Anyone searching the 2022 real estate market for a new home or commercial property is spoiled because today’s technology offers them ways to view properties that were unheard of in the past. VIAR writes that real estate virtual tours are the next big thing, and it’s easy to see why: once potential buyers experience one, nothing else can compare. Listings that have them invite users to spend more time on the sites and communicate that the agent has the resources and inclination to provide the best buyer experience.
A Virtual Tour in Real Estate
Besides the obvious strong first impressions that real estate virtual tours make, they have intrinsic value because they are interactive. Audiences can visit each room and focus on small details like artisan backsplashes and wall moldings. With the 360-degree feature, it’s easy to look at everything from all angles. Many agents turn these tours into virtual open houses with additional text and narrations.
Once a potential buyer starts a virtual tour in real estate, they become invested and feel a sense of ownership. They go at their own pace and feel motivated to look at the entire property. These tours can also have added interactive functions like IDX search, mortgage calculators and links to local amenities. They require a monetary investment, but they work like versatile, permanent open houses and make it much more straightforward for buyers to picture themselves as owners.
Other Benefits of Virtual Tours
Betterbizworks points out that virtual tours can save money because they weed out buyers who won’t be interested, saving agents the time and effort they would put into meeting those buyers for physical showings. Conversely, buyers who do virtual tours and are interested form connections with the properties and are armed with more information when they first reach out to agents. This knowledge base can create a sense of excitement and speed up the decision-making process.
Buyers also save time by being able to virtually tour as many properties as they have time for in one single day. If they live out of the area or even out of the country, they can narrow down their choices without traveling to a whole bunch of different properties. If you’re a real estate agent and aren’t taking advantage of real estate virtual tours, you can rest assured that your competitors already have.
Real Estate Virtual Tour Software
According to Snappr Workflows, real estate agents first used virtual tours only for high-end residences, but it’s now a primary tool for most real estate transactions. The pandemic has pushed this “next big thing” into the present, and it shows no signs of going away anytime soon. The Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report 2020 claimed that virtual tours had increased 750 percent after the COVID stay-at-home orders were mandated across the country. Real estate virtual tour software has only improved since then.
These tours utilize photos and videos created with 360-degree technologies, and once you have taken the images, you can upload them to applications that can link them up. One real estate virtual tour software program is Kaity, and like its competitors My60, Kuula, and TourWizard, it’s easy and doesn’t require a lot of technical skills. You can even use drones with some of them! How valuable are 360-degree tours in the real estate market? They are now the industry’s gold standard until something better comes along, and any real estate agent who wants to remain competitive will want to be a part of this trend.