Real estate video shot list: room order and clip lengths

A real estate video shot list answers the two questions that slow down every shoot: which room comes next, and how long to stay in it. The one below follows the order a buyer walks through a home, with the seconds and the camera move for each shot, the runtime to cut for each channel, and a short version to screenshot before you leave the office. Phone settings, light and the on-camera intro are in the guide to filming a real estate video on your phone. This post is only about order, timing and movement.

The room order that keeps buyers watching

Film in the order of a showing: facade, entrance, living room, kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, then the backyard and amenities. Three reasons:

• Buyers build the floor plan in their head. Each cut should feel like the next step: through the front door, into the living room, over to the kitchen. Jump from the hall bathroom back to the kitchen and the viewer stops following the house and starts guessing where things are.
• The rooms that sell come early. The living room and kitchen are shots 3 and 4. Both start within the first 15 seconds, while people are still watching.
• You walk the house once. Front to back, room by room, without crossing back for a shot you forgot. That keeps the filming to about 15 minutes.

Outdoor spaces go last. The backyard, the pool or the view is often the shot that makes someone save the video, and it leads straight into your end card.

One exception for Reels: open with 2 seconds of the best feature (the pool, the view from the deck) as a hook, then cut to the facade and follow the order from there.

Leave out the laundry room, the closets and a garage with nothing special in it. The route should be clear before you press record; the home staging guide covers that room by room.

Shot list by room, with clip lengths

The example is a fictional two-story house at 1824 Palm Crest Drive: 1,950 sq ft, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open kitchen with an island and a backyard with a pool.

#	Shot	What’s in frame	Camera move	Seconds
1	Facade	The whole house and the front door, from the sidewalk	Slow push-in, or tilt up from the front walk	5
2	Entrance	The open front door and the foyer behind it	Walk through the door	4
3	Living room	The room, facing its brightest window	Push-in from the doorway	6
4	Kitchen	Island, counters and appliances	Slide sideways along the island	6
5	Stairs	The staircase up to the landing	Stand at the bottom, tilt up	4
6	Primary bedroom	Bed, window and the door to the bathroom	Pan from the door to the window, a quarter turn	5
7	Primary bathroom	Vanity and shower	Static from the doorway, wide lens	4
8	Bedroom 2	The whole room	Static from the doorway corner	3
9	Bedroom 3	The whole room	Static from the doorway corner	3
10	Hall bathroom	Vanity and tub	Static from the doorway	3
11	Backyard	From inside, through the back door to the yard	Walk out through the door	6
12	Pool	Water, deck and the back of the house	Pull back slowly, or slide along the edge	5
13	End card	Your logo, name and phone	None	3
	Total			57

What each move means with a phone in your hands:

• Push-in: walk forward slowly, in short steps, with the phone level. The room grows in the frame.
• Slide: walk sideways, parallel to the counter. The island stays the same size while the background moves, which shows depth better than a pan.
• Pan: stand still and turn from the hips, about a quarter turn over the whole clip.
• Tilt: stand still and angle the phone up. It works for staircases, high ceilings and two-story facades.
• Pull back: walk backward slowly. Only on a flat, clear path, and never along a pool edge without checking behind you first.
• Static: don’t move at all. In a small room, any movement looks bigger and shakier than it is.

Why these lengths: 5 to 6 seconds is enough for one movement with a still moment at each end. Under 3 seconds, the viewer can’t read the room. Secondary bedrooms and the hall bathroom tell buyers less, so they get less time.

How to move between rooms without shaky footage

Shaky listing videos usually come from one long take that walks through the whole house. Film each room as its own clip and let the cuts do the walking.

• Stop at the end of each room. Walk to the next doorway with the camera off, then start the next clip. The cut replaces the hallway.
• End where the next shot begins. Finish the living room facing the kitchen, and start the kitchen clip from that side. Cut together, the two clips read as one walk.
• Keep one direction. If the living room push-in drifts left to right, slide along the island left to right too. A direction flip between two clips makes the cut jump.
• Hold still for half a second at each end. It gives you a clean point to cut and room for a transition.
• One movement per clip. A push-in that turns into a pan halfway through is a classic bad shot. If you need both, film two clips.
• Use the wide lens in small rooms. In Haus, the 0.5× button (on phones with an ultra-wide lens) fits a bathroom from the doorway, so you don’t have to step inside and turn around.
• If the route matters, give it its own clip. A long hallway to a separate suite can be a 5-second walk sped up with Haus’s Speed effect, from 0.5× to 2.5×. You drag the slider by hand while the clip plays, so you can slow down at the door and speed through the corridor.

Total runtime for Reels, YouTube and portals

The full list runs 57 seconds. Each channel gets its own cut from the same footage:

Channel	Runtime	Shots from the list	Shape
Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts	30–45 s	1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 12 and the end card: 44 s	Vertical
Instagram Stories, a text to a buyer	15–20 s	1, 3, 4 and 12, trimmed to 4 or 5 s each: 18 s	Vertical
YouTube, your listing page, the MLS virtual tour	60–90 s	All 12 and the end card, with the living room, kitchen and backyard held for 8 s: 63 s	Horizontal

These are working targets, not platform limits. YouTube Shorts accepts vertical videos up to 3 minutes (YouTube), so length isn’t the constraint; attention is. A buyer scrolling Reels needs the facade, the main rooms and the best feature. A buyer who clicked through from your listing page wants every room.

Film it vertical. In Haus, the same vertical video exports as Portrait for Reels, TikTok and Shorts, as Portrait for Stories and WhatsApp, and as Square for the feed. One walk-through is enough to test which format brings more messages.

Many MLSs want the virtual tour unbranded: no name, phone or logo. For a clean version, “Duplicate” the project and strip the copy: pick the blank template card, turn “Final transition” off and clear the room captions. Check what your MLS allows before you upload.

If you narrate over the shots, Haus’s script editor estimates reading time at about 150 words a minute, so the 44-second Reel holds roughly 100 words with pauses. The listing video script guide covers what to say.

Using this shot list in Haus

The list maps onto Haus’s guided recording almost one to one:

1. Turn on the guidance. When you start a project, “Let’s set up your recording” asks for the format, Vertical or Horizontal. Under “Need tips?”, switch on Coach me as I film.
2. Count the rooms. In the Rooms step, set Facade 1, Entrance 1, Living Room 1, Kitchen 1, Stairs 1, Bedroom 3, Bathroom 2 and Pool 1. Each count becomes a slot in your shot list. Add the backyard clip with “+”.
3. Watch the example, then film. Before each room that has examples (Living Room, Kitchen, Bedroom, Bathroom, Pool, View, Facade, Balcony, Lift, Barbecue place and Playground), three short clips play: “Find your spot”, “Mirror this move” and “Match the example”. Entrance, Stairs, Hallway, Garage and Gym open the camera straight away. The examples stream over the internet, so watch them where you have signal.
4. Set the seconds. Every planned room opens with the Timer at 5 seconds, and the recording stops on its own. For the 6-second living room and kitchen, raise “Max duration” (1 to 60 seconds, or “No limit”). Clips added with “+” start with no limit, so set one for the backyard. Trim the 3-second bedrooms afterwards.
5. Check for gaps before you leave. If you try to continue while a room is still empty, Haus warns you that a few rooms still need footage. That is the moment to film it, not after you’re back at the office. Then drag the clips into visiting order if needed, and use “Final transition” for the 3-second end card with your logo, name and phone.

A printable shot list

Screenshot this list, or print the page and tick each line at the property.

The 13-shot list

1. Facade: 5 s, push-in or tilt up
2. Entrance: 4 s, walk through the door
3. Living room: 6 s, push-in toward the window
4. Kitchen: 6 s, slide along the island
5. Stairs: 4 s, tilt up from the bottom
6. Primary bedroom: 5 s, quarter-turn pan
7. Primary bathroom: 4 s, static, wide lens
8. Bedroom 2: 3 s, static
9. Bedroom 3: 3 s, static
10. Hall bathroom: 3 s, static
11. Backyard: 6 s, walk out the back door
12. Pool or best feature: 5 s, pull back or slide
13. End card: 3 s

Before you leave the property

• Every room on the list has a clip.
• You watched the facade and living room clips once, full screen. They carry the video.
• You have a spare take of the best feature for the Reels hook.

Print the list, walk the house once and let the cuts do the walking. Download Haus and try it on your next listing.

Frequently asked questions

How long should each shot be in a real estate video?

Three to six seconds per room: about 6 for the living room and kitchen, 3 for secondary bedrooms and the hall bathroom. Haus opens each planned room with the Timer set to 5 seconds and stops the recording on its own, which suits most rooms.

What order should I film a house in?

The order of a showing: facade, entrance, living room, kitchen, bedrooms and their bathrooms, then the backyard, pool or view. Buyers build the floor plan in their head while they watch, so every cut should feel like the next step through the house.

How many shots does a three-bedroom house need?

About 12, plus an end card. In the example in this post, 12 shots and a 3-second end card come to 57 seconds. The Reels cut keeps 8 of them and runs 44 seconds.

Should I film the walk from one room to the next?

Usually not. Stop recording at the end of each room and start the next clip from its doorway, so the cut does the walking. If a hallway matters, film it as its own short clip and speed it up in editing.