Attention Real Estate Agents: Your clients want to shop for homes online. According to the National Association of Realtors, 88% of people in the market for a new home searched properties online. 63% went to see a house in person because they saw it online.
Because so many prospects are searching homes online before visiting properties in person, two things have happened:
- Buyers look at fewer properties before making a purchasing decision.
- Prospects who find you via social media are more qualified and know what they want.
Buyers no longer rely on real estate agents to find properties all the time, instead, they will look at properties online at their own convenience. What catches a visitor's attention online? Multimedia. This means that text matters less.
The Benefits of a Virtual Tour
Just as you would change paint colors or furniture placement when staging a home to improve its presentation, a can improve the online presentation of your properties.
While images are interesting, they often fall short online. Even the highest quality images have limited viewing angle and don't accurately convey the feeing of being in a space. With the rendered images of a virtual tour, online viewers can truly experience a property, which will help the buying process.
In addition to a better visual experience, virtual tours can include sound in the form of music and narration.
By adding audio to your virtual tour, you can show and tell. If a property has great granite counter tops and state of the art appliances, a professional narrator can explain them, adding rich detail. By adding narration to an online tour, you're making the experience more like an in-person walk through.
Where Prospects View Real Estate Virtual Tours
Because a virtual tour uses multimedia elements, they're ideal for showing many places around the web. You can consider embedding a virtual tour on:
- Your website or blog
- MLS Sites
- Real Estate Search Sites (Zillow, Trulia)
- Social Media
The more exposure your tour gets, the more individuals will see your property, shortening the time the home spends on the market. A great virtual tour will include audio elements for maximum impact.
Updated from original publication on 2/23/12.