibility.”

Shoshana Godwin, who is single and works as a real estate agent for brokerage company Redfin in Seattle, bought a condo close to downtown — a two-bedroom, one-bath unit that cost her $285,000 two years ago. Comparable units in her building are now selling for $500,000 in Seattle’s crazy-hot market, confirming her impression that buying instead of renting would be a good investment. She says she encounters “lots of other” single women who are actively seeking the same: a place they can call their own that also will prove to be a productive use of their financial resources.

So what’s with the single guys out there? Why aren’t they doing what smart single women are doing? There appears to be less survey research available on that subject compared with women, but builder Pat McKee says that at least anecdotally from discussions he’s had, “planting roots just doesn’t seem to have the same priority” for single men as for single women.

Godwin, who works extensively with singles of both genders, notes that in markets such as Seattle, where job transfers at high-tech companies are commonplace, single men appear to be more concerned than women about having to relocate. “They are a little more afraid” to make commitments in real estate but seem to be fine with living in a nice, well-located rental.

Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/single-women-account-for-more-real-estate-purchases-than-single-men/2018/05/08/0f3cee66-521e-11e8-a551-5b648abe29ef_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.627bee12a329

Visit us at www.REIEdExperts.com

Single women account for more real estate purchases than single men

It’s the gender gap you don’t hear so much about: Single women are buying homes and condos at what may be more than twice the rate of single males, and the trend appears to be accelerating.

Consider:

●Single women accounted for 18 percent of all home purchases last year compared with just 7 percent by single males, according to survey data from the National Association of Realtors. This makes single women the second-largest segment in the entire home-purchase marketplace, behind married couples.

●Citing data from the most recent U.S. Census Current Population Survey, which covered 60,000 households, Ralph McLaughlin, chief economist for consulting firm Veritas Urbis Economics, found that the share of home purchases by single women in 2017 — including never-married individuals, widows and divorcées — hit 22.8 percent, the highest on record. The gap between single women and single men was not as dramatic as in the Realtor study, however.

[Forget owning, renting is becoming the end game for many millennials and baby boomers]

●Home builders have picked up on the trend and increasingly are designing homes and subdivisions to appeal to women’s preferences, including singles. Pat McKee, president of McKee Homes, a builder active in four North Carolina markets, has found that in some of the company’s developments, significant percentages of the homes — upward of 50 percent in one case — were purchased by single women in their 30s, 40s and older, so this is not just a phenomenon limited to younger singles. Many of these buyers, he told me, “are tired of living in apartments and now feel confident enough to buy a new home.”

●Single female purchasers tend to be more likely to see buying a home as an investment, according to Jessica Lautz, director of demographic and behavioral insights for the National Association of Realtors. Single women pay slightly more on their purchase, on average, than single men — $185,000 compared with $175,000 — and are more likely to have children younger than 18 in their households.

●Rising rents appear to be a hotter button for single women than for men. In a recent tracking study conducted by research and publishing firm Builders Digital Experience, 23 percent of single women cited rising rents as a “trigger” motivation behind a home purchase, well above the 16 percent average for all recent buyers.

Colleen Fleming of Chicago illustrates some of the aspects of the single-female buyer trend. She’s an instructional design program manager for the American College of Surgeons and, working with a Re/Max broker in the city, recently bought her first home — a two-bedroom, two-bath condo with parking space in an uptown neighborhood. The condo cost $307,000 — more than she had originally planned — but far below what comparable units would command in the hyper-expensive San Francisco Bay area, where she previously lived.

[Home buying guide: Opening the door to ownership]

“I found it more feasible to buy” than expected, Fleming said in an interview. She “definitely looked at it in investment terms,” but most important of all, “I had gotten to the point where I wanted having a place that’s really mine, where I could make the changes I wanted. Now financially it was a possibility.”

Shoshana Godwin, who is single and works as a real estate agent for brokerage company Redfin in Seattle, bought a condo close to downtown — a two-bedroom, one-bath unit that cost her $285,000 two years ago. Comparable units in her building are now selling for $500,000 in Seattle’s crazy-hot market, confirming her impression that buying instead of renting would be a good investment. She says she encounters “lots of other” single women who are actively seeking the same: a place they can call their own that also will prove to be a productive use of their financial resources.

So what’s with the single guys out there? Why aren’t they doing what smart single women are doing? There appears to be less survey research available on that subject compared with women, but builder Pat McKee says that at least anecdotally from discussions he’s had, “planting roots just doesn’t seem to have the same priority” for single men as for single women.

Godwin, who works extensively with singles of both genders, notes that in markets such as Seattle, where job transfers at high-tech companies are commonplace, single men appear to be more concerned than women about having to relocate. “They are a little more afraid” to make commitments in real estate but seem to be fine with living in a nice, well-located rental.

Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/single-women-account-for-more-real-estate-purchases-than-single-men/2018/05/08/0f3cee66-521e-11e8-a551-5b648abe29ef_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.627bee12a329

Visit us at www.REIEdExperts.com

Blackstone Buys Gramercy Property Trust for $4.42 Billion

Commercial real-estate fund Gramercy Property Trust GPT 15.45% said Monday that it reached a deal to sell itself to Blackstone Group BX 0.22% LP for about $4.42 billion in cash.

At $27.50 a share, the offer represents a 15% premium to Gramercy’s Friday closing price. Shares in Gramercy jumped to match the offer price during morning trading.

Gramercy owns industrial, office and specialty real estate in major markets across the U.S. including South Florida, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

“We are pleased to acquire Gramercy and its strong portfolio of assets,” said Tyler Henritze, head of U.S. real estate acquisitions for Blackstone.

Blackstone is the world’s largest real-estate investor with roughly $120 billion in investor capital under management, including both residential and commercial properties.

The deal marks the second major acquisition in the real-estate investment trust industry in recent weeks. Prologis Inc. PLD 0.37% last week agreed to buy DCT Industrial Trust Inc.,DCT 0.42% which owns bulk distribution and industrial properties, for $8.4 billion including debt.

For months, many REITs have been trading at steep discounts to the private market valuations of their properties. The higher prices in the private market, combined with rising interest rates, have cooled the sales volume of privately held commercial real estate.

But the lower valuations of the public companies have made REITs more attractive buyout targets. Some analysts have been predicting that the disconnect between the public and private market valuations would lead to more mergers and acquisitions activity in the REIT world.

—Peter Grant contributed to this article.

Article from https://www.wsj.com/articles/blackstone-buys-gramercy-property-trust-for-4-42-billion-1525701914

Visit us at www.REIEdExperts.com

 

Blackstone Buys Gramercy Property Trust for $4.42 Billion

Commercial real-estate fund Gramercy Property Trust GPT 15.45% said Monday that it reached a deal to sell itself to Blackstone Group BX 0.22% LP for about $4.42 billion in cash.

At $27.50 a share, the offer represents a 15% premium to Gramercy’s Friday closing price. Shares in Gramercy jumped to match the offer price during morning trading.

Gramercy owns industrial, office and specialty real estate in major markets across the U.S. including South Florida, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

“We are pleased to acquire Gramercy and its strong portfolio of assets,” said Tyler Henritze, head of U.S. real estate acquisitions for Blackstone.

Blackstone is the world’s largest real-estate investor with roughly $120 billion in investor capital under management, including both residential and commercial properties.

The deal marks the second major acquisition in the real-estate investment trust industry in recent weeks. Prologis Inc. PLD 0.37% last week agreed to buy DCT Industrial Trust Inc.,DCT 0.42% which owns bulk distribution and industrial properties, for $8.4 billion including debt.

For months, many REITs have been trading at steep discounts to the private market valuations of their properties. The higher prices in the private market, combined with rising interest rates, have cooled the sales volume of privately held commercial real estate.

But the lower valuations of the public companies have made REITs more attractive buyout targets. Some analysts have been predicting that the disconnect between the public and private market valuations would lead to more mergers and acquisitions activity in the REIT world.

—Peter Grant contributed to this article.

Article from https://www.wsj.com/articles/blackstone-buys-gramercy-property-trust-for-4-42-billion-1525701914

Visit us at www.REIEdExperts.com

 

Real estate agents using drones to help lift sales

A sleek, spidery drone lifts off from Robert Nicholson’s driveway, strafing the front of his colonial-style home while he tracks the vehicle’s flight via a handheld view screen. The high-definition footage recorded by the drone’s swiveling camera gives the landscape a cinematic quality, potentially catching the eager eye of a prospective buyer should the owner put his house up for sale.

Nicholson, founder of Aerial Visual Technologies and a recently minted real estate agent with Keller Williams, has no plans to sell anytime soon. But according to Nicholson and other area agents, drone photography and videos are becoming a potent industry tool — perhaps the most important innovation to enter real estate marketing since the internet — providing a visually compelling advantage in a marketplace congested with static two-dimensional photographs.

“With drones we can scale a property, put it into a video, and give you exact measurements based on GPS coordinates,” Nicholson said. “As a seller, you can make it more functional for a buyer to say, ‘This is what I’m getting.’ In today’s society, I have about 25 seconds to get your attention. You have to give people something different, because they get tired of the same thing.”

Real estate professionals are employing these airborne cameras to produce swooping shots of homes or commercial buildings, showcasing properties from dramatic angles previously limited to expensive helicopter fly-bys.

As the technology is still relatively novel, using drones can raise an agent’s profile and bring much-needed excitement to a listing, said Matt Gunn, owner of Gunn Photography Services, a Parma-based commercial drone company with a focus on real estate.

“If you have 1,000 homes, you’ll have maybe 30 using aerial photos (in their listings),” Gunn said. “Drone photography is a unique way to market a property.”

Gunn’s company also made a teaser video using a drone for commercial brokerage firm Avison Young. The two-minute clip offers a bird’s-eye view of the University Square shopping complex in University Heights, illuminating the 10-acre parcel’s attributes as a mixed-use boon. Voice narration, graphics and low-key music lend the video an additional professional polish aimed at would-be development partners.

“Drone footage helps us hype the property that we’re marketing,” said Avison Young vice president David Horowitz. “We want to stand out and catch people’s attention.”

The technology has practical benefits as well. Cleveland production company Aerial Agents created a video of a large Avison-brokered industrial property on Cass Avenue, adding graphics to outline specific areas of the parcel ready for redevelopment. Still shots of the highlighted parcel were then used in the firm’s printed marketing materials.

“It’s geared toward developers who could assess the parcel and know what they have to work with,” Horowitz said. “There’s not many brokerages using videos with different angles and zooms.”

Most homebuyers begin their search online, so differentiating properties through a high-quality “virtual tour” is key, drone proponents said. Keller Williams’ Nicholson points to a ground-level photo of a lakefront colonial from a real estate magazine. While there’s nothing wrong with a traditional curb-appeal shot, some choice overhead images would make the property pop in the mind of a buyer, he said.

“With a drone you could see the lake, the horizon, and the beach that sits behind the house,” said Nicholson. “But you can’t because this house looks like every other house on the block.”

Drone imagery also saves time, as it displays details of a property a buyer may not glean until they get on site.

“Maybe a family doesn’t want to deal with an in-ground pool because of the maintenance,” Nicholson said. “If I’m a buyer’s agent, I don’t want to drag them to 15 different houses they’re not going to want.”

Howard Hanna real estate agent Susan Smith said drones are best suited for expansive single properties or sprawling developments. For instance, Howard Hanna flew a drone over the Bridgeport luxury home complex in Mayfield Heights, giving viewers insight on individual dwellings along with the overall layout of the neighborhood.

“It’s exciting because it’s interactive,” said Smith. “You can start from a home’s entrance and literally pull someone through the property.”

For all its benefits, a drone can’t shoot all the photography and video needed to market a listing. The technology is not well suited for interiors of smaller spaces, or properties shrouded by trees and other buildings, noted Gunn of Gunn Photography.

“I don’t do interiors unless it’s for large warehouses where I can fly safely inside,” he said. “I’ve been asked to do mansions, but the risk isn’t worth the reward. I don’t want to crash into somebody’s chandelier.”

Realtors hiring a drone photographer should be aware of legal and safety risks, area experts said. Any professional company will have a Federal Aviation Administration Part 107 UAV Operator’s certificate as well as liability insurance that specifically covers piloting a drone for commercial photography purposes. The National Association of Realtors even offers a guide to help agents navigate the ever-growing realm of flying cameras.

Regarding privacy concerns, Nicholson will inform a client’s neighbors if he’s shooting a house, and will make sure to block particular lines of site — if there are children outside, for example — upon request.

With the spring home buying season underway, drones will continue to be a valuable asset utilized by the forward-thinking real estate company, he said.

“This technology is not going away; it’s only getting better,” Nicholson said. “Sooner or later, drones or going to take over the industry. It’s one of those things where you either jump on or you get left behind.”

Article from http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20180505/news/160411/real-estate-agents-using-drones-help-lift-sales

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Real estate agents using drones to help lift sales

A sleek, spidery drone lifts off from Robert Nicholson’s driveway, strafing the front of his colonial-style home while he tracks the vehicle’s flight via a handheld view screen. The high-definition footage recorded by the drone’s swiveling camera gives the landscape a cinematic quality, potentially catching the eager eye of a prospective buyer should the owner put his house up for sale.

Nicholson, founder of Aerial Visual Technologies and a recently minted real estate agent with Keller Williams, has no plans to sell anytime soon. But according to Nicholson and other area agents, drone photography and videos are becoming a potent industry tool — perhaps the most important innovation to enter real estate marketing since the internet — providing a visually compelling advantage in a marketplace congested with static two-dimensional photographs.

“With drones we can scale a property, put it into a video, and give you exact measurements based on GPS coordinates,” Nicholson said. “As a seller, you can make it more functional for a buyer to say, ‘This is what I’m getting.’ In today’s society, I have about 25 seconds to get your attention. You have to give people something different, because they get tired of the same thing.”

Real estate professionals are employing these airborne cameras to produce swooping shots of homes or commercial buildings, showcasing properties from dramatic angles previously limited to expensive helicopter fly-bys.

As the technology is still relatively novel, using drones can raise an agent’s profile and bring much-needed excitement to a listing, said Matt Gunn, owner of Gunn Photography Services, a Parma-based commercial drone company with a focus on real estate.

“If you have 1,000 homes, you’ll have maybe 30 using aerial photos (in their listings),” Gunn said. “Drone photography is a unique way to market a property.”

Gunn’s company also made a teaser video using a drone for commercial brokerage firm Avison Young. The two-minute clip offers a bird’s-eye view of the University Square shopping complex in University Heights, illuminating the 10-acre parcel’s attributes as a mixed-use boon. Voice narration, graphics and low-key music lend the video an additional professional polish aimed at would-be development partners.

“Drone footage helps us hype the property that we’re marketing,” said Avison Young vice president David Horowitz. “We want to stand out and catch people’s attention.”

The technology has practical benefits as well. Cleveland production company Aerial Agents created a video of a large Avison-brokered industrial property on Cass Avenue, adding graphics to outline specific areas of the parcel ready for redevelopment. Still shots of the highlighted parcel were then used in the firm’s printed marketing materials.

“It’s geared toward developers who could assess the parcel and know what they have to work with,” Horowitz said. “There’s not many brokerages using videos with different angles and zooms.”

Most homebuyers begin their search online, so differentiating properties through a high-quality “virtual tour” is key, drone proponents said. Keller Williams’ Nicholson points to a ground-level photo of a lakefront colonial from a real estate magazine. While there’s nothing wrong with a traditional curb-appeal shot, some choice overhead images would make the property pop in the mind of a buyer, he said.

“With a drone you could see the lake, the horizon, and the beach that sits behind the house,” said Nicholson. “But you can’t because this house looks like every other house on the block.”

Drone imagery also saves time, as it displays details of a property a buyer may not glean until they get on site.

“Maybe a family doesn’t want to deal with an in-ground pool because of the maintenance,” Nicholson said. “If I’m a buyer’s agent, I don’t want to drag them to 15 different houses they’re not going to want.”

Howard Hanna real estate agent Susan Smith said drones are best suited for expansive single properties or sprawling developments. For instance, Howard Hanna flew a drone over the Bridgeport luxury home complex in Mayfield Heights, giving viewers insight on individual dwellings along with the overall layout of the neighborhood.

“It’s exciting because it’s interactive,” said Smith. “You can start from a home’s entrance and literally pull someone through the property.”

For all its benefits, a drone can’t shoot all the photography and video needed to market a listing. The technology is not well suited for interiors of smaller spaces, or properties shrouded by trees and other buildings, noted Gunn of Gunn Photography.

“I don’t do interiors unless it’s for large warehouses where I can fly safely inside,” he said. “I’ve been asked to do mansions, but the risk isn’t worth the reward. I don’t want to crash into somebody’s chandelier.”

Realtors hiring a drone photographer should be aware of legal and safety risks, area experts said. Any professional company will have a Federal Aviation Administration Part 107 UAV Operator’s certificate as well as liability insurance that specifically covers piloting a drone for commercial photography purposes. The National Association of Realtors even offers a guide to help agents navigate the ever-growing realm of flying cameras.

Regarding privacy concerns, Nicholson will inform a client’s neighbors if he’s shooting a house, and will make sure to block particular lines of site — if there are children outside, for example — upon request.

With the spring home buying season underway, drones will continue to be a valuable asset utilized by the forward-thinking real estate company, he said.

“This technology is not going away; it’s only getting better,” Nicholson said. “Sooner or later, drones or going to take over the industry. It’s one of those things where you either jump on or you get left behind.”

Article from http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20180505/news/160411/real-estate-agents-using-drones-help-lift-sales

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