For your team
Motivated seller video ads: you on camera, explaining how you buy
A motivated seller video ad is a short ad where you, the local investor, explain how selling to you works. Film one clip on your phone and Cutroom returns a captioned 9:16 ad in about a minute.
In short
- A motivated seller video ad is a short vertical ad where you explain, on camera, how you buy houses.
- Show your face, name the seller's situation in the first line, and say what happens from your offer to the day you pay.
- Meta treats ads about buying or selling homes as housing ads, so you get fewer targeting options.
- Cutroom turns one phone clip of you talking into a captioned 9:16 ad in about a minute.
- Your first video is free with no card. Lite costs $19.99 a month and covers about 11 ads.
- Longest clip you can upload
- 3 min
- Finished MP4, captions burned in
- 9:16
- One finished 30-second ad
- ~110 CR
What is a motivated seller video ad?
It is a short vertical ad in which a local investor or wholesaler explains, on camera, how selling to them works.
- The ad is aimed at an owner who needs to sell a house and wants to call someone they can see.
- You say who you are, where you buy and what happens from the first call to the day you pay.
- A photo of a house shows nobody, and the owner is deciding whether to call you or list with an agent.
- Cash buyers, wholesalers, flippers and buy-and-hold investors all run this kind of ad.
- It usually runs 30 to 60 seconds, vertical, with captions, on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok.
What makes a seller ad get calls
Three things belong in a seller ad, plus one thing to leave out.
- Your face has to be in the ad, not a logo and not a stock photo of a house.
- The first line names the seller's situation, because most people who see the ad are not selling.
- You explain how you pay, how fast you can close and what happens to repairs the owner cannot afford.
- Leave out a promised price, a closing date you cannot keep and any result you cannot repeat.
What to say, in order, in a seller ad
The first line tells the right owner to keep watching. Everything after it is for that owner.
The situation
Inherited house, tired landlord, repairs
Where and what you buy
Your area and the kind of house
How selling to you works
Offer to closing, step by step
One next step
Said once, at the end
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
Meta's housing ad rule for investor ads
Meta treats ads about buying, selling and renting homes as housing ads, one of its Special Ad Categories.
- Housing ads run with fewer targeting options, so you cannot rely on a narrow audience to find sellers.
- With less targeting to lean on, the first five seconds have to tell the right owner the ad is for them.
- You declare the housing special ad category yourself when you set the campaign up in Ads Manager.
- Read Meta's own Special Ad Categories policy before you build the campaign, because the rules change.
- What you pay Meta to show the ad is separate from Cutroom's credits, and you set that budget in Ads Manager.
Three video ad formats for investors
Each format is one clip of you talking, and each one comes back from Cutroom as its own finished ad.
- Record the "how selling to me works" ad first, because it is the one you will run the longest.
- Keep the situation ad calm and plain. An owner who has just inherited a house is not looking for a pitch.
- In a deal story, leave out anything that identifies the seller.
Motivated seller ad formats
Three ads an investor can film, what each one says and one tip for filming it.
| Format | What you say | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| How selling to me works | First call to closing: the visit, the offer, the paperwork, the day you pay | About 60 seconds. Record this one first |
| The situation ad | One situation per ad: an inherited house, a tired landlord, a house that needs a roof | Name the situation in the first line |
| The closed-deal story | One recent purchase: what the owner faced, what you offered, how closing went | Ask the seller first, and leave their name out |
Format: How selling to me works
- What you say
- First call to closing: the visit, the offer, the paperwork, the day you pay
- Tip
- About 60 seconds. Record this one first
Format: The situation ad
- What you say
- One situation per ad: an inherited house, a tired landlord, a house that needs a roof
- Tip
- Name the situation in the first line
Format: The closed-deal story
- What you say
- One recent purchase: what the owner faced, what you offered, how closing went
- Tip
- Ask the seller first, and leave their name out
How Cutroom turns your clip into a seller ad
You film one clip on your phone and upload it in a browser. The finished ad comes back in about a minute.
- You upload one clip of yourself talking, up to 3 minutes long, filmed on your phone.
- Cutroom cuts it, burns in captions timed to your voice, writes an opening headline and puts b-roll on the words you say.
- Highlight a phrase like "inherited house" and a stock clip lands over exactly those words.
- Correct a mis-heard street name in the transcript, or delete a line, and the edit rebuilds around it.
- You pick from 40 caption themes and 15 hook themes, and you set the music on or off at the volume you want.
- You get a 1080x1920 MP4 for Reels and Stories. Check how Meta shows it in other placements before you launch.
The Cutroom editor: your transcript beside the finished frame
Change the ad by changing the words. The transcript sits on the left and the 9:16 frame on the right.
B-rolls · 5
1
2
3
4
5Most face serums make one big promise, then quietly do nothing. This one has three ingredients, works in ten days, and costs less than your coffee habit. If your skin doesn’t change, you get every cent back.
highlight = b-roll · struck out = already cut
▸ 0:07 / 0:26 · shot 1 of 5
- 1B-roll on the exact wordsReal footage, placed where showing beats telling.
- 2The opening headlineWritten from what you said. Pick one it drafted, or write your own.
- 3Captions in 40 themesPick a theme, then its font and colour.
- 49:16, ready to exportExport renders one vertical MP4.
Video tools real estate investors compare
The tools below are built for listing agents rather than investors. Judge them on one question: can they finish a short clip of you talking?
- OpusClip: turns a long home-tour video into many short clips. It needs long footage to work from.
- Jupitrr: edits a talking video on upload, with a content calendar and publishing. No free plan.
- Captions: a phone app that edits your video with AI edit styles.
- Cutroom: one clip of you talking in, one finished ad back. Your first video is free.
Four video tools for a seller ad, side by side
Prices as published on each vendor's own pricing page on the day shown. Plans change; check the page before you pay.
| Tool | Best for | Editing approach | Platform | Pricing from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 OpusClip | Turning long videos into many short clips | AI picks clips from long video and captions them | Web, mobile | Free plan (watermark); Starter $15/month |
 Jupitrr | Coaches, consultants and agents publishing every week | Automatic edit on upload, then adjust | Web, mobile teleprompter app | No free plan; Starter $18/month, annual ($22 monthly) |
 Captions | Mobile-first AI editing of talking videos | AI edit styles applied to your video, with manual controls | iOS, Android, web | Free version; Max $24.99/month |
| Cutroom | One filmed clip finished as a captioned 9:16 ad | Upload one clip; b-roll, captions and a hook are placed for you | Browser | First video free, no card; Lite $19.99/month |
- OpusClip
- Best for
- Turning long videos into many short clips
- Approach
- AI picks clips from long video and captions them
- Platform
- Web, mobile
- Pricing from
- Free plan (watermark); Starter $15/month
- Jupitrr
- Best for
- Coaches, consultants and agents publishing every week
- Approach
- Automatic edit on upload, then adjust
- Platform
- Web, mobile teleprompter app
- Pricing from
- No free plan; Starter $18/month, annual ($22 monthly)
- Captions
- Best for
- Mobile-first AI editing of talking videos
- Approach
- AI edit styles applied to your video, with manual controls
- Platform
- iOS, Android, web
- Pricing from
- Free version; Max $24.99/month
Cutroom
- Best for
- One filmed clip finished as a captioned 9:16 ad
- Approach
- Upload one clip; b-roll, captions and a hook are placed for you
- Platform
- Browser
- Pricing from
- First video free, no card; Lite $19.99/month
Prices and plans read from each vendor's own pricing page on 21 September 2026.
What motivated seller video ads cost
Cutroom charges credits: 100 to edit a video, plus 20 per minute of finished video to export.
- One 30-second ad costs about 110 credits, so a full minute costs about 120.
- A typical set is one ad about how selling to you works, plus one ad for each situation you buy in.
- That comes to about four ads a month. Lite's 1,250 credits cover about 11, so you can re-record any ad.
- Your first video is free and needs no card, but you have to make it within 7 days of signing up, and it carries a Cutroom mark.
- What you pay Meta to show the ads is on top of this, and you set that budget yourself.
Cutroom plans
At about 110 credits an ad: 100 credits to edit plus the export.
| Plan | Price | Credits | 30-second ads a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| First video | Free, no card | 600 | 1, with a Cutroom mark |
| Lite | $19.99 a month | 1,250 | About 11, no mark |
| Basic | $39.99 a month | 2,500 | About 22, plus avatars and generated music |
| Premium | $79.99 a month | 5,000 | About 45 |
Plan: First video
- Price
- Free, no card
- Credits
- 600
- 30-second ads a month
- 1, with a Cutroom mark
Plan: Lite
- Price
- $19.99 a month
- Credits
- 1,250
- 30-second ads a month
- About 11, no mark
Plan: Basic
- Price
- $39.99 a month
- Credits
- 2,500
- 30-second ads a month
- About 22, plus avatars and generated music
Plan: Premium
- Price
- $79.99 a month
- Credits
- 5,000
- 30-second ads a month
- About 45
Questions people ask
- Why use a video ad instead of a photo of a house?
- Because a seller wants to see who they are calling, and a photo of a house shows nobody. A short video lets them hear how you talk and how a sale with you works. Burned-in captions carry the words for people scrolling with the sound off.
- Does a we buy houses ad fall under Meta's housing category?
- Usually, yes. Meta groups ads about buying, selling and renting homes as housing ads, a Special Ad Category with fewer targeting options. Read Meta's own policy before you launch. Then name the seller's situation and your area in the first line, so the right owner stops scrolling.
- What should I say in the first five seconds of a seller ad?
- Name the situation, then say where you buy. For example: "Inherited a house in this county and do not want to fix it up?" Cutroom puts an opening headline on screen over those seconds. It drafts one from your words, or you write your own.
- Can a wholesaler use this, or only investors who buy with cash?
- Both. A wholesaler, a flipper and a buy-and-hold investor all film the same kind of video: how selling to you works. Say honestly how your process works, including whether the contract may be assigned to another buyer.
- Do I need a camera crew or a written script for a seller ad?
- No. A phone, a quiet spot and a few bullet points are enough. Your clip can run up to 3 minutes, so a false start or two is fine. Delete a bad line in the transcript and the edit rebuilds around it.
- How long until the seller ad is ready for Ads Manager?
- About a minute for the edit. Read the transcript once to fix anything, then export the 9:16 MP4 and upload it in Ads Manager. Pick the housing special ad category yourself when you create the campaign. Your first video is free, with no card.
- Who should not use Cutroom for seller ads?
- An investor who will not appear on camera, or a team that wants a produced brand film shot with a crew. Cutroom finishes one clip of you talking into one vertical ad. It does not film for you.
Film a 60-second explainer of how selling to you works and get it back as a finished seller ad. Your first video is free.