Revive introduces 'Revive Vision AI,' an AI-powered Listing Tool for Real Estate Professionals
Blending computer vision with advanced machine learning techniques for more data-driven decision making
IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 6, 2023 -- At the heart of every real estate transaction rooted in maximizing ROI, real estate professionals and sellers must understand the property's current value, its comparison to neighborhood comparable, its maximum potential value, necessary improvements to achieve that value, their estimated costs, and the expected ROI on improvements made.
Today marks a significant advancement in the artificial intelligence tools available to real estate professionals. For the first time, agents can leverage the unparalleled speed and efficiency of AI-powered insights backed by award-winning computer vision technology that incorporates the current condition of a home to help determine a more accurate current value and maximum potential value than a traditional automated valuation model (AVM).
Introducing "Revive Vision AI" from Revive – the most advanced pre-sale home renovation solution. This industry-first smart tool analyzes property photos to assess a property's current value and renovation potential, utilizing Revive's renovation recommendation engine to provide estimates backed by local contractors that maximize listing values. Think smart CMA meets AI-powered AVM, providing a more detailed foundation for discussions to help agents with their listing and pricing strategy.
Revive is inviting early adopters to use Revive Vision AI - now in beta testing (join the waitlist) – which provides a comprehensive assessment of a property's potential, providing a detailed plan and overview that includes:
Current Condition Home Value: The estimated current market value of the property in its existing condition, without any renovations or improvements.
Future ARV (After-Remodeled Value): The projected market value of the property after completing the recommended renovations and improvements outlined in the renovation plan.
Potential Score: A score that signals the property's value-add potential; a higher score means greater opportunity, while a lower score indicates limited opportunities for enhancement relative to its surroundings.
Renovation Scope & Budget: A detailed outline of the recommended renovations and improvements, including specific tasks and estimated contractor-backed costs for each item.
Renovation Investment Plan: A comprehensive plan that outlines the estimated profit potential for the homeowner if they choose to complete the recommended renovations before selling the property.
"Agents are the powerhouse of the real estate industry, and sellers expect them to be knowledgeable on all things real estate," said Michael Alladawi, CEO and Co-Founder at Revive. "Revive Vision AI is an easy way for real estate professionals to present more detailed and accurate information to their clients in a digestible, easy-to-understand way," he added.
The Vision AI process is simple: Real estate agents upload at least 10 photos of their client's property into the Revive admin dashboard via the mobile app or desktop. Second, Vision AI compares the subject property with similar homes in the area by analyzing photos available in MLS records. Next, the data obtained from the photo analysis and comparative analysis is processed using advanced machine learning algorithms. This enables Vision AI to generate accurate estimates of renovation costs, potential market value, and projected return on investment. Lastly, a report is generated providing investment insights and recommended home improvements.
Revive Vision AI brings all of the most important pieces of information needed for real estate professionals and sellers to make an informed decision that meets their specific goals.
"Revive Vision AI is delivering what may be one of the most practical and valuable uses of AI in real estate available today," said Dalip Jaggi, COO and co-founder at Revive, who spearheads its technology development, adding, "By leveraging computer vision and machine learning, we're able to show homeowners how a pre-sale renovation may significantly increase their wealth. We are fundamentally improving the listing conversation real estate professionals will have with their clients, helping sellers make better decisions through real data."
Jaggi notes that Revive Vision AI delivers additional business benefits, including:
Foundation for discussion: The Vision AI report serves as a starting point, fostering meaningful conversations with clients about their property's potential and the best strategies to realize it.
Confidence and credibility: Whether you're using Vision AI to obtain knowledge or use it as confirmation of things already known, or an illustrative educational tool with your clients, you will be able to speak with confidence and credibility, knowing you are making decisions backed by empirical data and professional analysis.
Competitive advantage: By utilizing Vision AI as an early adopter, you will be one of the first professionals using machine learning and computer vision technology to help guide and confirm listing and pricing strategies.
Quick property assessment: Within seconds, agents can generate valuable property insights for themselves & their clients at the listing appointment stage.
Revive's latest breakthrough in real estate technology reflects the company's ongoing commitment to helping real estate professionals deliver a better sales experience while assisting clients to maximize the value of their homes. Revive has aggressively expanded its AI capabilities, building out its development teams.
"This is only the beginning of how AI will be leveraged to help real estate agents and homeowners," said Alladawi.
Alladawi points out that while Revive Vision AI provides a comprehensive game plan, it is an informative tool and does not replace professional advice. Homeowners are encouraged to consult with real estate experts, tax professionals, and other industry specialists for tailored guidance based on their specific circumstances.
How to access Revive Vision AI
Revive Vision AI will be made available on a subscription basis exclusively first to real estate agents who currently work with Revive. Pricing details will be available soon. Agents can join a waitlist to be invited to participate in the coming weeks ahead as the program rolls out in phases.
Learn more about Revive Vision AI at www.revivevision.ai.
About Revive
Revive Real Estate partners with real estate professionals to provide the funding, guidance, and contractor needed to get strategic pre-sale renovations done fast and for maximum value. By providing access to Revive's network of top contractors, Revive homes sell for more and help sellers move ahead by maximizing their sales value. Revive is last year's iOi Summit Pitch Battle winner. Discover more at www.revive.realestate.
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RETECHNOLOGY PREMIUM MARKETPLACE RELATED PRODUCTS | WEBINARS | SPECIAL OFFERS
BoxBrownie.com and 72SOLD Partner to Boost Agents' Selling Power
BoxBrownie.com, a proptech company known globally for its photo editing service, has partnered with real estate brand 72SOLD to further boost the selling capabilities of agents and deliver impactful results within the dynamic and competitive U.S. property market.
BoxBrownie.com Co-Founder Brad Filliponi said he's excited to be bringing 72SOLD agents a whole host of new listing-enhancing tools to help maximize their selling potential.
"As the global leaders in real estate photo editing and visual marketing, BoxBrownie.com will empower 72SOLD agents with exceptional property photos that will amplify their listings and drive their sales," Mr. Filliponi said. "With this partnership, our market-leading editing service will be seamlessly incorporated into the initial phase of the 72SOLD program's sales process."
72SOLD CEO and Founder Greg Hague shared his enthusiasm for the new partnership. "Spectacular photography is the single most important element in attracting buyers to homes, and BoxBrownie.com is number one in the world at home photography, which is why 72SOLD is so proud to be their U.S. partner."
"We are thrilled to be using another form of advanced photographic technology to present our homes in a way that attracts more buyers and achieves higher prices for our sellers," Mr. Hague said.
In a highly competitive industry, both BoxBrownie.com and 72SOLD emphasize the benefits of streamlined marketing.
Offering sellers a streamlined experience, 72SOLD accelerates the home-selling process by compressing the marketing, buyer identification, showings, and offers into eight days.
BoxBrownie.com is committed to delivering a 24-hour turnaround service on basic photo edits to meet the needs of the fast-paced real estate industry.
About BoxBrownie.com
Online proptech company, BoxBrownie.com is an industry leader in visual property marketing, providing lead-generating products to real estate and building industry professionals worldwide. Founded on innovation and driven by the latest technology, they offer a wide range of high-quality image editing services designed to showcase any property to its full potential.
For more information about BoxBrownie.com, visit www.boxbrownie.com.
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HomeJab real estate photographer survey shares 'Rants and Raves'
Experts sound off on the good, the bad, and the ugly found during listing shoots
Cherry Hill, NJ - September 26, 2022 -- HomeJab, which provides real estate agents on-demand professional real estate photography services in all 50 US states, released its first annual "Rants and Raves" survey of professional real estate photographers.
HomeJab, which has delivered more than 4,000,000 images to help real estate agents sell and rent more than $35 billion in listings, polled more than 100 professional real estate photographers for its survey.
"Research shows time after time that professional real estate photography helps sell homes faster and for more money," said HomeJab founder and CEO Joe Jesuele. "Most of the time (67%), professional real estate photographers work with highly cooperative sellers. But too often, sellers are not as cooperative as they should be and sometimes, surprisingly, they are uncooperative."
According to Jesuele, a leading real estate imaging expert, the HomeJab "Rants and Raves" survey uncovered a series of "best practices" for home sellers, shared almost universally by the photo pros.
Photographer rants
Among the survey findings are the Top 5 things professional real estate photographers wish all sellers did (that most don't do) before a shoot:
Declutter – 95%
Remove objects in the way of a photo (toys, bikes, hoses, etc.) – 86%
Clean the house – 75%
Fix light bulbs – 73%
Clean pathways and driveways (remove cars) – 54%
The survey also discovered "the one thing that sellers forget" that bothers professional real estate photographers: decluttering before the shoot. A common complaint of the photo pros was that many sellers attempted to declutter during the shoot, going room by room at the last minute.
"Moving clutter room-to-room like musical chairs disrupts the flow and slows down the process," said a real estate photographer from Lakeland, Florida, adding significant additional time to a shoot.
"Many sellers begin prepping after I arrive," observed a photographer from Chicago. "They should know the home should be ready upon arrival."
Seller raves
The HomeJab survey also asked professional real estate photographers the one thing sellers do that they appreciate most.
The consensus: having the house ready when they arrive.
A photo pro from Austin notes that having the house "decluttered – neat and tidy" is a huge help. A veteran photographer from Greenwood Village, Colorado, adds, "A place that's ready to go when I arrive – that's awesome."
And when asked, "What is the one thing a seller can do to make your job easier?" there was less universal agreement among professional real estate photographers on advice, including whether the seller should stay – or go.
While real estate photographers need sellers to stay out of the way of their shoot, some say sellers should leave during the shoot. But other photographers want them within earshot to get permission to make minor adjustments to improve a photo.
The HomeJab survey also found some photographers don't want to be interrupted with questions, while others enjoy the banter with a seller.
The best approach, according to HomeJab's Jesuele, "Sellers should ask what they can do to make the professional's job easier at the start. The result will be better photos, the professional tells us."
Other suggestions that photographers have for sellers to make their job easier:
Control your pets
Park cars down the street
Be ready to provide access when the photographer arrives
Advice to real estate agents
Many photographers also said they rely on the real estate agent working with the seller to ensure the home is decluttered and clean when they arrive for the shoot. "Good agents will arrive at a property ahead of time and turn on all the lights and clean up anything that shouldn't be there," said a Cherry Hill, New Jersey-based photographer, adding, "Bad agents show up late and demand that everything be cleaned to perfection."
Photographers surveyed also shared what they wished every agent told their seller, including these top three recommendations:
Photographers cannot retouch photos, remove something (editing instructions are provided by the seller's agent and HomeJab handles the editing)
How much time the photographer will need.
Photographers can't send the photos directly to the seller. Instead, the seller will get them from their agent.
Other things the HomeJab "Rants and Raves" survey found that professional real estate photographers appreciate most:
Have all the lights on, fans and TVs off, and blinds or shades open
Secure your pets, keep the house clear of other people, and stay out of the way
Make sure access for the photographer is easy and available upon arrival
"Do not underestimate the photographer," advises one. "We are part of the success of the property's sale." About HomeJab
HomeJab is America's leading on-demand professional real estate photography and video service for real estate pros. Lightning-fast high-end visual production offerings also include immersive 3D interactive tours, floor plan creation, affordable virtual staging, turnkey aerial services, and the creation of real-estate-backed NFTs. Its efficient one-stop-shop for real estate listings promotions at HomeJab.com features affordable and customizable shoots to create the most engaging visual content for faster home sales and enrich the listing agent's personal brand. HomeJab is available nationwide and in the US and Canada. Learn more at HomeJab.com.
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What are the most popular real estate listing photos? New HomeJab study reveals the answers
Cherry Hill, NJ - June 22, 2022 -- A new study of real estate photography data from HomeJab finds that the most popular real estate listing photo is not the home's front exterior. Instead, bedroom photos were ranked first, barely nudging out kitchen photos. Front exterior shots placed a distant fifth.
HomeJab, which provides real estate agents on-demand professional real estate photography and other visual production services in all 50 states, partnered with Artificial Intelligence firm Restb.ai to study more than 14,000 photos of homes for sale.
Professional real estate photographers hired by listing agents took the images used for the research from a random selection of 600 properties listed for sale in early June 2022.
The HomeJab study – using Restb.ai computer vision technology – found:
Bedroom photos topped the list. More than one in ten images used to sell a home were bedroom photos (11.92%).
Kitchen photos came in second place, just 1/50th of one percent lower than bedroom photos (11.90%).
Living room photos took the third spot, with 10.79%.
Bathroom photos were No. 4 with 9.75%.
Front exterior photos rounded out the top 5 most popular real estate listing photos with 8.70%.
"When you scroll through listings of homes for sale online, typically, you see an exterior shot," said Joe Jesuele, founder and CEO of HomeJab. "But that's not the most popular photo that real estate photographers capture. Instead, professionally shot photos of the kitchen and bedroom are the most common ones used to help sell homes," he said.
HomeJab enlisted the help of real estate's leading computer vision firm, Restb.ai, to automatically sort through thousands of photographs from homes currently for sale, use its computer vision technology to identify the type of photo, and then classify and sort the images.
"What would take a research team hundreds of total people hours to accomplish manually, Restb.ai was able to provide these research results in minutes," noted the founder and CEO of Restb.ai, Xavi Hernando.
HomeJab's Jesuele explains that using only professionally shot real estate photos improves the quality of the study findings because research shows that high-quality, professional real estate photos are more effective in selling homes.
He notes that past research from the Center for Realtor Development shows that professional real estate photography helps homes sell 32 percent faster. Homes with more professional photos sell for more, too. Homes in the $200,000 to $1 million price range net sellers $3,000 to $11,000 more when using professional images.
The new HomeJab real estate photo study also shows that rounding out the Top 15 listing photos were:
Dining area – 4.48%
Aerial – 4.32%
Yard – 3.00%
Back exterior – 2.48%
Patio terrace – 2.10
Home office – 1.84%
Laundry room – 1.81%
Deck – 1.72%
Hallway – 1.39%
Foyer – 1.26%
The bottom six were Basement (1.22%), Garage (1.12%), Front door (1.11%), Pool (1.11%), Stairs (.93%) and Walk-In closets (.66%). Other miscellaneous photos comprised the remaining 16.38%.
Jesuele added, "It will be interesting to see if these numbers change over time – especially with the increased accessibility and use of drone footage for aerial photography and video. And because of the pandemic, will we see more photos of home offices in the future? Time will tell."
A summary report on this new HomeJab study is available here.
About the Study
For this study, HomeJab, which has real estate photography professionals available in every major US market and all 50 states, worked with real estate's leading computer vision firm Restb.ai. The study used 14,000 photographs of 600 homes for sale, shot by professional real estate photographers hired by the listing agent in early June 2022. Restb.ai used its AI technology to identify, categorize and sort the real estate listing photos.
About Restb.ai
Born in 2015 and operating across 5 continents, Restb.ai is the leading computer vision solution for the Real Estate market. Their AI-powered plug-n-play services identify, analyze, and categorize real estate specific insights at the image, listing, and market level with an accuracy of up to 99%. Imagine having a real estate expert analyze each of the 1 million property photos uploaded every day… Well, now you can. Learn more at Restb.ai.
About HomeJab
HomeJab is America's most popular and reliable on-demand professional real estate photography and video service for real estate pros. Lightning-fast high-end visual production offerings also include immersive 3D interactive tours, floor plan creation, affordable virtual staging, and turnkey aerial services. Its efficient one-stop-shop for real estate listings at HomeJab.com features affordable and customizable shoots that create the most engaging visual content for faster home sales and enrich the listing agent's personal brand. HomeJab is available in every major US market in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Toronto. Learn more at HomeJab.com.
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The first NFT platform for real estate images -- 'real' -- launched by HomeJab
New marketplace for one-of-a-kind images offers higher compensation for professional real estate photographers to "disrupt" the $4B stock photo industry
Cherry Hill, NJ - March 29, 2022 -- A new non-fungible token or NFT marketplace for real estate images called "real" – launched by HomeJab – offers an innovative alternative to stock photo services. Participating professional real estate photographers receive 96 percent of all sales proceeds – the highest compensation available from a major stock photo platform.
Photographers currently earn as little as 2 cents to 25 cents per month per photo through stock photo agencies, according to Phototutorial.
"We're flipping the model upside down," said Joe Jesuele, head of HomeJab.com, who led the development of real estate's first NFT platform of images. HomeJab provides real estate agents on-demand professional real estate photography and other visual production services in every major US market and all 50 states.
"Buyers such as real estate agents and their web and marketing agencies can purchase unique images with nearly all the compensation going to the artist – the photographer. That's the way it should be," he added.
Jesuele explains that one of the most significant advantages of this new NFT marketplace is its "real-world utility."
"Too many NFT projects today are designed to help the founders make money. The real NFT marketplace supports the hard work and gives new visibility to professional real estate photographers' artistry while properly supporting their creative efforts," he explained.
"By bridging the physical world and the metaverse, 'real' can help cut through the current clutter of NFT scams and pump and dumps of (worthless) coins that have no real utility. While other NFTs' value will collapse, we know from experience that good images will always have value and utility," Jesuele said.
The new real NFT marketplace is designed for real estate agents and digital marketers to purchase one-of-a-kind iconic real estate images. The real platform also enables clients to order custom NFTs to be shot and produced by professional real estate photographers for their exclusive commercial use as they will own the image.
Unlike images provided by stock photo agencies, which allows the same image to be used by anyone who pays a fee, images purchased on real are unique and owned by the buyer. Real estate agents and brokerages avoid having the same photos on their websites by purchasing one-of-a-kind images on the real NFT marketplace. If the NFT resells, royalties flow back to the original photographer.
"Buying an NFT through real provides agents and brokers one-of-a-kind images that only you can use versus licensing a repetitive stock image that any of your competitors can use. Marketing agencies know that using unique imagery helps agents and brokers create stronger brand recognition and avoid brand confusion," he added.
The real NFTs currently available include images of destinations in the public domain, such as historical landmarks, streetscapes, downtown areas, commercial hot spots, parks, bridges, buildings, and beaches.
"Think of the one single image that best describes where you live. What image would that be? That's the type of NFTs we expect to be the most popular as we launch," Jesuele said.
"We are disrupting the old, legacy stock image model to become a completely decentralized ‘Web3' solution powered by NFTs with the financial benefits going back to the photographers," Jesuele said.
To learn more about NFTs in real estate imaging, Jesuele published a blog explaining both the terms and the process here. To learn more about the new real NFT marketplace, go to nft.homejab.com.
About HomeJab
HomeJab is America's most popular and reliable on-demand professional real estate photography and video service for real estate pros. Lightning-fast high-end visual production offerings also include immersive 3D interactive tours, floor plan creation, affordable virtual staging, and turnkey aerial services. Its efficient one-stop-shop for real estate listings at HomeJab.com features affordable and customizable shoots that create the most engaging visual content for faster home sales and enrich the listing agent's personal brand. HomeJab is available in every major US market in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Toronto. Learn more at HomeJab.com.
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New HomeJab Real Estate Photo Study Finds Sellers are Unprepared
Survey also asks photography pros to rate real estate agents' "professionalism"
Cherry Hill, NJ - January 5, 2022 -- A new study of real estate photographers released today by HomeJab found that homeowners selling their homes are often not prepared for a photoshoot ordered by their real estate agent.
HomeJab, which provides real estate agents on-demand professional real estate photography and other visual production services nationwide, asked more than 300 professional photographers, "How often are homeowners not prepared for a shoot?"
More than half of the professional real estate photographers said that most of the time – half to more than half – homeowners are unprepared.
"Agents may be assuming their sellers know what they need to do to have their home ready for a photoshoot," said Joe Jesuele, founder and CEO of HomeJab. "But photography occurs very early in the listing process, and sellers may not realize what professional photographers need to make the right impressions," Jesuele added.
According to Jon Biddle, a 10-year real estate photography veteran from Philadelphia, PA who shoots more than 100 properties a year, many homeowners forget to declutter their homes, putting away personal items on counters – cell phones, purses, drinking glasses, liquor and more. "That can detract attention away from what is important," Biddle said. "Sellers often have to spend 20 minutes or more putting away personal items," Biddle added, "and agents could do more to make sure they're ready."
The HomeJab survey also turned the tables on real estate agents by asking photographers, "How professional is the typical real estate agent who hires you?" on a scale of 1-10, 10 being highly professional. Overall, photographers gave an average rating of 7.6, indicating agents who hire them are very professional.
Flavio Villacorta, a professional real estate photographer who serves Washington, D.C., shared that he/she finds that real estate agents who invest in professional photography – as well as 3D tours and aerial footage – have high professional standards in everything they do. "Most agents who only use professionally shot photos for their listings are typically the best agents in the marketplace," Villacorta said.
With the explosion in the popularity of using aerial photography to market homes for sale over the last several years, the HomeJab study asked professional real estate photographers if they have been harassed by someone when flying a drone to shoot aerial footage of a listing.
The HomeJab survey found that one-in-three photographers experienced harassment when flying a drone. The research also revealed that just 15% of photographers surveyed said they had never flown a drone.
Future Tech Trends
Finally, the survey asked professional real estate photographers to pick two technologies related to their business that they are "most excited about."
The findings:
The vast majority of photographers said "drones," topping the list with 68%.
360-degree cameras came in at the #2 spot with 54%.
Automated editing technology was #3 with 35%.
New mobile phones cameras (e.g., iPhone 13) were #4 with 18%.
NFTs (blockchain) was ranked #5 with 17%.
"The surprise is the strong interest in NFTs," said HomeJab's Jesuele. "Five years ago, NFTs didn't even exist. Now one-in-six photographers pick it as a Top 5 technology. NFTs are starting to make their way into all areas of creative arts, including a growing interest among professional real estate photographers, and that's exciting."
The HomeJab Professional Real Estate Photographer Survey collected responses from 310 professional real estate photographers nationwide. Fifty percent of the photographers surveyed shoot more than 100 property listings annually. Nearly one-in-three photographers surveyed shoot more than 200 property listings annually, with 40% of the participants being professional photographers for at least six years.
The photographers polled represent all areas of the country: 22% from the Northeast, 25% from the Southeast, 17% from the Midwest, 19% from the Southwest, 7% from the Northwest, and 10% from other locations.
A summary report from HomeJab is available here.
About HomeJab
HomeJab is America's most popular and reliable on-demand professional real estate photography and video service for real estate pros. Lightning-fast high-end visual production offerings also include immersive 3D interactive tours, floor plan creation, affordable virtual staging, and turnkey aerial services. Its efficient one-stop-shop for real estate listings at HomeJab.com features affordable and customizable shoots that create the most engaging visual content for faster home sales and to enrich the listing agent's personal brand. HomeJab is available in every major US market in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Toronto. Learn more at HomeJab.com.
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RICOH360 Tours Releases AI Virtual Staging
The AI Virtual Staging is a new feature that automatically arranges virtual furniture on 360° images of vacant rooms through Artificial Intelligence.
RICOH360 Tours, a service of RICOH Company Ltd, the only truly complete and affordable 360° virtual tour solution under one global brand, today announced the launch of the AI Virtual Staging feature.
AI Virtual Staging will be available to all users as a beta. This new feature automatically arranges virtual furniture on 360° images in vacant rooms using Artificial Intelligence. In addition, a new pricing plan will be launched on July 15th, 2021.
The need to introduce remote selling using virtual tours allows you to reach the largest pool of potential buyers. Your viewers will experience a realistic tour of properties they are interested in and when they contact you, they are probably very interested in your listed property. The simple and convenient operation of RICOH360 Tours has been well received by many customers, with the number of registered users exceeding 30,000.
New Feature: AI Virtual Staging Beta
Virtual furniture and accessories are automatically arranged by AI on 360° images in vacant rooms to make the space more attractive. Visitors will be able to visualize themselves living in the home, so it aids in selling your property faster. Furthermore, RICOH's AI technology enables virtual staging of properties with furniture within 10 - 60 minutes.
The free plan allows you to virtual stage up to ten 360° images per month, the pro plan allows you to virtual stage up to 20 images per month, and the business plan allows you to virtual stage up to 100 images per month. RICOH360 Tours users can use this function at no additional charge. RICOH360 Tours virtual staging reduces the time, cost and effort required to stage a home. AI virtual staging will be offered to users as a beta version, and improvements will be made in preparation for the official release.
A sample AI virtual staging can be found here.
Example of AI Virtual Staging Beta
Before and After
New pricing plans
New pricing plans are now available: Pro plan and Business plan. Customers who sign up for an annual subscription will receive a discount of approximately 15%, starting at $39/month (for an annual paid subscription), which is lower than the previous plan. Now, additional team members can be added not only for the Business plan, but also for the Pro plan.
The previous plan (Entry and Standard plans) will no longer be available for new customers. Existing paid users can continue to use the previous plans, but they can also switch to the new plans if they choose.
Click here for new pricing plans.
About RICOH360 Tours
RICOH360 Tours is the official virtual tour platform for RICOH THETA, launched in July 2020. It has been supporting sales and marketing operations in real estate and other industries as a cloud service that allows anyone from anywhere to virtually view "Spaces" online without having to visit the site.
With a RICOH THETA and a PC/smartphone, anyone can easily create and publish a virtual tour. There is no limit to the number of virtual tours you can publish, the number of images you can insert in a tour. Agents may add property and contact information to the virtual tour so it can be utilized in various ways, such as shared via e-mails or SNS, embed to a webpage or can be shown through web conferencing systems. With the virtual tour form function, Call to Action (CTA), you can set up a form in the virtual tour that asks for your visitor's contact information before they can view the entire tour.
Furthermore, customers can use "AI image enhancement," "AI Video Maker" and "AI Virtual staging beta," which use Ricoh's original AI technology, and are available for all plans, making it easy to create attractive content.
For more information, please contact us from below:
About AI Virtual Staging betaAbout RICOH360 Tours
About Ricoh Data Service Business
Ricoh is the leader in the development of high-quality immersive 360° cameras and platforms for prosumers and professionals to easily capture and share 360° views of physical spaces from a mobile app in minutes. Ricoh creates intuitive solutions that require no professional, technical or photography experience to create immersive digitized photo-realistic views of a physical environment. For more information, please visit here.
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Back At You Launches Instagram Integration
You asked, and we answered! Back At You officially announces a complete integration with Instagram, providing our clients with scheduling, auto-posting and publishing of content on Instagram through Back At You's Social Media Center.
With this integration, Back At You becomes the only real estate technology company to schedule and post content to Instagram. Many companies who claim to publish directly to Instagram simply send a push notification to remind users to post, but users have to manually publish their scheduled content to their feed. This integration makes Back At You the only company in the real estate space to have the auto-publish functionality.
Our system creates, schedules, and auto-posts relevant real estate related content to client's pages without the user having to do any work or heavy lifting. In addition to that, Back At You automatically can publish a client's new listing to their Instagram business profile.
"The ability to publish Instagram content, including homes for sale, has been our top request this past year," said Michael Glazer, CEO and Co-founder of Back At You. "As huge as Instagram is, it's still at its early stages of use for real estate brokerages and agents. Our new, complete integration with Instagram will significantly help our clients raise their online profiles, accelerate their branding, and reach new audiences."
Founded in 2011, Back At You is the only social media company that is an official partner of both the National Association of REALTORS®' REALTOR Benefits® Program and a Facebook & Instagram Marketing Partner with Ad Technology and FBX specialties.
In addition to Back At You's award winning social media platform, the company provides all-in-one technology solutions including front and back end systems to help brokerages consolidate technology, save money and increase agent adoption. Back At You offers best-in-kind technologies to the real estate industry.
About Back At You
Back At You provides automated social media marketing, and an all-in-one solution designed to make companies more efficient, improve office communications, streamline operations, and reduce operating costs. The company offers best-in-class technology for both enterprise clients and individual agents and brokers. The company's dedication to real estate and technology has earned it awards from the National Association of REALTORS® as one of the top real estate technologies in the world, Red Herring as a Top 100 technology company in North America and from Facebook as an Official Facebook Marketing Partner.
For more information on Back At You, visit www.backatyou.com or email at [email protected].
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Goodbye, Endless Scrolling! Announcing Realtor.com's Photo First Feature
Deep learning technology automatically categorizes and displays photos to simplify home search
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 29, 2019 -- Realtor.com, the Home of Home Search, today announced the release of its Photo First feature, to help home buyers find their must-have rooms and finishes without the headache of scrolling through dozens of listing photos. The first-of-its-kind feature is designed to deliver the best browsing experience by making photos more personal and relevant than ever before. Powered by deep learning, the Photo First feature can automatically recognize characteristics of a room and organize photos into categories with more than 97 percent accuracy.
For consumers, photos are an essential element of a home search. Realtor.com® has reimagined the listing photo experience to make it simpler and more useful than ever before. Now, with the Photo First feature, buyers can quickly hone in on the photos that are most important to them by simply selecting a feature category: exterior, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living room or dining room. And thanks to the feature's deep learning-based algorithm, there is no additional work required for the seller or listing agent to optimize photos.
"Imagine a home search that's completely customizable. One where you can choose all the features that are important to you, and not only find those homes quickly, but view those photos first," said Chung Meng Cheong, chief product officer, realtor.com®. "The Photo First feature uses deep learning to optimize and categorize listing photos for each home to simplify the home journey. So, if you're particular about features in your kitchen or bathroom, you can view those photos right away."
Developed by realtor.com®'s mobile and data science teams, the Photo First feature is powered by a proprietary deep learning model for image classification, which enables it to recognize different aspects and automatically associate each photo with the coinciding room. The result is a simple and streamlined interface that users love. In fact, 100 percent of test users preferred the Photo First interface and more than 60 percent engaged with photo categories during testing. The new functionality led to more consumers viewing the home's details and taking the next step to connect with an agent and learn more.
Realtor.com® continues to invest in developing the best-in-class user experience for home shoppers. Today's announcement is the first of several planned AI-powered photo feature updates designed to help make buying and selling a home simpler and more enjoyable than ever.
Photo First is now available on Android and iOS, and will be coming soon to web and mobile web.
About realtor.com®
Realtor.com®, The Home of Home Search℠, offers the most MLS-listed for-sale listings among national real estate portals, and access to information, tools and professional expertise that help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. Through its Opcity platform, realtor.com® uses data science and machine learning to connect consumers with a real estate professional based on their specific buying and selling needs. Realtor.com® pioneered the world of digital real estate 20 years ago, and today is a trusted resource for home buyers, sellers and dreamers by making all things home simple, efficient and enjoyable. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS®. For more information, visit realtor.com.
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Leading Real Estate Photography Firms Form Association
Atlanta, GA – April 24, 2019 — Leading real estate photography companies have joined together to form the nation's first trade group for real estate photographers. The Association of Real Estate Photographers (AREP) has applied for status as a 501(c)(6) non-profit trade association with the Internal Revenue Service and has begun to accept new association membership for real estate photographers, real estate photography companies, and affiliates.
"Real Estate photographers are important partners providing many marketing services that increases a property's total sale price and decreases the number of Days on Market," said Paul Rodman, Executive Director and founding Board member of AREP. "Their creative work is remarkably valuable and should be protected. Working together, we can continue to help home buyers get a complete view of properties and avoid driving all over town while sellers get better informed shoppers who are more likely to buy."
Founding members of the Association of Real Estate Photographer include many of the leading real estate photography companies including VHT, Planomatic, FloorPlans Online, Vizzi Media, Collabora (TourFactory), Virtuance, IMOTO Photo, and HouseLens. The founding members represent a group of about 2,000 professional photographers who are either employees of the company or licensed sub-contractors.
Joining the founding members are a group of supporting Charter Members which include Twist Tours, Future Home Photo, Virtual Access Tours, South Florida Virtual Tour, Motion City Media, Southeastern Shutter, Top Notch 360 Real Estate Photography, A Beautiful Dominion, East Coast Virtual Tours, Picture Perfect Properties, and Boise Real Estate Photography. Charter members represent another 500 professional photographers.
One of the first initiatives of AREP is to develop a set of photography service agreements for use by members that clearly outline the license for the permitted use of photos and other media. "Companies like Twist Tours have invested in the development of agreements that protect our photographers, and our customers," says Allison Cartwright, Twist Tours CEO. "Twist Tour's goal in joining the Association is to collaborate with other firms in our industry to raise professionalism and operate cooperatively with others to develop mutually beneficial standards that support the role of photography in real estate marketing without jeopardizing the assets of the photographers."
AREP other initiatives will include developing professional standards, recommending best practices, offering education to members and creating certification.
AREP also is in the process of planning its first annual conference. The conference lineup will include orientation for new members, educational sessions on copyright protections, best practices for operating a photography services business, and provide a review of industry advocacy efforts.
Executive Director Paul Rodman recently spoke at the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO) fall conference to share thoughts image data standards being added to the RESO Data Dictionary with the multiple listing organizations on how they can collaborate to better manage the rights of digital asset owners. AREP intends to work with the legal workgroup of the Council of MLS and the National Association of REALTORS to develop a healthy ecosystem for digital rights management of property media.
Membership in the Association of Real Estate Photographers is available at AREphotographers.org. Individual memberships start at $185 per year. Membership is scaled based on the number of photographers working for the company.
About the Association of Real Estate Photographers (AREP)
The Association of Real Estate Photographers is a non-profit trade association representing 2,500 professionals and growing rapidly. The mission of AREP is to protect and preserve media of all kinds while promoting the value of real estate media to the public and clients. AREP elevates media by creative professionals by emphasizing quality, developing professional standards, recommending best practices, offering ongoing education to members. Learn more or join AREP at AREphotographers.org.
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Homesnap Launches 'Flashback Photos' Feature for Pro+ Members
We're excited to announce the latest Homesnap Pro+ feature: Flashback Photos!
With Flashback Photos, you can unlock unseen listing photos to get better context for a property's history — valuable for buyer and listing agents alike.
Curious about a current listing's recent renovations, strengths and weaknesses? Want to get important insights for a listing presentation based on what a property looked like last time it listed? Uncover all of the above — and impress buyers and sellers — with the click of a button with Flashback Photos via Homesnap Pro+.
Here's how it works:
1. Navigate to a property or listing.
2. Click the "Flashback Photos" icon toward the top of the page.
3. If you're a Homesnap Pro+ member, you'll be able to unlock unseen Flashback Photos from previous times when a listing has been on the market.
4. If you're not a Homesnap Pro+ member, you can click "unlock now" to purchase a Homesnap Pro+ subscription and begin accessing unseen photos.
As a Homesnap Pro+ member, you'll have other perks, too. Members get verification and management of their Google business profile, which we optimize so you appear more in Google search results and Google Maps.
Not a Homesnap Pro+ member and ready to upgrade? Click here!
Already a Homesnap Pro+ member and ready to explore Flashback Photos? Just look into any Homesnap property to start using this new feature!
To view the original post, visit the Homesnap blog.
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VHT Studios Acquires Florida Real Estate Photography Company, Inviso USA
VHT Studios Continues Growth Through Third Key Acquisition in Recent Months
ROSEMONT, ILL. (MAY 01, 2018) - VHT Studios, the nation's leading provider of professional photography, virtual staging and visual marketing services for real estate and businesses, announced the acquisition of Inviso USA, a central Florida company and provider of professional photography services to real estate professionals.
This latest move marks VHT Studios' third major acquisition in less than three years. The acquisition of Inviso USA brings additional strength to the already prominent presence of VHT Studios throughout Florida.
The added skill and expertise of the Inviso USA team, combined with the strengths of VHT Studios' Florida team, will offer even greater and deeper services and accessibility for VHT Studios' clients. Florida real estate and business professionals now can take advantage of professional photography for residential and commercial property spaces at all price points, from starter homes and condominiums to luxury estates and everything in between.
To meet the growing and diverse needs of residential and commercial real estate and other business professionals, the acquisition combines the talents of the two largest real estate-focused photographer networks in Florida. Existing Inviso USA clients will immediately benefit from the deep and wide variety of VHT Studios' photography and visual marketing offerings and resources.
"We warmly welcome Inviso clients and photographers to our growing company," said Brian Balduf, CEO and co-founder, VHT Studios. "With our combined talent base, we are providing even more services to the thousands of Realtors® across the state of Florida, as well as the entire Southeast region. As we continue to grow, we look for partners that possess the same high standards as VHT Studios for quality, service and convenience."
VHT Studios' proprietary platform for the production and management of visual marketing assets helps both photographers and real estate professionals get the best return on their efforts and investments. Real estate professionals can devote more time to their clients and avoid the hassle of uploading their photographs and other digital assets to their web sites, advertisements and other marketing materials.
"VHT Studios and Inviso USA both value excellent imagery and technology as integral to remaining ahead in the real estate photography industry," said Claus Madsen, CEO, Inviso USA. "With our shared values, I am confident that VHT Studios will carry on and expand the service levels our clients have come to depend on. With VHT's outstanding track record of growth and commitment to excellence, we are extremely pleased knowing our clients and photographers will be in great hands with the real estate photography industry leader."
VHT Studios is working diligently to transition Inviso USA photographers and clients into the VHT Studios' family, to smoothly integrate and expand service offerings and client support teams for continued excellence and exceptional service in Florida in 2018 and beyond.
In 2015, VHT Studios acquired Gotham Photo Company, New York City's largest photography company, and on January 5, 2018, acquired the photography business of Circlepix, another real estate photography company with prominence in the western states.
About VHT Studios
VHT Studios, the industry founder, celebrates twenty years of serving real estate and business professionals. Since 1998, VHT has delivered excellence in professional photography, virtual tour videos, virtual staging, interactive and standard floor plans, drone photography and video, 3D home tours, and image management services to top professionals looking to become even more successful. VHT Studios' services ensure properties get seen more, sell and rent faster and at a greater price, which also helps attract new clients. A full-service partner to leading real estate agents, brokerages and businesses, the VHT Studios team delivers the most powerful marketing and selling tools – starting with high-quality photography -- through creation and final display.
With an unrivaled nationwide network of the top professional photographers and image specialists, VHT Studios' programs are an affordable, valuable investment for real estate agents, who expect their listings to be seen whenever and wherever homebuyers search, and for brokers looking to recruit and retain top agents. Based in Rosemont, Illinois, VHT Studios has photographed more than 10 million rooms and helped more than 200,000 real estate and business professionals sell and rent more than $200 billion in properties since the company's founding.
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Virtual Staging Coming of Age for the Real Estate Industry in 2018, According to RealEZPhotoFix
Real Estate Agents find Photo Enhancement and Virtual Staging Solutions to be Effective in Markets with Out of Area and International Buyers.
PLEASANTON, CALIF. (FEBRUARY 15, 2018) -- VirtualTourCafe, a national real estate virtual tour service, recently launched RealEZPhotoFix, an online service to help real estate agents convert cold, empty, uninviting homes into beautifully staged, warm and inviting spaces using modern technology and skilled designers.
"We had so many of our real estate virtual tour clients asking about virtual staging, we put together a team of professionals to design and launch a service that would be easy to use, realistic high-quality photos and still be inexpensive and fast turn-around. Our clients tell us we achieved our goal, said Tim Denbo, President/CEO RealEZPhotoFix.
The new online real estate virtual staging and photo enhancement service also offers real estate agents the ability to convert their photos from good to great in less than 24 hours by using highly skilled photo editors to apply a proprietary 15-step process designed to make the agent look like a professional photographer, and help the real estate agent and home owner sell fast and many times for a higher price.
"Real estate agents have a lot of challenges with getting a property ready for the market. There are situations when the photos need to get done even though it is a cloudy day, a car is in the driveway, or the house doesn't get decluttered in time for photos. This is why we developed RealEZPhotoFix said Tim Denbo President/CEO RealEZPhotoFix and Best-Selling Author of How to Photograph and Market Houses to Sell Fast."
Virtual staging is coming of age due to new 3D technology enhancements allowing skilled designers and editors to create realistic photos with incredible details that make it hard to tell the difference between a physically staged home and a virtually staged home. In addition, buyers are becoming more accepting of technology tools and are not surprised, as long as the real estate agent or homeowner discloses the facts. A good practice is to show both photos, the before and after with disclaimer that the after photo has been virtually staged.
Even with virtual staging coming of age, home stagers are not going to be out of a job anytime soon. Virtual staging is not going to replace physical home staging. If the seller has the budget to do physical staging, this is still the preferred method so buyers visiting the home can see it in person. However, with virtual staging costing just $32 per photo at RealEZPhotoFix, the difference of hundreds if not thousands of dollars can make a big difference if the seller is on a budget.
RealEZPhotoFix was developed to help the agent with these and many other issues. The photo enhancement services include turning cloudy skies blue and object removal to declutter or get rid of that car in the driveway. These changes can make the difference between a house selling fast and siting on the market and getting stale. Virtual staging is coming of age, and real estate agents and brokers are helping their clients sell their homes faster and many times for a higher price by utilizing this new innovative tool.
About VirtualTourCafe, LLC
VirtualTourCafe is a best-in-class online real estate virtual tour and marketing service to help real estate agents, brokers and associations create automated virtual tours, print flyers and videos for their listings, providing more exposure and faster sales for their customers. Headquartered in Pleasanton, CA, VirtualTourCafe also has offices in Los Angeles, CA. For more information, visit VirtualTourCafe.com.
About RealEZPhotoFix
Operated as a DBA of VirtualTourCafe, LLC and is an integrated easy-to-use photo enhancement service that works in harmony with VirtualTourCafe, an online real estate virtual tour service, or as a stand-alone service at RealEZPhotoFix.com.
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LeadingRE Names PlanOmatic as Preferred Marketing Solution
CHICAGO – January 16, 2018 – Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® has selected PlanOmatic as a preferred provider through its Solution Group program, which presents top business resources to its global community of 565 real estate firms.
PlanOmatic provides professional real estate photography shot by industry veterans, with a network of 130 photographers in 32 states. The company's comprehensive marketing services also include interactive floor plans, virtual staging, aerial photography, 3D walkthroughs and digital advertising with an automated process that delivers materials within two days.
"PlanOmatic offers a seamless system for delivering beautiful photography and other valuable marketing resources, which an agent can easily use on every listing," said Robin LaSure, LeadingRE vice president of corporate marketing. "With a focus on prompt delivery and customer experience for both the agent and the home owner, PlanOmatic is a welcome addition to our program."
Kori Covrigaru, PlanOmatic co-founder and CEO, adds, "We founded PlanOmatic because we believed in the power of photos to not only grab buyers' interest and help get the home sold, but also to create a connection between the seller and their brokerage. We also thought the process of getting amazing photos for every listing should be smooth, professional and friendly. We will offer these same sentiments to the LeadingRE network as a Solutions Group member."
PlanOmatic will be exhibiting during LeadingRE's upcoming Conference Week, January 29-February 2 at Wynn Las Vegas, where they will also be photographing the event.
Learn more about PlanOmatic at www.planomatic.com. Learn more about Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® at www.LeadingRE.com.
About PlanOmatic
PlanOmatic provides the real estate industry with marketing services, including photography, interactive floor plans, virtual staging, aerial photography, 3D walkthroughs and digital marketing. With a network of 130 photographers in 32 states and an automated ordering process, PlanOmatic is positioned to be every brokerage office's marketing solution for every listing. Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Denver, PlanOmatic serviced more than 73,000 properties nationwide in the past year alone. The company has been named the last three consecutive years as one of Inc. 5000s "America's fastest growing companies." For additional information about PlanOmatic call 866.599.7526 or email [email protected].
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Moxi Works Integrates with Virtual Home Staging Tool PadStyler
Moxi Works has partnered with PadStyler to give agents another way to boost their selling potential by helping buyers visualize the home in a better light. As visual home staging experts, PadStyler truly is the quintessential addition to the home staging efforts agents are currently doing.
Sell the vision
PadStyler isn't necessarily meant to be a home staging replacement – although it can be. It's meant to help agents up the game of their listing with amazing virtual staging. Why is this so necessary? It's often hard to envision what a home could look like with different furniture or even a remodel. PadStyler brings the buyers' visions to life in more ways than one.
Virtual furniture replacement
PadStyler can transform poorly or outdated furnished properties into stunning homes, so buyers can get a more realistic idea of what it will be like when they call the house "home." This is especially good when trying to give the home a modern feel to it, without having to update the actual house.
Renovation vision
Kitchens might need a little updating and it could be a reason a home isn't sold straight away, regardless of how amazing the in-home staging is. Some buyers just have a harder time then others when it comes to seeing what a house can be vs. what it is today. With PadStyler, buyers can visualize a beautiful renovated kitchen right in front of them. This goes for other rooms, paint color, flooring replacement – you name it.
Curb Appeal
Bad roof, dry nasty grass, or poorly tended to plants? No worries, PadStyler ups curb appeal in a major way by showcasing the exterior property photos in the best light.
Integration
The best part about this new Moxi Cloud service, is that it is fully integrated in a way that makes it a piece of cake for agents using it. All initiated via their Photo Gallery and Listing Management, here is what it will look like:
If it wasn't obvious already, we're extremely excited about this addition to the Moxi Cloud! We love PadStyler because it works for agents that are not currently doing home staging of any kind, but also for those that are home staging hooked. It is the perfect addition to all home staging efforts.
Happy to have you, PadStyler!
To view the original post, visit the Moxi Works blog.
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Moxi Works Adds PadStyler Virtual Home Staging Experts to Open Platform
December 13, 2017 – Seattle, WA – Moxi Works has partnered with PadStyler to give agents another way to boost their selling potential by helping buyers visualize the home in a better light. As visual home staging experts, PadStyler is the quintessential addition to home staging efforts agents are currently implementing.
It can be hard to envision what a home could look like with different furniture or a more detailed remodel. PadStyler can transform poorly or outdated furnished properties into stunning homes, so buyers can get a more realistic idea of what it could look like. With PadStyler, buyers can also visualize beautifully renovated rooms, like kitchens and bathrooms, right in front of them. This visualization can be done with all other rooms, paint colors, flooring replacements, etc. On average, homes styled with PadStyler Virtual Home Staging sell 78% faster and for 19% higher, according to PadStyler.
Mike McHenry, VP of Channels and Partnerships, said, "We love PadStyler. They have a unique solution because it works for agents that are not currently doing home staging of any kind, as well as those that are home staging regulars. It is the perfect addition to any and all home staging efforts."
Ancient roofs, unpleasant lawns, and poorly tended to plants can also be transformed virtually to increase curb appeal and showcase swoon worthy exterior property photos. All this means homes can be ready to put on the market sooner.
CJ Singh, CEO of PadStyler said, "Successful real estate marketers understand the value of helping buyers visualize the true potential of their future home. With this integration, Moxi Works users will gain access to PadStyler Virtual Staging and 3D Renovation services from within the Moxi Cloud platform they already know and love."
PadStyler is fully integrated into the Moxi Cloud open platform, making it even easier for agents to add it to their marketing efforts. All initiated via Photo Gallery and Listing Management.
About Moxi Works
Moxi Works is a residential brokerage services company that makes agents significantly more productive and brokerages more profitable by helping them effectively run their businesses. Moxi Works' integrated tools are centered on a sphere-based selling process that drastically increases agents' repeat and referral business, while lowering overall technology, training and support costs for the brokerage. With Moxi Works, brokerages are able to make their agents' lives simpler and their businesses more successful. More information at moxiworks.com.
About PadStyler
PadStyler Virtual Staging is the process of placing photorealistic digital home furnishings into property pictures. It helps potential buyers visualize their future home and is proven to significantly boost property appeal. Discover more at padstyler.com.
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VHT Studios Unveils Virtual Twilight for Real Estate Professionals to Captivate Buyers and Boost a Listing's Appeal
VHT Studios today debuts Virtual Twilight, the newest service in the company's Virtual Staging Suite that helps real estate professionals move homes faster and make their listings stand out from the competition. VHT Studios has always offered traditional twilight photography, and the rollout of Virtual Twilight gives real estate professionals even more flexibility to best serve sellers while stirring buyers' emotions through stunning real estate photography.
Virtual Twilight wows buyers through warm, romantic and welcoming exterior views of listings that appear to be photographed at dusk, the precious and magical moments between sunset and nightfall.
Virtual Twilight is another convenient alternative to VHT's traditional twilight photography sessions. VHT uses our professional photographers' daylight exterior photographs and our image specialists digitally transform them into twilight photographs. It saves time for the seller and real estate professional, since it requires no additional or extended late-day photography sessions.
Virtual Twilight is also a more economical option for real estate professionals who otherwise might not have considered a traditional twilight photography appointment for specific homes.
VHT Studios CEO and co-founder Brian Balduf says Virtual Twilight is the company's newest marketing tool aimed at providing even more convenient and cost-effective services that capture buyers' attention in yet another way to help agents sell homes faster and grow their businesses.
"Virtual Twilight helps real estate professionals present gorgeous exterior photography of a home, even when the weather is problematic and conditions are not perfect for VHT Studios' traditional twilight photography," said Balduf.
"The weather forecast is no longer a concern when capturing the beauty of a home's exterior at sunset," said Balduf.
Virtual Twilight complements VHT Studios' Virtual Staging Suite, which broadens a listing's appeal with solutions to a wide variety of traditional listing challenges. VHT's virtual staging lets real estate professionals present the full potential of a home by showing different room styles and options not previously imagined or available without hiring a painter, decorator or interior designer:
Virtual Staging decorates vacant spaces in any style and offers the benefits of traditional staging at a fraction of the cost.
Virtual Declutter removes clutter and "depersonalizes" living spaces.
Virtual Paint changes the color of any flat surface in a room.
Virtual Redecorate magically transforms any room with wide-ranging design styles and furnishings that are most likely to attract buyers.
VHT Studios' image specialists create their magic with tools and skills that present a home at twilight, by enhancing exterior photographs with artistic, yet realistic touches so a home appears as a welcoming beacon against a stunning backdrop of sky and landscape.
Virtual Twilight boosts a listing's WOW factor by appealing to buyers' emotions and dreams about their next home.
To view a high-resolution gallery of VHT's Virtual Twilight photography and other products in the Virtual Staging Suite, please click here.
Prices for Virtual Twilight start at $39 per photograph.
About VHT Studios
VHT Studios unrivaled nationwide network of professional photographers and image specialists deliver photography and image management services to top real estate professionals looking to become even more successful. VHT Studios is a full-service partner to leading real estate agents, brokerages and businesses. The VHT Studios team delivers to real estate and business professionals their most powerful selling tools – high quality photography and video – to ensure their properties get seen more, sell faster and at the best price. Based in Rosemont, Illinois, VHT Studios has helped more than 200,000 real estate and property professionals sell more than $200 billion in properties since the company's founding in 1998. For more information, please visit VHT.com.
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Commercial Real Estate Platform Truss and Immersive Media Technology Company Matterport Partner to Improve the Office Search Process
Commercial Tenants Leverage Virtual Reality to Remotely "Walk Through" Properties
CHICAGO and SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 18, 2017 -- Today, Commercial Real Estate (CRE) platform Truss and immersive media and virtual reality (VR) pioneer Matterport announced their partnership to provide commercial tenants with a completely new form of immersive 3D media when touring office spaces remotely on the Truss platform. With Matterport's state of the art technology, Truss customers will be able to experience full 3D models of properties and understand exactly what it's like to be inside a space. With the partnership in place, Matterport's Service Partner network of over 2,500 photographers will scan more than 2,500 additional listings.
"Our partnership with Matterport is essentially changing how people can visualize commercial properties," said Thomas Smith, co-founder of Truss. "Spending time to physically visit office spaces that may or may not be a match is no longer the only option to search for office space. Thanks to Matterport's sophisticated technology, we can now bring the space to tenants."
Matterport's new Pro2 camera offers DSLR-quality photos in addition to 3D virtual tours, VR experiences and dimensionally accurate floor plans. With the new partnership, Truss is utilizing all of the many outputs that can be created from one camera, allowing office seekers to navigate spaces and walk through them as if physically present. By providing complete information about a property in an immersive, online format, tenants shorten the deal cycle significantly.
"We're excited to partner with Truss as they pioneer innovative ways to help companies search for office space," said Bill Brown, CEO of Matterport. "Our end-to-end solution automates the process of capturing and creating immersive walk-throughs, enabling forward-thinking companies like Truss to deliver a superior experience to their customers."
Today, less than 10 percent of commercial listings include an interior photo of the property and less than 50 percent have complete pricing. The Truss platform transforms the experience and empowers office seekers with total cost of occupancy, dimensioned floor plans and interior details at the very beginning of the search process.
About Truss
Truss simplifies the process of finding and renting office space. Its web and mobile platform enables businesses to go from search to lease with ease. More information about Truss and how to lease office space is available at www.buildtruss.com.
About Matterport
Headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, Matterport is an immersive media technology company that delivers an end-to-end system for creating, modifying, distributing, and navigating immersive 3D and virtual reality (VR) versions of real-world spaces on Web, mobile devices, and VR headsets. The Matterport Pro Camera and Cloud Services make it quick and easy to turn real-world places into immersive virtual experiences. More information about Matterport is available at www.matterport.com.
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VHT Studios Unveils New Real Estate Marketing Tech Tools to Help Realtors® Broaden a Listing's Appeal
VHT Studios, the nation's largest real estate photography and video company, is introducing a new Virtual Staging Suite that enables buyers to see the potential beauty and possibilities of a home. VHT's new virtual staging suite strengthens Realtors® marketing efforts by broadening a listing's appeal with tools that virtually stage, declutter, paint or transform a home's interior.
VHT Studios' new Virtual Staging Suite includes:
Virtual Staging, decorating vacant spaces in any style and offering the benefits of traditional staging at a fraction of the cost
Virtual Declutter, removing clutter and "depersonalizing" living spaces
Virtual Paint, changing the appearance of any flat surface in a room
Virtual Redecorate, magically transforming any room with wide-ranging design styles and furnishings that are most likely to attract buyers
These four custom products are VHT Studios' direct response to real estate professionals who've turned to VHT Studios seeking cost-effective, labor-free, virtual "fixes" to attract homebuyers who might otherwise ignore a listing due to the seller's less-than-desirable decorating or furniture. VHT's Virtual Staging Suite turns heads by helping buyers envision a listing's endless styling and furnishing possibilities.
The Virtual Staging Suite offers solutions to a wide variety of listing challenges and opens up a whole new offering of room possibilities not previously available without hiring a painter, decorator or interior designer.
For vacant listings, Virtual Staging eliminates the need for Realtors® to spend thousands of dollars on traditional staging items such as draperies, furniture, art and accessories. Virtual Staging can also transform a listing by replacing mismatched, dated, worn or overly furnished rooms with alternative, classic, modern, or contemporary furnishing choices.
VHT Studios' Virtual Declutter tool affords greater convenience to sellers with limited space and time to "depersonalize" their home by storing personal items, or preparing their home for that 'Open House' look.
Virtual Paint answers real estate professionals' requests for minor-to-moderate virtual color changes to accent walls, floors, and other finishes, to better help homebuyers imagine how a space might look after the sale, with the help of their own paintbrush or contractor.
It's literally "out with the old, and in with the new" with VHT Studios' new Virtual Redecorate tool. Interiors are virtually stripped down to bare walls and floors. Image specialists then magically "install" a wide variety of entirely new virtual furnishings to show the room in any style and appeal to the greatest number of potential buyers.
"We know real estate professionals want their listings to make a great first impression and our Virtual Staging Suite gives them greater control to wow potential buyers," said Brian Balduf, CEO and Co-Founder, VHT Studios. "With greater options to virtually repaint, redecorate and transform a listing, we are helping Realtors® attract buyers and grow their business," Balduf added.
Please check out VHT Studios' newly released Marketing Minute video, providing tips from Balduf to real estate professionals considering the impact virtual staging has on their listings.
"You can't sell a home unless buyers come and see the home, but they won't come see it unless they see beautiful photographs that showcase the listing's potential," said Michael LaFido, Broker Associate, Conlon | Christie's International Real Estate.
"Virtual Staging is a great and much more affordable way to attract buyers' attention by presenting how a home could look post-sale, whether it's by neutralizing wall coverings, redecorating, removing expensive artwork or just getting rid of unsightly stuff," LaFido added.
"By using virtually staged photographs, I have a much better shot at selling the home. Otherwise, my listing may be ignored because buyers were turned off by the rooms or just not excited about the furnishings," said LaFido.
The entire suite of virtual tools enable buyers to view images of a home's actual condition and compare those photographs to the myriad virtual decorating options to fit buyers' lifestyles and tastes. VHT Studios ensures that all virtually staged listings are clearly labeled in side-by-sidebefore and after photographs that are viewed on Realtors® web sites, within virtual tours, in VHT's Customized Media Gallery and in printed marketing materials. The labeling helps remove any pretense about the condition of a listing when buyers visit a home in-person.
To view a gallery of "Before and After" photographs of virtually staged homes, please click here. Learn more details here about VHT's new Virtual Staging Suite, or email info(at)VHT.com.
About VHT Studios
VHT Studios unrivaled nationwide network of professional photographers and image specialists deliver photography and image management services to top real estate professionals looking to become even more successful. VHT Studios is a full-service partner to leading real estate agents, brokerages and businesses. The VHT Studios team delivers to real estate professionals their most powerful selling tools – high-quality photography and video – to ensure their properties get seen more, sell faster and at the best price. Based in Rosemont, Illinois, VHT Studios has helped more than 200,000 real estate professionals sell more than $200 billion in properties since the company's founding in 1998. For more information, visit www.vht.com.
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VHT Studios Unveils New Virtual Staging Tips for Real Estate Professionals to 'De-Deck the Halls' to Sell Listings During the Holidays
ROSEMONT, IL (DECEMBER 12, 2016)--VHT Studios, the nation's largest real estate photography and video company, today unveils new virtual staging tips to help real estate professionals De-Deck the Halls of their listings, so there's no need to delay listing a home until after the holiday decorations are removed.
The holiday season is the perfect time for real estate professionals to experience firsthand the impact of virtual staging tools, which can attract buyers searching for their next home online, where most new home searches originate.
"While holiday decorations add joy to any home, real estate professionals have told us that buyers searching online often prefer to view listing photographs free of holiday décor to help them envision the full potential of a home," said Brian Balduf, CEO and Co-Founder, VHT Studios. "Our four custom virtual staging tools are a direct response to their requests," added Balduf.
VHT Studios' Virtual Staging Suite includes Virtual Stage, Virtual Declutter, Virtual Paint and Virtual Redecorate. The suite helps real estate professionals wow clients and prospects:
Holiday decorations need not be removed or disturbed.
Skilled "Elves" – our team of professional image specialists -- apply our custom tools and magically remove holiday décor from a photograph.
Real estate professionals can choose to virtually furnish, paint or redecorate the interiors of any home.
Buyers shopping during the holidays for their next home can visualize what a home could potentially look like.
Sellers need not invest the time, expense and inconvenience of physically redecorating a room and if they choose, can still decorate their home for the holidays.
Whether a home has holiday decor in every room, or dated carpeting, crazy, painted walls, or outdated wallpaper, VHT's new virtual staging services allow real estate professionals to completely recreate a listing's interior.
Visit VHT Studios' Virtual Staging Suite and check out the VHT Studios "Beauty Contest" blog to view a wide variety of virtual staging options.
About VHT StudiosVHT Studios' unrivaled nationwide network of professional photographers and image specialists deliver photography and image management services to top real estate professionals looking to become even more successful. VHT Studios is a full-service partner to leading real estate agents, brokerages and businesses. The VHT Studios team delivers to real estate professionals their most powerful selling tools – high-quality photography and video – to ensure their properties get seen more, sell faster and at the best price. Based in Rosemont, Illinois, VHT Studios has helped more than 200,000 real estate professionals sell more than $200 billion in properties since the company's founding in 1998. For more information, visit http://www.vht.com/.
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Commercial Drone Use Set to Take Flight with Release of FAA Rule
WASHINGTON (June 21, 2016) — Commercial drone use in the real estate business got a boost today with the release of the Federal Aviation Administration's final rule governing small unmanned aerial systems, or UASs, in the national air space.
Drones are increasingly being used in commercial applications, but federal regulations have required commercial drone operators to apply for a "Section 333" waiver from the FAA before they can fly. Over 5,000 waivers were issued to commercial entities, a significant portion of which were used for the real estate business, but only licensed pilots were eligible to fly commercially.
FAA rules released today create a clearer pathway for real estate professionals to use drones for commercial purposes, a prospect that National Association of Realtors® President Tom Salomone called a win for the industry.
"We've worked hard to strike a responsible balance that protects the safety and privacy of individuals, while also ensuring real estate professionals can put drones to good use," said Salomone, broker-owner of Real Estate II Inc. in Coral Springs, Florida. "That effort just took another big step forward. The rules unveiled today will help more real estate professionals take flight, making the efficiency and innovation that drones have to offer available to a much broader base of operators."
The FAA's announcement marks a long-fought victory for for the National Association of Realtors®. Since early 2014, NAR has worked with the FAA and industry partners to integrate drones into the national airspace for commercial use. NAR wrote to the FAA on numerous occasions to weigh in on the final Small UAS Rule, and testified before Congress to support the use of drones in real estate.
Despite eliminating the requirement that operators hold a pilot's license, anyone looking to fly drones commercially will still have to comply with strict requirements designed to protect people on the ground.
Drones are useful in a number of real estate-related applications, including marketing properties, assisting with appraisals, facilitating insurance claims and overseeing utility work. While many real estate professionals with pilot's licenses have already put drones to use in these arenas, the new rules are expected to open the door for additional operators to do the same.
Despite the significant progress made in the FAA's final rule, NAR's work on this issue will continue. NAR is calling for eased restrictions on a "micro" category of drones; drones in this category weigh less than four pounds and present a much smaller safety risk than certain drones in the under-55 pound category covered by the rule released today.
NAR also believes there is an ongoing need for a drone strategy that allows for "beyond visual line-of-sight" flights, or those where the operator cannot physically see the drone throughout the entire operation. These flights are particularly important for aerial photography across large buildings or tracts of land.
Salomone praised the FAA for their efforts in crafting the rule.
"Getting here wasn't easy, and the FAA is to be commended for listening to the concerns of real estate professionals throughout the rulemaking process," he said. "We're entering a new stage of drone use in real estate, and no doubt there will be additional questions and challenges ahead. NAR will continue educating its members on issues important to the safe, responsible use of drones so they can grow their business and better serve their clients."
The National Association of Realtors®, "The Voice for Real Estate," is America's largest trade association, representing more than 1.1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.
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VHT Studios Announces New Aerial Drone Photography and Video Services, Business Expansion
ROSEMONT, Ill. – Chicago, IL – Aerial drone photography and video services for real estate and business professionals are now available at VHT Studios, the nationwide firm that pioneered professional photography for the real estate industry. VHT Studios is expanding its offerings and team to include licensed pilot-photographers capturing aerial video and images of shoreline and mountainside homes, estates, farms, resorts and other buildings or properties that consumers want to buy, rent or lease.
Please click here to view a VHT Studios gallery of aerial drone video and photography.
New aerial services strengthen VHT Studios' legacy of innovation for marketing residential and commercial real estate, and builds upon VHT's national growth, which has been fueled by acquisition, successful geographic market penetration and product line expansion.
Aerial drone photography captures unique, high-altitude perspectives of properties in a way that no other image- or video-capture technology can. Aerial drone images help convey the complete spatial view of a property and present a true lifestyle view. From proximity to parks, city limits, topographic features such as mountains, valleys and lakes — and in some cases vast acreage — aerial drone photography highlights benefits that can't be captured through grounded photography and video.
"Our new aerial drone video and photography melds our technology and creative artistry to provide our clients with tools to set them apart from competitors," said Brian Balduf, CEO, VHT Studios. "As a leader of real estate photography, incorporating aerial drone technology into our product mix is a natural extension of how we innovate by creating compelling visual stories of homes, architecture, businesses and estates."
Adding aerial drone services requires strict adherence to federal regulations and laws, aviation training and licensing as well as state and municipal restrictions. The technology incorporates small commercial unmanned aircraft systems (aerial drones) that are licensed and governed by the Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to capture 4k resolution photos and 60- to 90-second videos of commercial and residential properties. The drones are controlled by VHT Studios' FAA Section 333-licensed pilots and directed by their talented photographer eye.
It takes a pilot just under 30 minutes of flight time to create professional, high-quality video using a camera that appears to float smoothly over a lakefront, seaside or mountain home, farm, industrial complex, resort or ranch. Scheduling takes just 24 hours, with the finished, edited and enhanced video and photography delivered within 48 hours of the initial session.
VHT Studios is offering drone photography and video services in:
Chicago metropolitan area, including portions of northwest Indiana and southern Wisconsin
Westchester County, New York
Long Island, New York, including The Hamptons
Florida
Seattle, Washington
Portland, Oregon
VHT Studios is offering aerial drone services market by market across the U.S. Those interested should call (800) 790-TOUR (8687) or email info[at]vht.com. To view samples of aerial photographs and video, click here.
VHT Studios' growth campaign is part of an ambitious strategy that also includes a new website launch, VHT.com. The new site presents solutions and promotes the work of clients through property photos of the day, real estate industry insights, trends, how-to content and an easy-to-use password-protected portal, MyVHT, for review of account details and other specific client information. VHT Studios is also growing, with the recent acquisition of award-winning New York City photography studio, Gotham Photo Company. The move expands VHT Studios' professional teams in New York City, Florida and California.
For more video, images and/or interviews with CEO Brian Balduf, please email Michelle[at]michelledamico.com or call 312.423.6627.
About VHT Studios
VHT Studios delivers professional photography and image management services to top real estate professionals looking to become even more successful. VHT Studios' services ensure their properties get seen more, sell faster and at a greater price, which also helps attract new clients. A full-service partner to leading real estate agents, brokerages and businesses, the VHT Studios team delivers to real estate professionals their most powerful selling tool – high-quality photography and video — from creation to display. This gives real estate professionals more time to focus on what they do best – taking care of their customers.
With an unrivaled nationwide network of the top professional photographers and image specialists, VHT Studios' programs are an affordable, valuable investment for real estate agents, who expect their listings to be seen whenever and wherever homebuyers search, and for brokers looking to recruit and retain top agents. Based in Rosemont, Illinois, VHT Studios has helped more than 200,000 real estate professionals sell more than $200 billion in properties since the company's founding in 1998. For more information, visit http://www.vht.com/
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Professional Real Estate Photography Sells Homes 32% Faster
CHICAGO, IL, September 2, 2014 -- Realtors® who use professional real estate photographs sell listed homes 32 percent faster than all other listings, according to a new study of Chicago-area real estate sales by VHT Studios, the nation's largest real estate photography network for homes and businesses.
VHT Studios' analysis aligns with industry research indicating when a home is photographed and presented in its best possible light, the listing attracts more views and a higher click-through rate by potential buyers. As well, a property with professional photography has a higher perceived value, minimizing prolonged negotiation and accelerating the sales process.
VHT Studios' analysis also shows the most experienced and productive Realtors® are typically the biggest users of real estate photography, said Brian Balduf, CEO of VHT Studios.
According to VHT Studios' first-of-its-kind analysis, Chicago-area homes that were professionally photographed sold 32% faster, spending an average of 89 Days on Market (DOM) – compared to 123 DOM for other homes. According to the analysis, Realtors® who utilized professional real estate photography cut average DOM by nearly five full weeks. VHT Studios analyzed homes in every price range, indicating home listings in all price-points benefit from professional photographs.
"Our findings are not surprising, given consumers' behavior when searching for homes in today's market," Balduf said. "Time-crunched shoppers are online and are attracted to striking photographs, which simplifies their decision to visit a property in person and speeds up the buying cycle."
VHT's findings are no surprise to top real estate professionals, such as Chicago's Leigh Marcus, @Properties' top agent of 2013. "High-quality photographs capture buyers' attention and that's one reason why my clients' homes sell faster than the competition," said Marcus. "VHT Studios helps sellers reduce the hassles of showing their homes."
"This analysis shows that professional real estate photographs are not just for mansions and estates," said Balduf. "Professional photographs, which are so easy for Realtors® to obtain, are more likely to attract viewers everywhere they shop for homes, and are important for listings in all price ranges," he added.
Balduf said VHT Studios' 2014 success – a 40% year-over-year growth in sales revenues and orders – is an indicator of real estate professionals' increasing use of professional photography.
For examples of VHT Studios' photography, visit this slide show.
How VHT Studios Conducted Our Study
The study analyzed all Chicago metro homes sold in 2013. The average Days on Market for all homes comes from reports available to all agents in the area by Midwest Real Estate Data https://www.mredllc.com/statistics/fiveyear.asp. VHT Studios compared DOM for VHT Studios-photographed homes versus all other single-family homes sold during that period.
About VHT Studios
VHT Studios helps real estate professionals become more successful. Properties that VHT Studios photographs get seen more, sell faster and at a greater price. We completely take care of Realtors'® most compelling selling tool – high-quality photography - so they have more time to take care of their customers.
VHT Studios' 150 photographers have helped more than 75,000 real estate professionals sell more than $200 billion in properties since 1999. Visit www.vht.com for more.
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Report: 7 Tips and Tricks for Taking Pictures that Sell Houses
Do you want to take PICTURES THAT SELL HOUSES? To borrow a quote from "How To Photograph Houses" by Stan Barron:
Selling a house is not a real estate function...it is a marketing function, and pretty photographs sell more houses. Think about the marketing used for professional products you are exposed to. Have you ever seen a bad photograph (taken with a point-and-shoot-camera) in an ad for a BMW? Of course not. Ever seen a badly composed shot in a cosmetics ad? Never. Good photographs are worth the effort.
If you are not already a professional photographer, and if you don't use a professional photographer, VirtualTourCafe has a FREE report you might like to read called "7 Tips and Tricks for Taking Pictures that Sell Houses." Download the FREE report here:
7 Tips and Tricks for Taking Pictures that Sell Houses
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Agent Image Launches “The Very Best Real Estate Videos” with Agent Image TV
El Segundo, CA (PRWEB) June 07, 2011
Agent Image, the award-winning real estate web design and internet marketing solutions provider, announced today the launch of Agent Image TV, allowing real estate professionals to leverage the power of video through high-quality agent and property videos.
Ryelle Giano, Director of Marketing at Agent Image, shares her excitement on this recent launch, “We understand the impact videos can make on our clients' websites. We created Agent Image TV because we wanted to provide a convenient service that makes it easy for agents and companies to add video to their online marketing. Our videographers come to your location of choice and then the footage is edited, made searchable and uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo within days. Online video is naturally viral, and when maximized effectively, our property and agent videos have the power to convert a search into a sale for any real estate professional.”
“When developing this product, we wanted our clients to be able to do more than just add the usual video to their websites,” adds Jennifer Gunkel, Director of Client Relations and Social Media, at Agent Image. "In light of Google, Bing and Yahoo!'s adoption of blended search results with online videos ranking high, this is the perfect time to take advantage of this marketing strategy. We also understand that producing, editing, and uploading videos properly to multiple sites can be a time-consuming task for busy real estate agents. With Agent Image TV, we make sure that your videos are professionally produced, uploaded, tagged and optimized correctly."
Agent Image TV lets real estate professionals star in their own agent videos or property listing videos. Customers simply define the details for their video and schedule a date for their shoot. The videos are then edited in a streaming video format of their choice, ready to be embedded on their website, uploaded or provided in DVD format. Videos start at $499 for 30-second videos and $799 for 60-second videos. For additional information, please visit http://agentimage.tv
About Agent Image: Agent Image provides the very best real estate websites and has enabled thousands of real estate professionals to drive and sustain improved business results through their proven marketing solutions. The firm is a wholly owned division of The Design People, Inc., an El Segundo, California web design company that specializes in website development and online marketing for businesses of all sizes. For more information, visit http://www.agentimage.com.
Google is a trademark of Google Inc. Bing is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Yahoo! is a trademark of Yahoo! Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Contact: [email protected] 1.877.270.0303
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