Go4Virtual photo selections include night photos of properties
Go4Virtual Franchise is Growing
VICTORIA – Luc Cardinal and his team at Go4Virtual give their clients something that is the next best thing to being there.
The real estate photography and virtual tour company is laser-focused on showing homes and businesses in the best possible light with their use of drones and high performance cameras, and as a result, the firm is growing by leaps and bounds.
Go4Virtual owner Luc Cardinal
“Our photos can look better than the house itself,” says Cardinal. “That’s my job to show the house as awesome as it is.”
When Cardinal started virtual tours of homes eight years ago, he said a lot of realtors were skeptical. That has all changed.
“Most of my realtors now just give me the address and say ‘do what you do’,” he notes. “We do photos, floor plans, virtual tours and drones. We use drones because when you’re selling a home, you’re selling the area, and letting buyers know that it’s close to the ocean, the park, to shopping. The drone photos show what’s in the neighborhood.
“I am a real estate photographer, and when I start with a realtor, I always tell them that the more they can share the house the way it is, the more they’re going to find the right buyer as fast as possible.”
Cardinal moved to Victoria from Florida, and resumed his photography career by taking photos of children in school for the first year on Vancouver Island before building Go4Virtual one customer at a time.
Go4 Virtual has grown from working with 400 realtors to close to 2,000.
An example of a Go4Virtual aerial drone photo
“Some realtors have 1 or 2 listings a month, some 1 or 2 in a year,” he notes. “I’m a little bit different, in that other companies may send a photographer to take virtual photo, or fly a drone, and maybe take 2-3 appointments to do it. I make one appointment and do it all in one trip.”
Go4Virtual’s policy of setting appointments has been a key to their success.
Expert use of lighting shows off interiors of homes
“Appointments are very important, and we are on time, and on schedule,” he observes. “People communicate with you in many different ways today, but my turnaround is the key to the company. Our prices are as well, and for each client, we include a minimum 30 photos, one dusk, one night shot, plus the virtual tour and colour floor plan.”
Little wonder the company is growing as fast as it is. Today there are 20 employees, many working remotely from overseas.
“The way we work when we do a job is I deliver everything the next day once we’re finished the shoot, because the people who work with us are working while we’re sleeping,” he points out. “When I wake up the next day, I can deliver everything they’ve done.”
Cardinal has been franchising Go4Virtual for the past several years.
“I have three franchisors now, two in Victoria and one in Kelowna,” he says. “Three more are coming soon – two in Vancouver, and another one in Victoria.”
