Start With Videos You’re Barely In, and Move Up Only If You Want To
You don’t have to start with a talking-head video. Start with your hands, your voice or a walk through a house with the camera pointed away from you. Plenty of agents never go further than that, and their video still works. If you want to get more comfortable, take it one rung at a time. Below is that ladder, with ideas at every step and the rules that apply to all of them.
Table of Contents
▼Why Bother With Video at All
You don’t have to. A feed of good photos, useful carousels and local content works fine. But short video gets you a few things photos don’t: a sense of how a house flows, what a neighborhood actually feels like and, if you use your voice, what you’re like to work with.
In NAR’s 2025 Technology Survey, 25% of agents said they use YouTube, well behind Facebook at 87% and Instagram at 62%. Most agents aren’t making much video, so even a little sets you apart.
Rung 1: You’re Not in It at All
These are video in name only, as far as your nerves are concerned.
- Listing walkthrough, point of view. Front door to backyard, phone at chest height, slow. On-screen text labels each room. Twenty to forty seconds.
- Neighborhood drive or walk. The coffee shop, the park, the main street. Film through the windshield only when you’re parked or someone else is driving.
- Time-lapse. A house being staged, a sunset over a local landmark, a yard sign going in.
- Text-on-screen tips. Three short clips of a house with one tip each: “Clear every countertop before photos.”
- Before and after. A room before and after decluttering or staging, with permission from the seller and with virtual staging clearly labeled.
Rung 2: Your Hands
Hands make a video feel human without a face in it.
- Unlocking the door of a new listing (your own listing, with the seller’s OK). Don’t show the lockbox code.
- Pointing out a feature while you describe it on screen: the soft-close drawers, the outlet in the island.
- Flipping through paint swatches for a “paint colors that photograph well” post.
- Packing your showing bag for a “what’s in my bag” video.
- Writing a thank-you card to a past client, with no name or address visible.
Rung 3: Your Voice
This is the rung that does the most for the least discomfort. Your voice builds familiarity almost the way your face does.
- Voiceover walkthrough. Film the listing first, then record yourself talking through it. You can redo the audio as many times as you want.
- “Ask me anything” answers. Film a related location (a house, a street, your desk) and answer one real client question in voiceover.
- Market update, voiced. Show a simple chart or a neighborhood street while you explain what’s happening in plain English. Use data you can source. See market update posts.
- Local spotlight. Film a local business (with the owner’s OK) and tell people what to order.
- A story from the job, told generally enough that no client is identifiable. “The one thing I now check on every file.”
Rung 4: Part of You
You’re in the frame, but not looking at the lens and not the center of attention.
- Walking away from the camera up a front walk, then into the house.
- Over-the-shoulder while you point at a feature or look at a view.
- Sitting at your desk or in your car, filmed from the side, while a voiceover plays.
- At an open house, setting up signs or putting out water, filmed by someone else.
- With your dog, who will take all of the attention anyway.
Rung 5: Talking to the Camera
If you get here, you’re fine. If you don’t, you’re still fine.
- One question, one answer, under 45 seconds. “What’s an option period?” Answer it and stop.
- A myth you hear a lot, and the real answer.
- “Three things I’d tell a first-time buyer.”
- A thank-you video to your sphere at Thanksgiving or the end of the year.
- A short intro for the top of your profile: who you are, where you work, how to reach you.
You’ll have more ideas once you start. We collected more in Instagram Reels ideas for realtors, and for longer formats, YouTube for realtors.
Filming Tips That Make It Less Painful
These help no matter which rung you’re on.
- Bullet points, not a script. Reading a script sounds like reading a script. Three bullets on a sticky note behind the phone is enough.
- Batch it. Film five or six short videos in one session, in one outfit, at one location. One uncomfortable hour a month beats one uncomfortable minute every day.
- Use a cheap tripod and natural light. Face a window. Most bad agent video is shaky, dark or both.
- Shoot vertical for Reels, Stories, TikTok and Shorts. Shoot a horizontal version too if you post to YouTube or Facebook feeds.
- Add captions. Lots of people watch muted. Most phones and editing apps can generate them; read them before posting, because auto-captions mangle street names.
- Keep it short. Under a minute for short-form. If you run out of things to say at 25 seconds, stop at 25 seconds.
- Don’t watch it back five times. Watch it once for mistakes, then post it. You’re the only one studying your face that closely.
The Rules That Apply to Video
Video makes some rules easier to break, because things end up in the frame you didn’t plan.
- Fair housing applies to what you say, too. “Perfect for a young family” is just as much a problem in a voiceover as in a caption. Describe the house and the place, not the people. See fair housing on social media.
- Watch the background. Documents on a desk, a laptop screen, a whiteboard, the paper on the passenger seat. If it’s readable, it doesn’t belong in the shot.
- People need to agree. Clients, other agents, vendors and kids in the background all should have agreed before they appear. See client photo permission on social media.
- Music needs a license. Use the audio the platform provides for that platform. A popular song in a video you post elsewhere may not be licensed for that use.
- Your photographer’s video has its own license. If you post the listing video they made, make sure your agreement covers social.
- Another broker’s listing needs their permission, including a walkthrough.
- Label altered images. If a room is virtually staged in your video, say so on screen. Some states require a disclosure on altered listing images, and it’s good practice everywhere.
When You Want Help With the Rest
Filming is the part only you can do, and it’s the part this post is about. The rest, like writing captions, adding your disclosure line, building the calendar around the video and scheduling it, is the part most agents never get to. Freedom doesn’t shoot video for you, but our done-for-you social media service handles the posting side: a Freedom VA builds your monthly calendar, you approve every post, and nothing unapproved goes out.
If you’re still not ready for video at all, real estate social media without showing your face covers everything that works without a camera pointed at you.
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