Capturing Real Estate Excellence: Brian Castro's Pro Tips on Photography and Marketing

Ever wondered what makes a house really stand out in the crowded real estate market? Brian Castro of Virtual Vista joins us with a treasure trove of tips and techniques that highlight the pivotal role of stellar photography in selling properties. Brian's fascinating journey from a burgeoning shutterbug to a maestro of the lens offers a blueprint for anyone looking to enhance their marketing game. His unique understanding of real estate dynamics, owing to his own background in the field, serves as a guiding force in crafting bespoke visual services for agents. What's more, Brian's narratives on cultivating his family business—integrating innovations like drone captures and virtual staging—offer a glimpse into the relentless pursuit of excellence in the real estate photography domain.

Now, let's talk about setting the stage for success—literally. As we converse with Brian, we uncover the transformative power of proper staging and decluttering, ensuring that potential buyers see the true potential of each space. But it's not all about the visuals; our dialogue with Brian delves into the core values of trust and collaboration, underscoring the growth and mutual support between his team and their clients. Virtual Vista's commitment to adaptability and meeting unique client specifications isn't just commendable; it's a cornerstone of their reliability. Take a seat with us as we pull back the curtain on the artistry behind the camera and how professional real estate photography can be the secret ingredient to closing the deal on your dream property sale.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, so here we are with another episode of the best
of the best.
Therese, who do you have today?

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Today I have Brian Castro from Virtual Vista and
I'm really excited to introduceyou to him, because we've been
doing all of our photographywith him for the longest time
and he is so good.
But what I love the most ishe's always growing his craft.
Like every time I turn around,he's doing something new,
learning something new andbringing something more to the
table.
So our sellers and our clientsget the best of the best from

(00:33):
Brian, who is my best of thebest today.
So, Brian, tell us a little bitabout yourself.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Well, thanks for having me.
So, yeah, my business, virtualVista.
So we started back in 2006,right as real estate photography
was kind of in its infancy.
I got out of school.
My dad, who's my businesspartner, bought some camera
equipment and said let's start abusiness.
I didn't know how to takepictures at that point.
Nothing Self-taught.

(00:57):
We've grown over the years andright around when everything
tanked in 07, 08, I said, oh, Ihave marketing tools for this,
let me get my real estatelicense.
So I had my real estate licensefor probably about eight years,
I think, and I liked thisbusiness took off first and I
like doing doing this more.
So I ended up going with thisand what I did gain from having

(01:22):
my real estate license was aninside look into your guy's end
of the business.
So it helped us really tailorthings.
You know, help me learn thebusiness and help us tailor what
we do for you guys.
You know to you know.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
I think that's a huge benefit for us and for any
agent, because we don't have togo and meet you ahead of time
and talk to you about what needsto not be in the photo or how
to make the room look the best,or you understand how to talk to
the consumer.
So if we can't even be theresometimes you'll go shoot
without us and the product looksjust as good with or without us
there, and I'm probably suresometimes it's easier without us

(01:55):
there because we like to talktoo much, but I did not know
that you started off as a familybusiness.
That's really interesting.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, so we um, we grew like.
Over the years we startedadding products.
The videos started becoming athing.
Usually the new fancy stuff inreal estate starts in you know,
on the on the East coast, downin you know all the, the big
city areas, and then it worksits way here.
So we started doing um,basically the, the primitive
version of Matterport and stills, and then over the years that

(02:24):
grew video.
Now we do drones.
Initially we hired somebody, westarted outsourcing the drones
and then it just there's stuff.
I was like, well, let's justbuy one, right.
So then we learned that Now wedo virtual staging, floor plans,
anything in between.
But in the past couple of yearswhat we've really started doing
is building services to helpthe agents market themselves and

(02:45):
grow their business.
That's nice.
Obviously we want to do thehomes, but if we can help you
grow the business where you'regetting more listings, then it
all kind of works together.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
That's such a huge added bonus because most
photographers that are doingreal estate photography that's
it.
They're just doing that, and alot of times you have to
contract out the other pieces,out the other pieces.
So I do like that you're kindof a one-stop shop for
everything that we need so wecan have our client, just have
one appointment so they're nothaving to set several and the
product is always good.
Like you said, you were farmingthat out and then you took it

(03:14):
in because the quality wasn'twhat you wanted.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
I learned that I'm not a big, a big fan of
outsourcing.
You have to take your hand offthe quality control at that
point and it's just you don'thave just control in general.
But this way it's like.
You know, I can cultivate theteam and, you know, make sure
that they're operating the sameway.
I'm very big on customerservice and you know, just

(03:37):
knowing for our clients to knowthat they are going to be
represented well, whetherthey're there or not is a big
thing for us are going to berepresented well.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Whether they're there or not is a big thing for us.
Yeah, I think if anybody looksat our websites our Facebook
posts, our KW Live TV websiteyou can see the work that you do
, because we use you pretty muchexclusively and it's phenomenal
.
It stands out from the restwhen people open up our listings
.
The pictures look great and youcan't underscore how important
that is.
So I was thinking it might benice to talk to the consumer out

(04:07):
there right now that isthinking about putting their
home up for sale and give themsome tips and pointers on how
can they make the home ready foronce they list it for you to
show up and take their photos.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Sure, absolutely so.
The general realtor spiel isyou know, clear off all the
countertops and ondepersonalized declutter, all
that type of stuff.
In a nutshell, what I usuallytell people is pretend you're
having company over and you'regoing to have that.
You're.
You know, you're taking allyour stuff and hiding things and
everything, like you're gettingready for a holiday party or
whatever it would be.
So that's a good starting point.

(04:39):
Some, uh, key fact, key thingsthat we look for that we'll
always take care of Trash cans.
Nobody wants to see your trashThings in the bathrooms.
Stuff that goes in your mouth,get it out, or it's like
touching Toilet seat.
Toilet seats are always down.
Yes, you'd be surprised howmany times I see professional
pictures in the toilet.
I'm like you've got to bekidding me.

(04:59):
Yes, windows.
I know that can be a pain inthe butt, but that's definitely
a good one.
Most time, if it's not likejust been Windexed, it's okay,
but sometimes they're reallydirty and that's not something
we can Photoshop out.
Right, you know, if the windowsare, you know, have that dust
layer on them and then also, um,check your lights.
A lot of times Like, so we wantto turn all the lights on and a

(05:21):
lot of people are like, oh well, it's, it's dim in here.
It's less about the that.
We need the lighting in mostcases to take the photos, but it
adds like an ambiance, like thelight, the yellow light added
to the cold room, all that typeof thing.
But you'd be surprised how manypeople don't use most of their
lights.
So when it comes time forphotography day, they don't know
how many bulbs they have out.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
Right, that's true.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
So that's a big thing there.
And then pet stuff.
I've kind of changed in someinstances on that, because
there's a lot of thesedesigner-looking pet bowls and
stuff and sometimes they lookcute.
Sure, if it goes with the sceneyou can have that in there, but
a lot of times you want to takethe pet stuff out, the cats,
litter boxes, dog beds, allthose type of things.

(06:05):
Um, and aside from that, I meanit's just a lot of common sense
stuff.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
I like the way you said it.
You know if you're going tohave company cause we all have
done that Like, oh my gosh,they're going to be here soon
and you're running around.
Your house has never lookedbetter in like 10 minutes.
Um, it's not like you have tospend hours and hours and hours.
It's just walk from room toroom and make sure that it looks
the best that it can look in ashorter period of time.
I'm not a big advocate fordepersonalizing the house, no.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
I'm not crazy about that.
I mean, I've seen theoccasional wall where it's like
every piece of your familylineage is wallpaper in the wall
?

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yes, but you know.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
But aside from that, just a normal couple of pictures
here and there.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, I don't think that's crazy, Because I mean, I
think you know, I always tellpeople, people who are going to
live here are going to live hereso it's okay for them to see
that you have a family andwhatever.
If there's something you don'twant people to see, then yeah,
take that out.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
But I do feel like they need to sense themselves
and feel themselves in the house.
Yeah, another before we move on.
Another big thing that a lot ofpeople don't think of is flow
of the house and sometimes theirfurniture.
They'll have one extra chair inthe room or something that just
doesn't allow people to kind offlow through the room.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
So just if there's anything that maybe you can
mitigate in the amount offurniture I know that's
sometimes not the easiest thingto do, but that's a big one to
to pay attention to but yeah,for the most part, and then once
we get there, if you've donethe basics, we can make those
little fine tune touches andthat's another thing I think you
bring to the table is if thereis a piece of furniture like

(07:36):
obviously nothing big, but likea chair, and it doesn't belong
there, you'll move it out, sure,and then you'll put it back,
and that way the photo shows thebuyer what the room really
could function as, instead ofsometimes we do over clutter our
lives.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yes, it's funny.
People would have no idea howmuch stuff they accumulate over
over time until you move.
Yep, and it doesn't matter howbig of a house you move to, you
will fill that one up too.

Speaker 2 (07:59):
Always, and the basement and the attic all those
places.
So anything else you want tolet everyone out there know
about you.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
Um, I think that when people work with us, that they
will learn that we're not justlooking to be hey, call the
video guy.
I want it to be call virtualVista and Brian and his team,
because you're going to get that, that support.
It's like, even if it's juststill pictures, that we're, that
we're doing for you.
If I can't answer the phone, orthere's always somebody that's

(08:29):
going to be able to take care ofyou and you're going to.
We want to grow thatrelationship.
So maybe there's other thingsthat you want to do with your
business that we can help outwith that.
Um, maybe you're not ready forat the moment, but we want to
build that relationship.
So we're there to help you grow.
We want to grow with you.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yeah, you've helped us out in some pinches too, with
houses that were a littlefurther location, wise, and
we're like, well, we don't wantto go with someone we don't know
and as long as it works in yourschedule, you've really worked
with us on that and that'ssomething that is a huge value,
I have to say.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
Yeah, I tell people, if we can, we will no-transcript
.