© 2026
What I've Learned Shooting Real Estate Video in the South Metro
Listing videos, drone, agent brand films. What actually gets booked in the south metro, from the person holding the camera.
The shooter's version. What works, what agents ask for, and what I would tell a freelancer thinking about getting into real estate work.
Real estate is a decent chunk of what I shoot in the south metro. Apple Valley, Prior Lake, Savage, Burnsville, Eagan. Enough of it now that I have opinions about what actually works, which is different from what agents ask for, which is different again from what the industry blogs say.
This is the shooter's version. What I have learned showing up to these jobs, what the numbers look like from where I sit, and what I would tell another freelancer thinking about getting into it.
The demand is real, and it is lopsided
The stat everyone quotes comes from roundups like Amplifiles' 2026 report, which puts listings with video at 403% more inquiries. Treat that as directional, not precise, because estimates range wildly. But every source points the same way and the effect is not small.
The more useful number for anyone deciding whether to chase this work is the adoption gap. Data from Amplifiles and SofaBrain has only about 38% of agents using video at all, and just 9% producing listing-specific video. Meanwhile 73% of homeowners say they are more likely to list with an agent who offers it.
Sellers want it. Almost nobody is delivering it. That gap is the whole business case, and it is why the agents who do book this work tend to book it repeatedly rather than once.
What actually gets booked
Four things, roughly in order of how often I shoot them.
Listing videos
The bread and butter. What separates a good one from a walkthrough is that you are shooting the flow of the house, not the rooms. Where the light lands in the afternoon, how you move between spaces, what the neighbourhood feels like from the front step. Industry data puts listings with professional video at roughly 118% more engagement, and in a market like Prior Lake where lakefront and large lots are the draw, that visibility is the product.
Drone, and the part people skip
PhotoUp's 2026 data has roughly 80% of active listing agents using aerial in some form, so it stopped being a differentiator a while ago. What still differentiates is doing it legally. Commercial drone work requires an FAA Part 107 certificate and a meaningful amount of listing footage out there is flown without one. If you are freelancing into this, get certified. It protects the agent, it protects you, and it is the easiest thing to be asked about mid-shoot.
Agent brand films
Listing videos sell the house. A brand film sells the agent, and it is the piece with the longest shelf life. Two or three minutes on who they are and how they work. Harder to shoot than a listing, because now you are directing a person who did not plan on being directed, and most of the first twenty minutes is unusable while they stop performing.
Neighbourhood content
The most underused format I see, and the easiest to batch. Inman calls community content one of the top-performing formats for 2026. Trails in Savage, schools in Burnsville, the lake in Prior Lake. It builds an agent's local authority and it shoots fast, which makes it good margin work.
The thing that decides whether they rebook
Quality, and not in the way people mean when they say it. Wyzowl's 2026 report has 89% of consumers saying video quality directly affects how much they trust a brand. In real estate that lands harder than most categories, because the agent is asking a stranger for the biggest financial decision of their life.
Practically, that has meant audio and stabilisation more than resolution. Nobody has ever told me the footage was too sharp. Plenty of listing videos die on hollow room tone and a drifting handheld shot.
If you are a freelancer looking at this market
It is steady, it is local, and it repeats. An agent with listings has listings again next month, which makes it some of the easiest recurring work to build without inventing a retainer from scratch.
It is also a market where turnaround matters more than it does in brand work. A listing video that arrives a week late has missed the window. Build your process around that before you take the first one.
Wyzowl has 82% of video marketers reporting a good return and more than 80% saying video directly increased sales or leads. For an agent running listings all year, the maths works out obviously enough that the conversation is usually short.
Work with me
I'm Dom. I shoot and create content for brands, and I founded Nrth Media, a production studio here in the Twin Cities. Two ways to work with me.
Hire me directly. Listing videos, agent brand films, neighbourhood content, aerial. Fifteen years behind a camera, FAA Part 107 certified.
Hire the studio. If it needs a crew or more hands than one person has, that is Nrth Media.
Either way, tell me what you are shooting and I will tell you honestly what I would do first.
Sources
WRITTEN BY DOM BORKA
Dom Borka is a videographer, creator, and photographer in Minneapolis. He has been shooting since 2011, was a featured producer on an Emmy-winning broadcast, and makes content for brands including Sony Alpha, DJI, and Kondor Blue. FAA Part 107 certified. When a job needs a crew, it goes to his studio, Nrth Media.
