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Virtual Tours

I have just hired a virtual tour company that I love. They are very inexpensive and do a great job! My question is ... are you using virtual tours? Do they really make a difference to buyers? Or, as I am using it for impressing Sellers. Is it really a tool to impress Sellers?

I am actually using the virtual tours for FSBO's too. i take a tour of the front of their home and drop off a dvd with that short tour, a little tour on their town and some sort of market material to help them sell their home.

Posted by Peter Kima on 06/14/2007 09:50 PM

Comments (9)

virtual tour, sellers, buyers, fsbo

9 Comments on Virtual Tours

JUN

2007

I've NEVER used a virtual tour. My sellers never seemed to care. Of course, that probably because I've always taken excellent photos, and my web site had a nice slide show. However, I've recently started making full videos, using still shots as well as video. Someone here told me about www.wellcomemat.com, where they'll host your videos for free. And Jeff Turner has a company that does virtual tours too, if you need another option.

Virtual Tours are awesome! I have had buyers qualify themselves from other states for a home in Indiana!

I have made a lot of sellers happy and helped many buyers find that home from the luxury of their own home.

Good luck!

Peter, It depends how you are using the VT. If you are just using it to place on your MLS and Realtor.com it's a waste of money at least in my area. Fewer than 4 percent of people view it according to records from the VT company. Now, if it is used as viral marketing where the seller emails it to ALL their friends, your placing a link and or CD with the flyers, etc then they are worth it.

Rather than a slow loading VT, why not flyinside.com which is free.

I will say this for the 100th time, before i was a realtor, the first thing i would look for was the spiining little red house...i would still look at the others with pictures, but the homes with the VT's got my first look. Think about it, you can view more of the house whithout going to it. Now, there is no comparrison as to actually seeing the home, but it gives you a good idea.

Also, i have found that these "FREE" virtual tour companies dont really give you a great product, flyinside seems ok, but you have to pay $1.00 for every lead you may get from your tours.

I think the VT tool is more for the sellers to make them happy... If you are tech savvy... you can code them on other websites or feed into more search engine.. After all, 96% of people start looking for homes online here...

I also use VT to package the home hunting tour summary for my buyers.. It takes a lot of work.. But it builds royalty and generates more referrals.

JUN

2007

I hire a local Professional Photographer who also specializes in Residential
VT, the guy's amazing. I pay anywhere between $70 - $100 depending on his driving distance and size of the home. By the time I go out to the listing and the pictures (gas $$), stitch the photos (time consuming accompanied by a headache) and upload every single picture...I say forgettaboutit! I'd rather take that time and gas and go find myself a new listing! This photographer goes above and beyond by giving me and the seller a cd copy of the photos, which also contains the VT and he even does the MLS & Realtor.con link for me (all for under $100.00).

But let me answer your questions as to whether or not they work, the answer is YES! When doing listing presentations, sellers are impressed and these days with high leves of inventory they almost expect it. We all know that the #1 website for home searching is www.realtor.com and these buyers are giving a choice between looking at homes w/VT or photos, guess what they go for? Virtual Tours. If your listings don't offer one, the system will skip right over it.

Hope this helps.

Maria

I think it depends on the quality of the virtual tour. I've seen some that tell me nothing about the house that I couldn't already get from still pictures.

JUN

2007

since the number of pople looking on line before calling and agnet is rising toward the 90% mark I would say yoy have to include virtual tour or other cost effective visual media. We pay $125 a year for unlimited tours you can see the at www.TeamRenton.com This and 1-800 numbers have certainly given us an edge in our market place.

JUN

2007

Paul, your virtual tours are nice, most virtual tours just have a photo and the software just moves in for a close up and out again...they are not virtual tours....who is your provider?

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