We do alot of spin tours and a few Virtual Walk-Thru tours - example: http://www.ewalk.com/tour-a.cgi?id=14712

But, I must admit, the content and technology behind a tour is not as important as how many different places you are able to distribute your tour. Of course, having great photos is very important, as when a buyer finally finds your tour, the home must look like something they want to buy, but getting them to find it (and your listing) is more important.

We have developed alot of technology for distributing tours as ads and placing them on places like Craigslist, Trulia, Google, Edgeio and Vast. And, of course we get as many distribution agreements as possible with places like realtor.com, homeseekers.com, coldwellbanker.com, etc…

As for video, I think attaching user created video or even professionally created video to a virtual tour that is distributed to real estate sites makes the most sense. Just creating a video and uploading to YouTube and your website is a waste of time. What we decided to do was allow YouTube videos to be embedded in our tours, so that when someone clicks on a virtual tour from, say, realtor.com, they can view the YouTube video (most serious home buyers won’t visit youtube.com to find a home…) Here is an example of that: http://www.ewalk.com/golyon.cgi?id=222145&page=videos

So, of course I think virtual tours are important, and I also think photo quality is important, but again, distribution is the key.

True real estate photographers are picky… and to get professional high quality results using video is a workout, and a load of money. Especially when you find out you need a fluid-head tripod, steadicam, wireless mics, and last but not least, lights. Not to mention editing. Just shooting video raw-dog will result in shaky ameteurish tours.

Normal realtors may not need or be able to afford all this extra equipment, but I forsee the embarassment when more and more ambitious realtors try to produce video on their own. I see ugly, ugly results. So real estate video as a profession will definitely be on the rise.

Virtual tours when done properly can produce more consistent results with less errors and a lot less post-production time compared to video. They also require less creativity.

Imagine sites like wellcomemat.com or yourvideoviews.com going mainstream. Ultimately, video has the potential to be more engaging, entertaining, and can stir real emotion in a prospect… think www.turnhere.com

The link above is a great example of a nicely done 360 vrt. You don’t just have to spin in a circle you can zoom in and look around a bit, get floor plan information and how it relates to your current prospective while looking around the home. Homes are getting tough to sell and making them stand out in an ever increasing crowd is very critical. I find well done 360vrt can definitely make a home stand out and get it noticed.

One more time:

It’s not about making your self look good, it’s about getting the seller what the seller wants as a result of the closing of the seller’s property.

Regarding the webmaster marketing definition above, you win. Feel better now?

Video tours create EMOTION. Emotion sells homes. It’s much more engaging usually then still photos or spin around tours. I think its important to offer BOTH the video and good stills, that was the viewer has OPTIONS.

In regards to the “rolling ship effect” and lighting in video tours…. you need to invest in some sort of a stabilizer. (I use the Steadicam Merlin). They’re not cheap and there is a pretty steep learning curve (and I am STILL curving!), but the result is pretty incredible if you’re doing walk thru type tours. As far as lighting, if you get a decent camcorder (the cheap ones don’t do well in low light) and make sure ALL house lights and lamps are on, it usually is OK, although I do always bring auxilliary lighting just in case, though rarely use it. When the videos are compressed, the video gets darker for some reason, so I ‘lighten’ the video up just a bit during compression, and for the most part that works well.

From Websters: Marketing - “the action or business of promoting and selling products or services.” The marketing that agents do could be split in to two general categories: marketing of the PROPERTY for sale to the consumer, and marketing of THEMSELVES to potential clients. Both categories of marketing happen at the same time. Some marketing approaches focus more heavily on one or the other. Call them “flatbackers” or whatever you want but ALL successful real estate professionals engage in self-marketing. It’s called good business practices.

In a seller’s market where buyers are desperate (or as you say “motivated”), then all one needs to do is follow your instructions: make a “good enough” virtual tour or take some photos, post the ad in every place you can think of, wait. “Motivated buyers shop ANY ad, ANY photos, and ANY place on the internet or elsewhere that they can find”: is the mantra of an agent operating in a seller’s market. There are other blogs where we can discuss real estate market trends.

Virtual tours and other visual-based approaches used to MARKET A HOME are NOT a disposable advertising product because, by virtue of their use, they end up MARKETING THE AGENT as well. This happens whether the agent wants it to or not. And it is a big deal. As a potential client I want to see if an agent has their act together. I want to see how they walk their talk. In addition to all the other things, the manner in which they market others’ homes shows me that. The virtual tour that they are using to market a home is marketing them as well.

The bottom line is that most Virtual Tours add little benefit to marketing a home. Real estate agents know this, which is why they don’t use virtual tours often, or only use them upon their clients’ request. Most virtual tour providers only help perpetuate the practice of “flat-backing” by selling their services so cheap. What’s a hundred dollars to get my clients off my back so I can focus on selling their home? Even if it doesn’t help at least it doesn’t hurt (Dawn and Larry have examples of homes selling based entirely on virtual tours).

Realtors are not going to pay you what it costs to make the windows beautiful. If they are doing that now, they are going to switch to video that they shoot themselves.

360 VIRTUAL TOURS FOR REAL ESTATE SALES ARE A DISPOSABLE ADVERTISING PRODUCT FOR A TEMPORARY BUSINESS INVENTORY.

That’s all they are. If you need to make them more so that you can differentiate yourself from other Realtors and thus obtain a listing, go ahead. Swim with the flat backers, commission cutters, and “professional” Realtors.

It’s hard to think about what someone else like the seller wants, isn’t it? It’s much easier to concentrate on thinking how good you are because of “marketing,” and “professionalism.”

Click on the hands to move between the rooms.

http://ts.rtvpix.com/tour/RE/tour.view.new.php?utl=RE-2560-5XOK5N-02

This technology has been available for 8 years and is available to individual realtors as well as VT providers and I’d be happy to chat with anyone about it, just contact me through my website, www.allaboutvirtualtours.com.