Which Properties Need Virtual Tours?

Which Properties Need Virtual Tours?
By: Verl Workman

Virtual tours have evolved. They're quick; they're clear and simply said, statistics prove that consumers love them-increasing views and decreasing days on the market. So, which properties should you put virtual tours on? All of them!

Let's break it down. First there is the listing side. My coaching clients throughout North America will tell you that they list more properties when they demonstrate their online marketing strategy during listing presentations, including professional photography and distribution partners to place the listing on a wide array of the nations top search sites for real estate.

Now the buyer side: 70-80% of all consumers are going on line during the buying process and many are eliminating your listings because of the poor quality of your photos or lack of a great tour. It's true. Studies distinctly show that listings with more visual content are viewed more than twice as often and sell quicker than properties without.

That's why I always recommend that agents put virtual tours on every listing including starter homes, fixer-uppers, vacant land, mansions and even crack houses. I am not talking about do-it-yourself, shoot-and-stitch pictures in a pretty window, but rather professionally shot photos and significant marketing tools to get the word out that the property is on the market.

One of my clients challenged my recommendation during a coaching call to put Obeo tours on all of his listings. He focuses primarily on REO or bank owned properties and many of his listings were in bad shape. His concern was that he would lose buyers because the homes did not photograph well. My response was simple, if you would show it offline, you should show it online.

I challenged him to test my recommended company on all of his listings and track the results. Well the proof is in the pudding as they say; he now orders tours for every listing because he has found that now when people call to see one of his "less than perfect homes" they are more qualified because they saw those imperfections online first.

Now he asks if a client has seen the tour before he spends his valuable time to run out to the home to meet someone who has not visually pre-qualified the property. Smart! In the process he has also picked up more bank managers, and because he can show the online stats of how many showings that property has had and where they came from, negotiating price reductions and less-than-full-price offers is much easier!

The bottom line is that every property needs a virtual tour. It's a small investment to gain more listings and sell more property and with the right marketing partner it can help you put your marketing plan on autopilot.

So, which properties should you put virtual tours on? Let's say it together: all of them!