With the rise in interest rates and tightening demand in the real estate market, attracting buyers for your properties becomes more important than ever. Even without these added pressures, the real estate market is always highly competitive.
Real estate virtual tours leverage technology to appeal to a broader pool of buyers without relying on proximity or in-person scheduling. Hiring a real estate virtual tour assistant who understands the ins and outs of virtual tours can greatly enhance your ability to showcase your properties without exceeding your expense line.
A virtual tour uses digital 3D technology to allow a prospective buyer to digitally walk through the property you have for sale. The best part is that it can be done from a computer or mobile device anywhere in the world, giving prospective buyers a chance to look at a property without having to physically be at the property. The buyer controls the viewing, choosing which rooms to view and from what angle, by clicking through an interactive platform set up from 360-degree panoramic photos and plug-ins.
By leveraging this technology, a virtual walkthrough allows a potential buyer to get a real look and feel for a property without you having to schedule an in-person showing. By creating an attractive and explorable virtual tour, displaying the property’s layout, flow from room to room, aesthetics, and any stand-out features or amenities, you can instantly grab the attention of prospective buyers in a way that cannot be accomplished through flat images and simple descriptions.
The Expanding Importance of Real Estate Virtual Tours
Sites offering virtual tours for real estate showings saw a decided uptick during the pandemic, but like many things that found a practical use during the last few years, real estate virtual tours are not going away. In fact, by using virtual tours, property sellers can gain a considerable edge over the competition. Virtual tours can add depth to your digital marketing, allowing prospective buyers to experience a property before scheduling that far more time-consuming in-person tour.
A virtual tour can be a powerful tool to help kick your sales up a notch. According to a Realtor.com statistics report, virtual tour listings receive 87% more views than listings without tours. The same report showed that 54% of potential buyers will skip over a listing if it does not have a virtual tour. Those are compelling statistics. However, a virtual tour does not eliminate in-person showings altogether. Buyers still get to the finish line through more traditional channels, but as a selling tool, it is a convenient way for buyers to screen properties and narrow their selection. The goal is to get prospective buyers to reach out and schedule a showing. With a virtual real estate tour, you can pique a buyer’s interest, gain their enthusiasm, and get them half-way convinced to buy the property before they meet with you.
The Benefits of Using a Real Estate Virtual Tour
There are a lot of benefits to your real estate business when potential buyers can experience a property first without having to schedule an in-person showing with you. It’s an easy and cost-effective way for your site to support getting them to the first rung of the buying ladder before you have to put in a lot of time. Listed below are a few of these cost-effective and time saving benefits.
Field Fewer Time-Consuming Questions
A real estate virtual tour can function like an FAQ, but with interactive photos and descriptions. If done properly, a virtual tour can make answering basic questions about a property not only efficient, but fun.
Generate Hotter Leads
If someone calls to schedule a showing after seeing your virtual tour, they have already screened your property and rejected others. They have already narrowed their field and have a genuine interest in what you’re selling.
Hook the Explorer
Virtual tours can hook prospective buyers who are browsing real estate sites. They can catch their attention, keep them exploring the site longer, and have them save the property to their favorites list faster. You may even hook someone who is just exploring real estate sites and convert them to a real buyer.
Stand Out from the Competition
Real estate virtual tours are an inexpensive and easy way to gain an edge over those only offering flat images and descriptions. No words are fancy enough to capture a property listing as well as a 3D walkthrough does.
Increase your Closing Rate
Your time is valuable. Virtual tours filter out the mildly interested. Those picking up the phone or clicking on your site to schedule an appointment are more likely to be those who are already satisfied with how the property is viewed virtually. Their intent to buy will be stronger and their decision-making faster. Having only serious buyers scheduling a showing or attending an open house means a lot less work for you and an increase in your closing rate.
How to Make a Good Virtual Tour
Adding real estate virtual tour services to your website is a valuable strategy for showcasing and selling properties. However, it is crucial to create tours that are interactive, attractive, and up-to-date in order to capture potential buyers’ interest and enhance their purchasing motivation. It can leave a favorable impression and demonstrate that you have a reliable listing.
A virtual tour typically consists of 360-degree panoramic images of each room, seamlessly linked together to provide a comprehensive experience of the property. Potential buyers seek an engaging exploration, allowing them to navigate through each room, zoom in and out, and discover different spaces and features.
To ensure an impactful virtual tour, consider incorporating the following essential elements:
Detailed, interactive floor plan
Detailed highlights of all the rooms and spaces
Good lighting to showcase the property effectively
Exclusive information integrated into the tour, including selling points, special features, upgrades, history, flooring details, original work, or any other aspect that makes the property stand out.
Seamless navigation from room to room and floor to floor
A clear call to action with contact information, inviting potential buyers to schedule an in-person tour
Sharing capabilities with marketing channels, such as social media and real estate listing sites.
Don’t overlook the importance of including a map with your virtual tour listing to provide potential buyers with a better understanding of the property’s location.
With Google Maps, you can easily add an interactive map that includes street view, directions, and can be customized to align with your website design.
On top of that it is already mobile-responsive, ensuring a seamless experience across different devices!
Following these simple guidelines and paying attention to the location details, you can create a compelling virtual tour that effectively showcases what you are selling.
Why Hire Virtual Assistants for Real Estate Virtual Tours?
Using this important selling tool may seem like a lot of work. A real estate virtual tour assistant who specializes in virtual tours can outsource this vital responsibility and lighten your workload without sacrificing results. A real estate assistant with the appropriate skill set and experience can allow you to delegate time consuming tasks, freeing you to focus on income-generating priorities. A virtual real estate assistant can help you maximize this important promotional channel by supporting your virtual tours in several ways.
Technical Support
A virtual tour that highlights the best features of your property can’t be done with just a few interior and exterior photos. You need to use the right platform to create and promote your virtual tour and make it easy to upload. A real estate virtual tour assistant has the skills to use available technology to maximize your tours and make them professional and easy to maintain.
Platforms, such as WordPress, can create your virtual tours from photos and plug-ins. Hiring a VA with experience in WordPress can make this process even easier and turn your photos into an engaging virtual tour. A VA can also organize your photo and video files for easy access and retrieval and keep your virtual tours current and running smoothly.
Creative Support
Design is everything when attracting prospective buyers. A tour needs to have proper staging, high-quality, visually appealing photos, good lighting and color balance, and supporting graphics that do not detract from the property. Incorporating your branding is important too. A virtual assistant with savvy graphic design and photo editing skills, along with concise and informative copywriting skills, can turn your real estate virtual tour into the lead generator it is meant to be.
Marketing Support
A real estate virtual tour assistant can also support your marketing efforts. A VA can help attract prospective buyers to your virtual tours through multi-channel marketing campaigns. A real estate assistant with digital marketing experience can promote your properties via social media, email, blogs, and real estate sites.
Using a Virtual Assistant for Virtual Tours
Real estate virtual tours are an important channel for promoting your properties. They offer a convenient way for potential buyers to shop around for properties before digging into the more involved in-person tour. Narrowing a buyer’s selection through an easy, no-risk option makes the buying process less costly, less time-consuming, and less of a hassle. By taking on the responsibility of creating, organizing, and managing your online virtual tours, a real estate virtual tour assistant can also help you make the most of this channel with less cost, less time, and less hassle.
