How to create a real estate video from your photos

The result depends first on what you put in. No tool can save a blurry or dark photo.

How many photos

Between 5 and 15. Fewer, and the video doesn’t show enough of the home; more, and it drags on.

• Studio or one-bedroom: 5 to 7 photos.
• Family apartment or house: 8 to 12 photos.
• Large house with outdoor space: up to 15.

Which photos

• Good resolution, no watermark. At least 1920 px wide. A recent phone photo works; a photo compressed by a messaging app or taken from a portal doesn’t.
• Wide shots. A whole room, well framed, works better than a detail or a hallway.
• The rooms that matter. Exterior or view, living room, kitchen, primary bedroom, bathroom, private outdoor space. For the standout room, two or three different angles.
• Light. Photos taken in daylight, lights on, blinds open.

Prepping the home, phone settings, framing, light: all the shooting tips are in our guide How to take great real estate photos.

In Roomotion: you upload 5 to 15 photos per video; your listing photos are enough.

Put the photos in the order of a real showing: it’s what viewers expect, and it helps them picture the layout.

1. The exterior: the facade or the view, to set the scene before going in.
2. The living areas: entryway, living room, dining room.
3. The kitchen.
4. The bedrooms, starting with the primary.
5. The bathroom.
6. The highlight last: the terrace, the backyard, the view. The last shot is the one people remember.

In Roomotion: drag the photos to reorder them; the order of the list is the order of the video.

Two families of tools, two different results.

• A video editor (Canva, CapCut, iMovie). Free or close to it, but you edit everything by hand: what you get is a slideshow, still images that slide or zoom.
• A specialized AI generator. AI animates each photo with a camera move, and the video is put together for you. The result is close to a filmed tour, with no editing.

Tools, prices and limits are compared in our guide The best real estate video software. Weighing a specific editor? See Canva or CapCut. A shoot? See real estate videographer or Roomotion.

In Roomotion: each photo becomes a shot with a camera move, with no prompts and no editing. Everything the video includes is on the page The real estate video.

A listing video is used twice: in 16:9 (landscape) on listing portals, your website and YouTube, in 9:16 (portrait) on Instagram, TikTok and Stories. The vertical format only keeps the center of a horizontal photo, so you have to decide what stays in the frame.

• Keep the room’s main feature in frame: the living room’s picture window, the kitchen counter, the bed.
• Watch out for narrow rooms shot with a wide angle: in vertical, sometimes only a wall is left. Pick another angle if needed.
• Check every photo in both formats, not just the first one.

In Roomotion: you crop each photo in landscape and portrait before generating, and both formats are delivered together.

The property is the subject of the video: keep text to a minimum, at the start and at the end.

• At the start: the property’s title, location and price.
• At the end: your name, phone number, agency and logo. The video travels far beyond the listing, so it should carry your contact info.
• In between: nothing. Text on every shot pulls the eye away from the rooms.

In Roomotion: the intro and end screen are built from the details you enter, with your brand kit (logo, color, fonts). See the guide How to add your logo to a real estate video.

The right move for each room

• A facade or a view: a rising move, to show the building and its surroundings.
• A living room or bedroom: a slow push into the room, to convey its depth.
• A kitchen or a corner room: an arc move, which curves around a point in the room.

Avoid moves that are too fast or too strong: a listing video should stay understated.

Music and length

Subtle music that lets the images speak. Aim for 30 to 60 seconds for a portal or your website, 20 to 30 seconds for social media.

In Roomotion: you pick the move for each photo from a list, with a preview, or keep the default one. You also pick a background track. The video runs 20 to 65 seconds depending on the number of photos.

Before you publish, check that

• The shots follow the tour order.
• The price, location and your contact info are correct.
• Each shot shows the home as it is, with nothing distorted or added.
• The vertical version is well framed, shot by shot.

Where to publish

• On listing portals: video counts toward how listings rank. See our guides for SeLoger and leboncoin.
• On your website, at the top of the property page.
• On Instagram and TikTok, in 9:16. See the guide How to make a real estate Instagram Reel.
• For short-term rentals, Airbnb doesn’t accept video in listings: it goes on social media and your direct booking site. See video for short-term rentals.

Why video helps a listing, with figures from the portals: see the page The real estate video.

In Roomotion: you get an email when the video is ready, in about ten minutes, and you download it in both formats.

• Reusing photos from a portal: compressed, sometimes watermarked, they make a blurry video.
• Using every photo: past 15, the video gets long and viewers drop off before the home’s highlight.
• Keeping details and hallways: a faucet or a corridor tells buyers nothing about the home.
• Loading the video with text: viewers read instead of watching.
• Forgetting the vertical version: without it, the video is no use on social media.