04
Apr 2012
Real Estate Marketing With Virtual Tours
Real Estate Marketing With Virtual Tours
There are many ways Southlake and Keller real estate agents can market your property. The one marketing tool that I have a big role in, and quite possibly one of the most important tools in their marketing plan considering the majority of buyers start their home search online, is through the display of real estate photography and video, with virtual tours.
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A realtor that markets your property correctly is going to start with professional real estate photography. The majority of buyers are now starting their search online, so it’s important your property shines and is viewed in its best light. If quality photos are not posted online, buyers might skip your home and look at another one. In Southlake and Keller, and in fact all of North Texas, real estate agents submit your property listing to a MLS (Multiple Listing Service) system called NTREIS (pronounced net-triss).
The majority of realtors will submit the maximum number of photos to showcase your property, which currently is limited to twenty-five. Buyers are looking for as much information as possible when purchasing a home, so making sure all twenty-five photos are posted to the listing is important. However, there is an additional marketing media that agents can embrace to help deliver even more photos and video to buyers.
Virtual Tours
Virtual tours are links that are attached to property listings. When clicked, the virtual tours showcase the photos of the property and usually give buyers the option of viewing the photos in full-screen, high-quality. There are generally three types of virtual tours that agents use.
1) Virtual Tours (Slideshow)
The majority of realtors will use the regular virtual tour, a slideshow of images. The images will pan back and forth, but the photos are usually the same photos posted to the MLS listing. The buyer isn’t receiving any additional media, unless the virtual tour contains more than the twenty-five image restriction enforced by the MLS.
2) 360 Degree Virtual Tour
Some agents will have the professional real estate photographer produce a 360 degree virtual tour. The photographer stands at various locations throughout the home (the realtor usually gets a choice of five locations) and the photographer produces a 360 view from each location. When viewing the virtual tour online, buyers can use their mouse to do a full 360 turn to view the property. Unfortunately, these tours are not usually user-friendly and they can be hard to control. They also tend to introduce distortion, that makes the buyer appear to be viewing the home from within a fish bowl.
3) HD Video Tour Walk-Through
With consumers craving video, this is the best option for marketing a real estate property. The real estate photographer/videographer will produce a full-motion, HD video tour walk-through of the property. To the buyer, it’s like taking a home tour in person. They walk through the property and they get to see the relationships of the spaces to get a better feel of the layout. Additionally, with the motion of video and the background music, video tours have the ability to evoke emotion, something still photos and text can’t do. (And emotion sells real estate!)
Regardless of which virtual tour method is used in a realtors real estate marketing plan, it’s additional media for buyers to obtain and have a better feel for a property. In Southlake and Keller, the majority of real estate agents are showcasing properties with Virtual Tour Slideshows. If you are looking for a realtor that is embracing video and technology and you want your property to be marketed with an HD Video Tour Walk-Through, contact us or view our recent HD Video Walk-Through Tours here on our website.