Reggie Trimingham: Real Estate Video That Sells

If you’ve ever wondered why some real estate videos make you lean in while others feel like a slideshow with music, this conversation nails the difference. We sit down with Reggie Trimingham from LocalShot, a Santa Cruz-based real estate videographer and marketer who’s built a reputation for making homes feel cinematic without losing the point: helping buyers and clients trust what they’re seeing. 

We get into the real process behind a great listing video, from figuring out whether you’re optimizing for YouTube search or Instagram scrolling to shaping a vibe that matches an agent’s brand. Reggie breaks down what’s actually working now in YouTube SEO, why transcripts and retention matter more than tags, and how thumbnails can decide whether anyone clicks at all. We also talk about why “going viral” is often the wrong goal for local real estate marketing and what to focus on instead. 

Then we go deep on AI in marketing, including the real-world frustration of AI hype fatigue and the practical ways these tools can still help with editing, transcription, admin, and scaling a small business. Along the way, Reggie shares how cycling and travel shaped his creativity, including a months-long bike trip across Japan that reset how he thinks about work and life. 

If you care about real estate marketing, video production, personal branding, and the future of AI-powered content, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a friend in the industry, and leave us a review with your biggest question about real estate video.

Transcript

Meet Reggie And LocalShot Origins

SPEAKER_08 0:03

Hello, hello, and welcome back to the OTC Podcast. I'm Brandy Jones with KW Thrive, and to my right is Brian Buckwoldt, Cross Country Mortgage.

SPEAKER_04 0:12

Jerry Seagraves with Seagraves Insurance.

SPEAKER_08 0:14

And you know, we sometimes forget to say the elephant in the room, our fearless producer Brian.

SPEAKER_05 0:25

Nice.

SPEAKER_08 0:27

We have a very special guest today. I work with him. I'm in the real estate industry, obviously. And he has a really great story, but even more, he has a picture of the future. So welcome, Reggie T from the local shot, who is literally been around since 2019 in our area.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

That's right. Well, 2011 for school, but where'd you go to school? UC Santa Cruz. Me too. Yeah, yeah. So never left.

SPEAKER_08 0:55

What did you what did you major in in? And then what when you majored at UCSC, what made you stay?

SPEAKER_01 1:04

I think I majored in like riding my bike and hanging out and at the beach and stuff. And I'm minored in cell cellular biology. And when I finished, it was kind of like, man, I want to keep doing what I've what I love. And I didn't really want to like go work at a lab or something. So I kind of just uh started working as a substitute teacher. And one thing led to another. I was doing a graphic design class. I got a full-time job at Aptos High. And yeah, and then that those skills kind of transferred over into what I'm doing now.

SPEAKER_08 1:35

So Yeah, well, what are you doing now? I mean, my version of it is you make people look cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

I make people look cool who look cool. They only look cool if they're already cool. And I and I and I just press record. That's how it works. This guy's good. No, so I did real estate media and I I do kind of general marketing and video production as well, but real estate media was one of the things that Santa Cruz seemed to really want. In terms of video production, it's a little bit more difficult. I mean, a lot of companies that need this stuff are like bigger corporations over the hill. It's longer sales cycles. You're working, you know, it's a lot of sales. And with real estate media, it's more of the creative. And then the business happens through referrals, through word of mouth. And so it was opportunity to really just focus on doing this stuff, doing good work, and then the marketing kind of the work speaks for itself.

SPEAKER_08 2:34

Well, I mean, you were joking earlier, like, oh, I'm in a room with a bunch of realtors and lenders, we're all gonna be on our phone. I mean, from the outside looking in, realtors in the industry look like they make a lot of money, they're pretty selfish, they're in sales. How do you take your digital creativity? You're a teacher, you get paid to be a teacher, which is steady income, to be like, I'm gonna work with these yahoos.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Well, it's it's funny because I think uh maybe it's just in our area, like I love my clients, and I've I've heard other people talk about the niche, like real estate photography media people, and they're like, Realtors suck and they're cheap, and they, you know, and they always want fast turnaround. And I'm like, yes, the fast turnaround thing is real, but I think with like all my clients in the county, like have really good relationships with them. And so something about Santa Cruz, I think, has attracted people who want to be here. You're not just defaulting to Santa Cruz. You you wanted to be here, you carved out your little niche in Santa Cruz, and therefore realtors have been really polite, like some of the most polite people I work with. You know, everyone's like, Thank you, and I appreciate you. And no, I I just have a lot of gratitude for my clients and and all the people I work with, and it's just a really high-class sponge.

SPEAKER_08 3:48

Well, you know, uh I won't say, is it the chicken or the egg? Because you're technically born in Japan, and there's a lot of politeness in your culture, which I want to say your culture is our culture now because you're here and we're here.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 4:02

And I think you know, you you attract your tribe, you you are your vibe. And you know, it's really interesting. There is a high level of respect for you, but your product is very high level as well. So you love your clients, you love us, Yahoos, as I self-proclaimed Yahoo!

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 4:19

You you're teaching, you now you love cycling. I mean, tell us like you're an advent cyclist.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Yeah, I like riding my bike for like a lot of hours on the weekends, and that's one of the reasons why Santa Cruz County was so appealing, is we got a bunch of massive hills and mountains, and you know, you can go for a four-hour ride and do 5,000 feet of elevation and cover 70 miles, and you've seen the coast, and you've been up in the redwoods, and it's just it's incredible. So, yeah, cycling is a big part of my life. And yeah, I'm curious too, because you guys are right next to Cycle Sport, and I know you're interviewing business owners. So one of the guys I ride with on the weekend is uh Andrew.

SPEAKER_04 4:54

And Andrew's like my one of my best friends. So we also race together on the same team, and oh no way, we had him scheduled, but you know, he's a busy guy these days. He's uh three shops, man. Five shops. Oh, yeah. We got San Francisco shop and a San Mateo shop now. So yeah, they're killing it. I'd love to have him on. He's a creative businessman, and and you know, he just like has really carved out success story for him. I mean, his whole life, too, is just like an amazing story. I'd love to have him on. So I'm gonna work on that. But come on, Andrew.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

Get on his own.

SPEAKER_08 5:30

Oh, and understandably, like we're pretty chill. Like he had said yes, and he was going to come on, and then he just like well, I mean, he's got a lot of irons in the fire.

SPEAKER_04 5:38

I totally get it. He's got a little kid at home and you know, running all these shops. I can barely run one. So but yeah, no. Anyway, back to Andrew and cycling, and yeah, grew I grew up ri racing bikes and riding with Andrew, and uh, we were on cycle sport, specialized muscle muscle milk together, and that's where we we kind of came from. And I totally like get what you're saying about this area, just a mag a magnet for for being outside and and like you said, being on the coast and going in the mountains and South County and all the stuff that you get in a in an afternoon of riding is insane.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Well, I haven't seen you out on Saturday on the harbor ride, so no, I've been uh I've been off the road bikes.

SPEAKER_04 6:21

My son races dirt bikes, and since we've been doing that, I'm all in on being a race dad. And I kind of gave up racing bicycles, and I still ride here and there, but it's not like it was. I was doing 12, 15-hour weeks for a long time, you know. So I'll get back to it.

SPEAKER_06 6:37

Staying in the outdoor kind of aspect of where we live, just doing my homework and watching your looking at your page and some of the assets. Do you

How A Shoot Gets Planned

SPEAKER_06 6:44

direct these? Do you give curated ideas as far as how the shoot's gonna go? Uh do they they come with you a concept? Talk to me. I have a follow-up question, but I want you to kind of linger on that a little bit. Like a realtor reaches out to you, uh, you go meet them, possibly off property, you just get to know them first. What's the process?

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Yeah, that's an awesome question. And I think it kind of depends on what they already have. And uh so a good and I'm not trying to talk her up on our own podcast, but a good example is Brandy the other day. And man, she just showed up, she had like rehearsed her lines, and she just knocked them out one take wonder. And so there's clients like that who just they know what they want, and they just need me to kind of direct the visuals and hey, stand over here, we're gonna you know, put the light like this and you know, do the audio, but they have like a direction and and I just follow that. Other times clients are like, hey, like I'm going for engagement or you know, platform-specific, like are you on YouTube or are you trying to get views on Instagram? Because those are totally different things. One one is people are typing in a search term, the other one is people are just scrolling and you're trying to interrupt them. And so what platform are we optimizing for? And then what's your brand? I mean, what kind of music do you like? What kind of vibe? Are you kind of silly and goofy? Are you kind of classy and you want to go for a more polished feel? So I kind of get the client's profile, and then yeah, and then shoot by shoot we'll kind of say, okay, so what do you want? You know, what are you feeling about this one? It's you know a little more polished. I want to bring on some class, I want to show some neighborhood amenities. And and yeah, so every I'll say it this way, every every product is unique.

SPEAKER_06 8:19

Aaron Powell I didn't do my homework on the notes. You teach, where do what level do you teach, and what do you teach?

SPEAKER_01 8:24

I don't teach anymore. I I was a graphic design teacher at Aptos High School. So when they used to have the it was the ROP or CTE program, like the technical education, we were teaching like Photoshop certifications and stuff. So if your kid went to Aptos High between 2016 and 2019 and you know they were in graphic design, ask them if they had Mr. T because um that was those are my classes. But did they confuse you as a few years? I had the Mr. T pr now, of course. I had to.

SPEAKER_05 8:55

I mean this with all due respect. Did they confuse you as a student?

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. I was 22 and so I mean I would be walking around in class. Yeah, and they'd be like, what are you doing? What are you doing? Or you know, it'd be like the uh fire drill, and they'd be like, Why are you still in the class?

SPEAKER_06 9:11

You should be like, but that little riff that you had right there, I guess I gotta dig

YouTube SEO And Retention Reality

SPEAKER_06 9:15

a little deeper here. Is the little riff was pretty sophisticated SEO conversation there, like on the back end of it. So graphic designer, teacher to this is your full-time gig now? This is amazing. I like that part. But the middle part, like that was sophisticated what you just said. How do you get to that part of it, understanding the back end?

SPEAKER_01 9:33

I actually like fiddled around with YouTube a little bit by myself. And I believe it or not, I have a viral video about how to adjust your bike seat. So this is like in 2020, like pre pre-pandemic, and I was just like, well, things that go viral.

SPEAKER_04 9:48

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

And and and it got like two or three million views over the over the lifetime. I think it's still ranked. And so that was kind of when I learned about like SEO and and ranking. It's a lot different too. Like, because I've been on YouTube for about that long now, I've seen the difference in like when you post videos, like you used to be able to just make a better video than the next guy, use that SEO term, like how to see high or whatever. And then it would rank if it was good. And I and I knew how to kind of make like the, you know, I knew how to break concepts down because I'd already taught. So it it felt really easy. Now, if you make a video, I mean you could still rank and it and it's still, but the algorithms are infused with AI. And so they're pulling your whole transcript. They're not really even looking at the tags anymore or the title. They're like pulling out the transcript. And and then of course, engagement has to be high. Like the level of competition on the platforms has gone way, way up. And and especially with all the slop coming out now, like the the algorithms are just super good at sorting through what people are watching, watch time, retention, you know, bounce, like all that stuff's super important. And so I think that's just trial and error. Like I was making my own content, and you get frustrated. You're like, why the hell did no one watch my video?

SPEAKER_06 11:00

Isn't it hilarious that that an AI algorithm is an expert at searching for organic intention? That's the craziest thing. It's the craziest thing for me because it's it's it's an artificial intelligence that's built to search the world and find out how hard are you working on the back end of this as a human. Is that kind of the game, right? When you're talking about transcripts and like you have to put the the days of just putting keywords in, like you said, are over. Right. You actually have an you have to need a narrative behind it.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Well, yeah, because you could stuff, you used to be able to just stuff keywords into the tag section and it would kind of be like, okay, well, we'll show it over here. But now if you if that doesn't align with the transcript, but you know, the other thing is I think that retention is is a lot more monitored too. I mean, I think they've waited for like watch time, retention, and then of course click-through and thumbnails are really important now. Like people are really, really good at thumbnails. If you listen to some of the best, like Mr. Beast, he's like, Man, I spent a bunch of money on my thumbnail. I I make the video, I make the thumbnail before I make the video. Because if the thumbnail sucks, like nobody's gonna click on it. So interesting. Yeah, there I mean, we could go down the whole YouTube video.

SPEAKER_06 12:08

No, it's it's fascinating, but it's just super fascinating stuff.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Yeah.

Working With AI Without Burning Out

SPEAKER_08 12:12

As you go down there, like what I mean, Ryan and I were just talking about in our own businesses, we're talking about like not are you Google searchable now, you need to be AI searchable, which is a totally different format. And then what you're saying is like like some a lot of people don't want to spend the money or don't know how to spend the money, so they do their own videos. And then there's an app called Opus Clip. And what it does is it will upload it to LinkedIn or YouTube, and immediately it it transcribes your entire video. And then it will tell you in the clips this is a 90 out of 100, and it gives you in the rankings of how it is AI searchable, or it's using AI to see how you will rank in YouTube. Can you talk a little bit about that and how that's like changed your world? Or do you even what is your goal towards AI or with AI? Are you working against AI or are you working with AI?

SPEAKER_01 12:58

No, that's a super funny question. And so it I think there's like a narrative of AI, right? Like it came out and we're all like, oh my God, like AI is gonna take over the world. And then, you know, what with whatever like's been happening in the stock market and stuff, people are starting to be like, well, let's see if it's gonna, you know, really kind of produce the results that it's gonna produce. And then I think now that like, you know, I'd say 2025 this year, a lot of corporations like picked up Cloud Code and you know, anthropic selling like enterprise accounts now. So a lot of people are now using AI every day in work or like getting mandated to use AI in in everyday work. And we're all starting to hit these regular frustrations with like, this isn't as good as they touted it. Exactly. And I think that's where I'm I'm at that like frustration point right now where I'm like, I was super pro-AI. In fact, I was a little bit afraid. I was like, maybe it's gonna just do my do my work. And now I'm coming to a point where I'm like, ah, it's like I'm getting that fatigue. That said, it's kind of like what everyone says about the dot-com. It's like not the internet is a very practical thing, and and there was this kind of you know, big spike of optimism. It tapered off, and then actually over the long run, the internet became the next big thing. So I I think that's happening, but I think personally I'm in this like valley of AI, you know, hype fatigue. And but but I do I I mean I still use AI every day, so I we could talk about that if you want.

SPEAKER_08 14:21

Well, you know, I I uh I use for me personally, what when you own your own business, the next thing is how do you scale your business? How many use do you make? And you know, a lot of my clients work for AI companies and they're even their own bosses are saying, like, you need to come to work once a week and tell us how you've 3X yourself. And just by tripping over like the latest version of things, I absolutely the Perplexity, which has the web browser of Comet, and in Comet it has Assistant. And when your daughter was on here, Karina. I just take assistant and say, here's my Wells Fargo account, here's my you know, stock account, here's my account. Now I want you to read them all and tell me where the expenses are, where they were compared to last month. And I can walk away from the computer and it will do all of that for me. Or if I have a CRM, I'll say, Here are the four people that I saw in the house, I'll take a picture of the sign in. They put them in my bold trail and mark them as this, and I walk away and I can go wash dishes. So to me, I'm on I'm on the high because I got a chance where I'm not sitting there with my nails typing in all this information where I'm not, it's not my passion to do that. And and my passion is the one-on-one with humans. And I feel like what I've noticed is that we I valued a human for their productivity and their knowledge. Now my valued human is this, or you know, what do they say, eyeball to olival toe-to-toe? Like this coherence where we're all just humans vibrating at this space of like here we are, we're holding space for each other. I missed that for many, many, many years. I was very much into you produce, that's what your value is as a human.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

That's awesome. So you feel like it's shifted you back to humanity rather than robot dystopia.

SPEAKER_08 16:01

Yeah, absolutely. No, I I don't deny the truth that there are going to be jobs that the that they're going to be taken. I don't have an answer for that.

SPEAKER_04 16:09

I feel like the jobs that are gonna be taken are the ones that are designing AI. You know, like those people coding and all that's the easiest thing for it to do. I think the human-to-human stuff is the stuff that it can't replicate.

SPEAKER_08 16:21

Or maybe something like fast food restaurants, you know what I mean? Where the the the food is uh not necessarily about quality, but it's about, again, the affordability or whatever. Or maybe it's a you know, UPS, or maybe it's you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:33

I think if you look at it as a revolution, and it is, it's a revolution. We've only had five or six of these. And we might have spoken about this at least on this one, or I was guessed on another one. But if you look at it like a revolution and the fact that we're in the first seconds of this revolution, the answer is right now, we don't know. We didn't know when they did the printing press. We don't know with agricultural revolution, they don't know the minute that they basically say, hey, this is a new technology. We can stay right here on the farm instead of hunting and gathering. They wouldn't have known in the first days, years of these revolutions, nor would we have any clue right now. I mean, I'm old enough to know when the PC came out that it was the end of paper. I was told in class that it was the end of paper as we know it, um, because it was all gonna be digital. And then I have friends that are in the paper industry and it quadrupled paper. They quadrupled the amount of paper. No one would have seen that at the end of the 80s, going to the 90s, that this advent of all of this this internet where we're gonna be connected and everything's gonna be digital and we're gonna get rid of paper and help the planet. No, it just it ended up being people printed everything off they were thinking. They started printing things. And so right now, I know we've had had this conversation. I think AI is a very capable assistant. And I I I think it's very good to kind of lubricate the wheels on an idea. It's a good way to review, it's a good way to do basically mundane repetitive acts. I think it's very good there. But it I will circle this back to our conversation here because this is going to be a compliment.

Selling Lifestyle Alongside The House

SPEAKER_06 18:02

As I was looking at your videos, it does come down to, in this one, a physical thing, a house and humans. And I think you've done a great job. And this is the question is I think uh it's a very confusing time right now, or has been 10 or 15 years for people that have been in this industry. What am I? Am I an influencer that sells house? Am I gonna do some dances, get people to think I'm funny, and somehow that translates to that funny dancing realtor is somebody that's in my head and I'm gonna call them because that's the realtor I know is the one that's viral. But I think you've done a good job on the videos we're posting out here is that the main character is the house. And you've done an amazing job on that because the realtor introduces it. But when I watch one of your videos, I think whatever you're advising these realtors, whatever it ends up being, is it does come back to showcasing that house. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

And and sometimes it's more about the lifestyle. Like, I mean, it's it's a lot of times it's like, hey, you could live here, and it's an average like 3-2, but by the way, you're like right next to Pleasure Point. You're right next to the hook. Like you can walk to get coffee at Verve. And so, yeah, I I think Santa Cruz sells itself. Of course, you know, nice luxury finishes, granite countertop, you know, a cloth tub, something like that looks looks really good with these close-up shots, but we're we're really selling Santa Cruz baby.

SPEAKER_06 19:26

No, you are, and and you do a good job of I think the way you film it, and this gets to be another question down the road here, is the way you film it, there's an anticipation in these videos. You don't know quite what's around the corner. You definitely want to hang on. I'd be curious to see what your average on a you know, minute and eight seconds, what your average view time is on these, because it feels for me when I was watching them, it's hard to click out because I kind of want to see if there's a basement. I love that. I kind of want to see, you know, and then you throw some shit in there that's really great where it's like, dude's got a surfboard. I'm like, well, where is this place? And the surfboard's just a lost leader of the fact that it's close enough. The reality is, I think the property I was looking at out there was Ben Lohman. That's this would look like it was much towards the campus and stuff in the campus one basically. But it's close enough. But if you see a dude walking out of his house with a board, you're like, all right, I thought I knew where this was, I didn't. But then you kind of come true with it all in like this is the whole scene, minutes away from, you know, I think you show the lane or whatever. But talk about that process a little bit because that gets to the Jerry point where you and you you made a really smart point. You're selling this brick and mortar, you're selling this house, you're selling a trust in a realtor, but you're selling culture.

unknown 20:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Well, I gotta, I gotta, you know, break it to the audience that sometimes we're lying about aptos. It's foggy as hell.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

And we only shoot on a sunny day.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Like when I tell them, I'm like, you know, we kind of lie about California. Like it's sunny. It's pretty sunny, but man, it can make some rough days.

SPEAKER_06 20:55

I don't lie about it. I tell people it's really the California you know is like four months, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Oh, you got to come in September. Yeah, uh sorry, just lost my training.

SPEAKER_06 21:06

No, we're just talking about like overall, I think I'm getting back to more your directoral kind of like view of it, the advice you give, because there's a theme to your the work you do where I think eventually there's moving parts, but it comes down to being you do a really nice job in the industry terms staging these houses.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Aaron Powell Sure. I think it also comes down to like what is the point, right? Like I think why why does my job exist? Why do people hire me to make videos of houses and of of and so for like realistically, people are browsing to to buy the home with the pictures, which I also do. I mean, we do the whole marketing package, but it's like we look at the pictures, they flip through Zilla listings, and you know, they they send it to their agent and they go to the house. The video, though, is more for like a it's to build your brand. It's to have like when somebody lands on your Instagram page, it's like, oh, is this client like what have they done? And you know If you just have like these just sold, just listed, generic Canva templates, and then there's no video and there's no your face isn't in there, they're gonna be like, well, that's cool, but you know, imagine how much more trust and rapport you're gonna have with someone who's come out every listing they have. They made a video, or even better, they made some kind of creative video where it's like, oh, there's a theme to every video, and and that's brand building. And I think that's really the power of this kind of creative video style.

SPEAKER_08 22:25

I want to chime in on that. And we just did a video about marketing. It was really good, by the way, Reggie. And that in the real estate industry, people are shopping, and there's two different studies, but they are shopping for homes from nine to midnight or midnight to three. And if there is no video in there, Zillow will flat out tell you because Zillow wants that money. They want those. You cannot put Reggie's video on Zillow. They have their own videography or their own ways of doing it.

SPEAKER_07 22:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 22:49

Because that's what brings somebody in the home. They're wherever they are around the world, even if they're down the street, but they have a job or they have the kids and then they have soccer and then they have their own life. They are shopping at night. And if they don't have a video that showcases the lifestyle, pictures are not enough. Zillow will tell you it's a 40% difference in engagement.

SPEAKER_06 23:07

Are you talking about like the 3D tour of the house or a video?

SPEAKER_08 23:10

I'm talking about a video. Like you're gonna press play. Now he does the 3D videos or the 3D matter ports, which honestly are a little difficult for me. So any sort of floor plan, but they get sure they get you in there. This is like watching a soap opera or a movie about the house. You want that video on a website specifically for that property. Your face can be on there or cannot be on there, but you want to capture people who are shopping in their most emotional state when they're vulnerable, sitting there, scrolling and looking. You don't have that video. You lose up to 40% of engagement. And that's that's Zellow's numbers.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Yeah, and the video, what you said about emotional, it it creates an emotional experience because you can use music, you can use sound effects, you can use you know special camera movements that make something uh make people feel something. And pictures can make you feel but but they're mostly practical. You're just kind of like, where's the bathroom? Where's the hallway? So yeah, the video is really the agents who who do video, you just kind of see them go further. And and they know it, they know how powerful it is. And then of course, like if you're asking about virality, because I know you said, you know, go viral, it's it's tricky because most people on the internet, like if you think about how the algorithms work, it's gonna be like beautiful people, beautiful places, cute animals, like these are gonna be what dominate amazing finishes, yeah. All that stuff. And and so it's very challenging to be like, I'm selling a home in Santa Cruz, local, you know, small local market and and have any kind of viral sensational. And then also if if those realtors do go viral and sensational, what's the point? Like, what's the point of having somebody in Minnesota watch your video if they're they're they have no buying power to you know?

SPEAKER_04 24:52

That's like all my wife does is doom scroll these like Beverly Hills mansion videos that style that you create, you know, where it's just like the most pleasing music and sound effects and camera angles and aesthetics. And I'm like, why are we watching this house we can't afford?

SPEAKER_08 25:11

Well, and Reggie did for me, like I want I don't want necessarily people that I know in my videos. In fact, it's honestly just recently I've been doing my own videos, but that's that's more for my marketing. Yeah. In the video for the property, I'll have them do AI where it's somebody who is carrying a surfboard, or it is somebody there's a dog in there. That that that human element, because think about 10 years ago or 20 years ago. What did realtors do at open houses? In baked cookies. Yeah. Why? Because it made you think of grandma. It was another sense other than your eyes.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Yeah, the AI actor thing is big too. And and yeah, you can just put, you know, uh like an AI family in the living room. You know, we we we added a dog, uh, you know, surf surfboard, surfers. So so and and actually that's somewhere where AI has now become so commonplace in what we do that it's almost like we forget that this is a a new technology. I mean, we've been doing AI video for about two, three years now. It's like, yeah, that's that's a that's totally a thing.

SPEAKER_06 26:06

I think this is the one thing we can circle back to that AI conversation. This is what I feel at Vides, because we're in all six of these platforms different ways. I see it as an assist, but I also see it as like very hard to get complacent with AI and the the ever kind of like growing abilities of AI. What it ends up making you do is be a little bit more creative, a little bit more, you know, on your game. And I use that word because you'll be in this, probably you're already in it, is there's a continual reinvention of yourself, right? I mean that that you have to not only brandy's a client last week, and that's satisfying right now, but you know, you can only run that game for so long before it becomes white noise, before it becomes the thing that people are used to seeing. The minute it becomes a thing people are used to seeing, you gotta be on to kind of the next thing a little bit. The question is this though, because we already have SEO, you are a teacher, graphic designer, but there's a massive cinematic staging, framing. Where did that come from? Is that trial and error for you? The because there's a there's a high level of of, I think, like director chair cinematic to what you're doing out there. Where did you learn that?

SPEAKER_01 27:17

Well, thanks, first of all. I think that that was again trial and error, kind of self-taught. So so if you have seen kind of modern camera rigs, there are these, they're called gimbals, and they've got the stabilizer. And those things take care of a lot of the work. But i ironically, this is like a job that requires a fair amount of athleticism. I mean, you're holding this, you know, camera thing, or may maybe like some of the stuff, it's funny because I I'm like feels like I'm doing Warrior 2, you know, where I'm where I'm you know bending to do so like yoga. I I I really like yoga, and sometimes I'm like, wow, I really am glad I I still do yoga because I I was able to kind of like lean into that shot or you know, stand on one leg and balance and and you know get a unique shot.

SPEAKER_06 27:57

So yeah, we've got like on retainer, like we had a guest on here, Daniel J from Double Me, and different world, but same categories. Yes, yeah, I've seen a sort of thing. When when they wendy, these guys, when they come work for you, it's kind of like you step back and you're like, it is not just point and shoot. Yeah, it's a lot more than that.

SPEAKER_08 28:13

There's a passion

Finding A Niche And Surviving Market Swings

SPEAKER_08 28:14

around it. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 28:14

I was just gonna say, what drew you to real estate of all types of I mean, that's where I'm drew you to insurance. Yeah, no, I'm just saying, like, there's obviously you have skills, there's a lot of stuff you could do with those skills. Like, why real estate and and what is it that you love about that? I know there's gotta be some passion. I mean, you put out great videos.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Totally. Well, I think in the beginning, I was just like trying everything. So, like I said, I did the bicycle seat video. At one point, I was working with like a running influencer up in San Francisco. You did like ultra marathons. So I had all these different gigs going, and the one thing I couldn't crack is like who needed consistent media in Santa Cruz. And also that was like one once I cracked into the niche, it was like, okay, this is a combination of all my passions because I love Santa Cruz, I love the lifestyle, and here my job is to portray it visually.

SPEAKER_07 29:08

Right.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

And yeah, it it's it's so awesome. And so it kind of started with like, who will pay me? And then over time I was like, this is the best job ever. And like the funny thing too about kind of working backwards from my degree was, you know, this is like biology in a lab where you've got like the RNA and DNA, and you just, you know, you're in this halogen lights, and it's just like super boring, you know, like paperwork kind of stuff. And I loved like being outside. I love like, you know, I'll be driving up in the mountains and I'll come down and have a have a beach listing or whatever, and just being out all day in the sun, working with my body, like and you know, coming home. I'm smoked, like I've been I put in like 10,000 steps and you know, I carry my gimbal around. But it it just kind of it just kind of worked out. And and it was it was never like I I didn't go to college and be like, I could be a real estate videographer. But it somehow it just has like everything that that suits me. And and yeah, and and with LocalShot, like the idea too was I think the in in this space, there's a lot of companies that are just like bigger, or you know, they just they give you the media and they just dump it on you, and and they're like, okay, take care of it. They're hard to contact and stuff. So I kind of modeled my customer service after like ace hardware. I want to be like, hey, like, did you get everything? Like, do you know do you know how to do this? Do you know how to use the website? And and maybe that's a little bit of the teaching element, but uh, you know, I just want my customers to feel like they they are cared about.

SPEAKER_08 30:43

Well, and that's true because I'll tell you, we had a lot of customers or clients that don't necessarily and this is not specifically my clients, we are that wall between the huge emotional waves. And Reggie handles me so well because I'll verbally say I am pressured right now. These are the things that they want to change. And I mean, I've had difficult I don't want to call them difficult because they're gonna be listening to this. They have they have things that they wanted out of it, and they wanted changes, and I'm amped up about it because I think it's great, or whatever my emotional state is around it. I know that I I can't take any of it personal. It's not like the the client's always right, it's their house, it's their money. But he'll be like, I got you. I totally got you because it can come right through my mouth or somebody else's mouth. The pressure we're feeling is now your pressure. Now it's your fault. Right. And so he comes at it like we got this.

SPEAKER_04 31:39

I like that. That quiet confidence. Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 31:42

I don't know what he's saying after he hangs up, but it's like, I'll throw a couple AI people in there.

SPEAKER_03 31:48

We'll fix this. It's probably so interesting for you in Santa Cruz because every little pocket is different. Like there's still neighborhoods that all go into. You know, the neighborhood I've never been here before. Yeah, the lobby, like golf course. You're like, whoa, this is actually really cool back here. Like just so many spots. And then you can have a you know, a funky little 800 square foot house next to a man McMansion right there. So it's it's pretty eclectic that way.

SPEAKER_06 32:13

And it also begs the question, like being around it. Clearly, you're a guy that does your homework on these ones. The your level before this, as far as real estate acumen, and now, because it's not just shooting, you're understanding property values, you're understanding these ages, you're talking about it. Like, how long have you been doing this? I've been doing it for about five years. Okay, that's perfect. So, five years like year one to year five with brandy. Do you know the market a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 32:40

I mean, you when your revenue drops 50% in a month, you're like, what the hell?

SPEAKER_00 32:47

Is this just me or is this brandy?

SPEAKER_01 32:52

I mean, I I think at the end of 2022, everyone had this kind of glut, and you know, we were all like in growth mode. And I remember August, yeah, revenue dropped 50%, and you know, with that first pivot, Fed rate pivot. And that was my first season. I was like, my first year, and I was like, yeah, we're hiring and we're scaling and stuff like that. And then, man, like uh Jeff, my guy, he if he's listening to this, I love you, Jeff. But um, yeah, I had to lay him off in November. And it was like kind of a rough, rough 2023 for me. So and yeah, now it's like uh it's fun because you know, I talk to my clients, hey, what's the story with this one? Oh, we're coming in, you know, it's an aspirational price. Then I, you know, I'm checking it two, three months later, oh, this I haven't sold. It's like sometimes too, they bring me back and they're like, we had to reshoot it because you know, maybe they didn't stage it at first and they didn't get any offers. And then you know, we come back and I'm like, hey, it's two, three hundred bucks for a reshoot over enough time. I'm like, hey guys, like you want to go to market like really fast. You don't want to stage it, you don't want to clean it. Just FYI. I just reshot so-and-so's and you know, they they went stale for like 60 days, and you know, they had to pay me another 500 bucks to come out and reshoot. So you you kind of just learn through through your own experience. But now one of my favorite parts is actually talking to my agents, keeping a pulse on like what's going on, what's selling, what's not, you know, where's the market type.

SPEAKER_08 34:13

Well, and it's really interesting that you say that 2023, because 2024 nationally, 71% of all realtors did not sell one single house. Then you rolled in 2025 and it almost mimicked itself.

SPEAKER_06 34:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_08 34:26

So you have two years. Now we live in a what we call it a bubble. You know, we tend to, of course, the top five percent, it's not even the top 10%, top five percent does almost 90% of the business at one time. But now it's spreading out. We used to be that. Now we're getting more into the yeah, you've got a couple people that are still at the top, but we're bleeding down into the 15%. It's spreading out, so there's much more of a community conversation. It's not just the top five guys, except for Ryan. Ryan, I don't talk about it but it it's he's lending, so that's a little bit different. So it's it's great that you have different agents because now you really get a feel for it. And then it's also if you can get a finger on your own income, finger pulse on your own income regarding that.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

Totally.

SPEAKER_06 35:10

What's the world record from post live to phone rings household, like time-wise?

SPEAKER_01 35:16

Well, I mean, some of them it I it's funny because sometimes I think they use me being there as leverage and they're like, Oh yeah, quick show, and hey, you know, my photographer's here.

SPEAKER_02 35:25

He's about to, you know, put this one on the market. You might want to put an offer in before we, you know, well that we did out of town.

SPEAKER_08 35:34

Four hours later, I got a phone call, all cashback. They did not sell though, but uh, it was absolutely his video and his his.

SPEAKER_06 35:40

But the beauty of that, what his business is, and this is not it's it's interesting because and I mean this, forget the reshoot. Let's say it's four hours, four months, the investment to you is the exact same. And that's the beauty of what you do, is that it's provided you can't control all the variables of a market, but that's a a true thing to do. But as we wind down, the other one too is like when the notes that Karina does such a great job is I think there's sabbaticals.

Japan Bike Sabbatical And Santa Cruz Rides

SPEAKER_06 36:07

And then there's sabbaticals based on what you just said, where you stopped teaching in 19. Sabbaticals that are I think when I think of a sabbatical, you want a fundamental change in your life. So you were teaching till 2019. You went on a sabbatical in 2019 and changed everything, it sounds like. Talk about Japan.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

Yeah, yeah. So I was I was born in Japan, and so it was kind of our family trip, but I had just kind of left the teaching job, and that it just really wasn't working out for me. Again, kind of one of the things I realized about work is I I really don't like being in a single place under fluorescent lights. So the teaching didn't work out for me in that way. But yeah, when I left, I was just kind of like, well, I you know, I've got some time on my hands. We went back to Japan and I wasn't really sure because I didn't I had like sold all my stuff. I didn't really have any like apartment or anything. I was like, I might just hang out here in Japan and see that like see if I like it. I might maybe I'll just move here for a while. And I ended up getting a bicycle, like an old bicycle, and I was up in Hokkaido, which is the northernmost island of Japan, and I was like, well, maybe I'll just see the country. I mean, I I was born here, I'd never really seen like a lot of the regions. So that was yeah, like a four-month cycling trip where I I went from the northern point to the to the south, and I took a ferry and I went to Okinawa, which is the island chain, and yeah, I got to see all of Japan and and that really like kind of got me reinvigorated to work too, because believe it or not, you you take a couple months off of work and you're kind of bored, and then the ideas start stewing. And so when I came back, that was when I was like, oh yeah, I'm gonna start a YouTube channel and I'm gonna do all this stuff. And one thing, one thing led to another, and yeah, it's here we are six years later.

SPEAKER_04 37:46

Is that what seriously propelled your cycling, or were you already kind of serious about cycling before that?

SPEAKER_01 37:53

No, I I was serious before that, and actually for the gap, like when I graduated college, I also did a bike trip. I went from Istanbul to London. So this was this was the second, this was trans-Japan, but um, I'd done it before.

SPEAKER_06 38:06

Spiritual a little bit? A little bit. Is that not your your jam a little bit like on that that four months lot of you alone, right?

SPEAKER_01 38:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally. Yeah, kind of a lone wolf. And yoga was my thing. Uh Japan is interesting because they've have shrines and and the culture, like we were talking about earlier, is very spiritually infused. So respect to the elders, like you, you know, if uh you have a grandparent that passes away, they'll put a little devotional shrine in the house, light some incense for it, you'll go clean the grave. So I think that that kind of comes with the territory. And but but surprisingly, you know, being in Santa Cruz, you get exposed to all sorts of stuff. So Kunalini Yogo, you know, as a phase and you know, it's stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 38:49

Best loop in Santa Cruz, what's your favorite ride?

SPEAKER_01 38:51

Oh, best ride. I mean, I really like the harbor ride because of the community, but I also really like going up towards Pescadero. There's a loop that goes up Empire Grade, down Jameson Creek, around Pitchfork. Around 236, is that what it's called? Yeah. You go past the fire station in in Saratoga at the Saratoga Gap. You you I I usually pass Alba unless I unless I want to go down and up it, but uh it's uh Alpine Road. I don't know if you guys ever been over there. But Alpine goes down and you got these sweeping views. It it dumps into Pescadero and then you ride the coast all the way back with us.

SPEAKER_08 39:28

What's the harbor ride?

SPEAKER_01 39:29

The harbor end.

SPEAKER_04 39:30

Intense.

SPEAKER_01 39:30

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 39:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 39:31

So it's like sweating over here. It's intense.

SPEAKER_04 39:34

It's like when your fitness is prime, you go out there and do battle with like 60 of your best friends. I don't know if it's that big anymore, but it used to be a huge ride. Yeah. And then it goes South County, usually Eureka Canyon. Yep. It sometimes goes longer, sometimes it's 100 miles. Jeez. Most of the times like 6570, probably.

SPEAKER_01 39:54

Yeah. It depends, but uh sometimes the group can get big. I would say on average, we get about thirty oh oh sixty-five-seventy miles. Yeah. Correct, correct. And and yeah, believe it or not, if you're riding on San Andreas on Saturday morning, you're gonna see all these guys in Spandex racing.

SPEAKER_04 40:10

There's two sprint sections on San Andreas, like Sheriff's Climb, which is up by Montere Bay Academy, and then when you turn left on that nasty road, uh where Beach is. Yeah, beach, there's like a sprint section there. It's it's a heavy duty ride.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Yeah, Hazeldell also, we we smash up Hazeldell, and whoever gets to the sausage market first gets uh bragging rights. So you ever got the first no, well, uh kind of.

SPEAKER_08 40:34

Did you like kick somebody's tires?

SPEAKER_01 40:36

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Slash their tire from behind.

SPEAKER_08 40:39

Sausage, sausage.

SPEAKER_06 40:41

I did um I did a mile and a half at stationary bike at Santa Cruz Athletic Club. Have you done that one? Have you done that one?

SPEAKER_01 40:48

Yeah, I I listened to the uh Santa Cruz Athletic podcast, by the way, and uh funny story. So uh, you know, I I went there grand opening. I still go there, and I met my girlfriend there.

SPEAKER_05 40:57

So that's amazing. Crystal like that one.

SPEAKER_07 41:04

Hundred knuckles.

SPEAKER_05 41:13

I'm telling him you said that. He's gonna kick the shit out of you.

SPEAKER_01 41:17

That was a really awesome episode. I was I was listening to it yesterday while they were shooting. So that's a good one.

SPEAKER_08 41:22

Well, Reggie, where can they find you?

SPEAKER_01 41:25

Instagram.com slash local shot SC 831-230-3350. Nice phone number. We haven't done that in a while.

SPEAKER_06 41:35

Well, you guys did at the first six episodes. Somebody came in, somebody came in and said, are we doing that?

SPEAKER_05 41:42

Like giving a I don't remember if that guest was like we're doing phone numbers.

SPEAKER_08 41:47

Nobody's gonna say, how can they find you?

SPEAKER_03 41:49

Yeah, that's sorry. Any crazy things you've seen in the houses?

Balcony Lockouts And Final Wrap

SPEAKER_03 41:54

That's a good one.

SPEAKER_05 41:56

That's called a bonus.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

There are always crazy things in the house. I'm I wish I had one like off the top of my head. I'll tell you a funny story. One time I was the door locked behind me, and I was on a second story balcony. Actually, it's happened to me twice.

SPEAKER_00 42:11

And so I'm like rappelled down. I mean never. It was either like I hung myself over the head like a martial arts guy, or like I found a tree and really crazy.

SPEAKER_04 42:20

And then I had to go through the front door. So twice twice that happened to me. That's that panicking moment like I can't make this phone call for D. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:29

Uh oh shit. Brandy's gonna hate it. Yeah. So all right.

SPEAKER_08 42:34

Well, thank you again, Reggie. This is the OTC Podcast. I'm Brandon Jones at KW3 831 588 5145.

SPEAKER_03 42:42

Ryan Buckholt, Cross Country Mortgage, 831 818 2339.

SPEAKER_04 42:47

Jerry Seagraves, Seagraves Insurance, 831 239 9425.

unknown 42:52

Woohoo!