Revolutionizing Real Estate: The Advantages of Virtual Tours

Above you will see one of the devices that can allow you to virtually walk through a property, of course, if you are short on virtual reality goggles, you can always view a virtual tour on a desktop or mobile phone as you will see below:

Above is a great example of 360 photographs used for a vacation rental in Branson.

Below is a vacation rental home utilizing a full Matterport 3D tour, showing off the beautiful high ceilings and unique lighting fixtures, as well as showing all angles of bathrooms that even a full-frame camera may struggle to capture fully.

Virtual tours are becoming more commonplace in online platforms, especially in the realm of real estate. Platforms such as Zillow

are at the forefront of the virtual tour revolution ushered in post-pandemic, but the reason 360 virtual tours are not only super useful but also here to stay might surprise you.

Firstly, and most obviously, clients like virtual tours, for everything from home sales to vacation rentals, because it takes the guesswork out of viewing a home online. This can be very beneficial for both the relator and client alike. For example, the client will be able to take a tour of the house before you spend the time to show it to them in person if there is anything they do not like that would disqualify them from this property, they will see it up front and save everyone some time.

Same for vacation rentals, say potential guests have some specific needs for a vacation rental property, and the pictures did not cut it, such as the number of stove burners, or the addition of a tub, they will not need to give you a call, they can check the property floor to ceiling online beforehand, so there are no last-minute surprises or upset guests.

Another benefit of 360 virtual tours is their ability to grab web users' attention in a competitive marketplace, there is a component of fun that comes with clicking through a virtual tour of a home as opposed to scrolling through pictures like they are doing constantly online, this disruption to the routine can get you more clicks than any competitor who has not yet made the jump to include virtual tour in their real estate photography package.

Not only this, but adding virtual tours to your online tool belt for showing off your property also does wonders for perceived brand value. This is more for relators, but when you are working towards or selling homes on a regular basis, you want to build up a brand, that customers can know, when they see your logo, or face, that they are working with the best of the best, a professional. Taking poorly composed and poorly lit photos on a cell phone can lead to a poor perceived brand image from the outside looking in.

Now imagine each of your listings captured via full frame camera, wide angle lens, color corrected, paired with virtual tours of the home and even aerial drone images, not only will your listings stand out, but you will look way more professional, the homes will look better, and in turn they will sell better, all the while you build a rock solid brand reputation for being high quality and professional.

This does not have to be extremely expensive either, build a relationship with an experienced local photographer, and let them handle all the photos, virtual tour and drone as a package deal, so at the end of the day all you have to do is call your photographer and upload your photos, so you can spend your time doing what you do best, and I can spend my time making sure the property looks its very best!