It wasn’t that long ago when agents thought photo slideshows were the end all be all of virtual home tours. That was when virtual home tours were niceties and not necessities. As cities nationwide began curbing open houses to help stem the spread of coronavirus, agents started adapting to find new ways to show homes.
In fact, Google searches for virtual home tour spiked 117 percent between March and April as state and local governments expressly prohibited open houses.
Indeed, virtual home tour is a vague descriptor that describes anything from a video walkthrough to an interactive tool that allows prospective buyers to digitally tour a home at their own pace.
Here’s what you need to know about virtual home tours.
Zillow offers a free mobile app for listing agents to create a 3D virtual home tour using just their phone (though they recommend using a tripod, too).
Dallas was among the 11 test markets for Zillow 3D Home back in 2018, then the company opened the no fee service to all markets in 2019, according to Inman. Because Zillow acquired Trulia in 2015, 3D Home tours appear on both sites and can be shared to social media and MLS via an unbranded video link.
The app also allows real estate agents who are members of the Zillow Premiere Agent program to use Ricoh Theta V ($380 retail) or Ricoh Theta Z1 ($1,000 retail) cameras, designed specifically to shoot 360-degree imagery.
Matterport took a big step toward consumer democratization when it opened its platform to consumer cameras and lowered its price in 2019, Inman reported. Using a Ricoh Theta V and Insta360 ONE X ($400 retail) camera, Matterport Cloud 3.0 can generate a 3D rendering of the property, a video, and images for agents to use in their marketing materials.
Other sites and platforms offer virtual home tour technology including Virtual Reality providers such as LiveTour by iStaging, EYESPY360, My360, Kuula, and RoundMe.
Local brokerages are helping arm their agents with the right technology tools to make the most of this challenging situation, including these brokers we’ve reported on here at Daltxrealestate.com.
Allie Beth Allman
Allie Beth Allman and Associates took their hugely popular spring home tour online this year, to stellar results.
The Dallas’ luxury home leader has brought together on-line more than 50 home video tours for the active buying community. The website features homes in five major neighborhoods — Park Cities, Preston Hollow, Uptown/Downtown, East Dallas and Southlake, plus a sixth collection of videos on homes in neighborhoods from Frisco to East Texas.
To view these and hundreds more homes visit abavideohometours.com.
Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s
Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty now has an entire division of its brand new website dedicated to video and virtual reality tours.
By clicking on the Virtual Tours tab on briggsfreeman.com, you’ll be taken to residences and ranches that can be toured via video and/or virtual reality.
You can see into every room — and stay as long as you’d like. More properties with Virtual Tours are being added, regularly.
The new site also has new property pages, neighborhood hub, new agent pages, and a blog.
Ebby Halliday Companies
The Ebby Halliday Companies, which includes Ebby Halliday Realtors, Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate and Williams Trew, encourages its real estate agents to keep public health and safety a top priority by using virtual tours.
On Ebby.com, click on the Videos section on the top navigation for a collection of Ebby Halliday Companies listings that have walkthrough videos.
Matterport released results of an independent study in February that showed homes with 3D tours sold 31 percent faster and for prices 9 percent higher than listings without virtual tours. Zillow marks the figure even higher, saying 46 percent of homes with Zillow 3D Home tours sold within 30 days versus 38 percent that did not.
One particularly helpful tip Zillow shares: “Virtual tours should never be done in lieu of professional photography — photos are still a crucial part of every online listing. Rather, 3D tours are used to complement your home’s other marketing efforts, driving more interest and helping your home stand out among other listings.”
