SUCCESS GUIDE
Advanced Virtual ToursWelcome to RE Technology's Success Guide for Advanced Virtual Tours. You will learn how to become THE expert in your market with industry-leading ideas and solutions. We have hand-picked our favorite tools proven to help real estate professionals grow their businesses. Download the FREE guide to learn how you can leverage online marketing in new and exciting ways to beat the competition!
What is Advanced Virtual Tours?
The concept of a virtual tour has dramatically changed over the past two years. When most agents think of virtual tours, they think of picture slide shows. In truth, the only virtual thing about these tours was using technology to digitally jump from one photo to another. For this reason, we are issuing this Advanced Virtual Tour Edition to support your decision making around how to best market your listings online.
The latest and most advanced providers of virtual tours are simulated “real-life” experiences like the holodeck on Star Trek. New camera technology is driving this innovation, allowing professional photographers and advanced hobbyists to capture everything the eye can see onto a digital canvas. Cameras used in these advanced virtual tours make use of 360-degree rotation and 3-dimensional image resolutions. Photographers do not even use the term “take pictures” anymore. When referring to capturing everything in a room, they refer to it as “scans.” Once the interior of a property is scanned, the opportunities to present the property in the best possible way are limitless.
These camera scans have given birth to a new genre of editing tools. New software allows professional editors to truly create virtual environments that homebuyers can experience on any screen (mobile, desktop, tablet).
In the development of these virtual environments, decorative changes can be made to a property to enhance its marketability without misrepresenting a home. Remember, when listing a property, its contents are not normally included for sale in the listing. It is not unethical to virtually restage the home to demonstrate its potential. Now, agents can work with these advanced virtual tour vendors to take the bones of a house and really make it stand out with virtual staging, redecorating, and even twilight conversions and automated floorplan and room size calculations.
Virtual Tours have finally come of age and are living up to the concept of virtual.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN BUYING ADVANCED VIRTUAL TOURS
Whenever you buy anything, the focus should be on value and not price. And when it comes to software for your real estate business, the best tool is the one that you love to use and the customer service that you get. These paradigms of truth ring the loudest when it comes to advanced virtual tours.
Photographer
Unless you are a pretty serious photo hobbyist, capturing advanced virtual tour scans should be left up to the professionals. Be sure that you are working with a photographer that has experience with the advanced virtual tour solution that you are planning to work with or request a referral from your vendor to get a list of local photographers.
Turn Around Time
You only have one opportunity for a first impression. It is vital that you insert your virtual tours into your MLS listing when you are building the listing. The moment the listing goes active in the MLS, serious buyers who have saved searches in the MLS are immediately notified that a new listing matches their search criteria. Nationally, MLS systems send out over 100 million emails to consumers each month. It is your first shot to get your beautiful marketing in the hands of the hottest buyers. If your MLS requires you to input your listing within 48 or 72 hours of signing the listing agreement, make sure that your tour provider can support this timeline.
Branded and Unbranded Tours
Be sure that your vendor provides you with branded and unbranded tours.
Licensing
Who owns the photos and the tour? For the most part, the photographer or the company that they work with own the media that they capture. Take a careful look at the license agreement to see what rights you have as a licensee. You want to make sure that there are no restrictions for you to use the tours in all of the ways you plan to use them. For example, some companies limit the use of the tours after the homes have been sold. Also, if you care about the photographer using the photos in other ways, that is a discussion that you should have – especially if your seller has particular concerns.
GROWING YOUR BUSINESS WITH ADVANCED VIRTUAL TOURS
For the most part, you will be marketing your listings using these advanced virtual tours. You will apply the same process you have been doing all along with basic branded and unbranded virtual tours. The best news is that these Advanced Virtual Tour solutions will drive engagement and word of mouth excitement that will make you, your buyers, and your sellers very happy.
Branded and Unbranded Tours
One of the greatest benefits of participating in multiple listing services is the distribution of your listing to every broker and MLS website in your market through the Internet Data Exchange or IDX program. Be sure to insert the unbranded tour link of all your listings into the correct field in your MLS. Regardless of the quality of the website, your beautiful virtual tour will make the best possible impression on homebuyers as they click through listing after listing. They are sure to stop and be as amazed by your marketing as they are by the house.
Build Tours of Your Office and Affiliate Offices
Your office is your lion’s den. It is not only a place that you meet with customers, but also a place that you congregate with your team. Building a virtual tour of your offices will not only make your office webpages stand out, provide comfort to consumers, make your office social media and Google business pages look outstanding, but will make a great impression on other agents in the area who may be considering switching firms. A number of brokers and agents have told us that affiliates in Mortgage, Title, and Insurance, also love to have these tours built for the same reason.
Capture Community Tours
Want to really impress the owner of a popular restaurant or store? They typically struggle with marketing as much as anyone. Take a look at their website or their Yelp page. You will be astounded by how much real estate marketing has evolved beyond the way that most companies market themselves. Consider investing in offering a virtual tour to local businesses. They will not only remember you when they are planning a move, but they will offer referrals. Most of all, they will remember your branding and your strong call to action.
Stage the Same Home in Different Styles
Sometimes, even the most beautifully decorated home doesn’t match the taste of the home buyer. My wife hates modern (chrome) and country (oak) but loves classical (mahogany and cherry). With today’s virtual staging, you can get creative by developing the scans to suit a variety of palates. Another great idea is to convert a room into a nursery or convert a room that is currently a nursery into an office or a bedroom to show the flexibility of the space.
Create a Look Book
Take pride in the homes that you list and sell. Add a page to your website where you store the archive of all of the homes you have virtually staged. It becomes a great look book that you can use as a reference on listing presentations or for any other reason. It can be especially helpful when you want a catalog of designs to show.
If you survey the marketplace you compete in, I would expect that you will find that few, if any, brokerages, agents, or teams have deployed these advanced marketing ideas. A little effort on your behalf can have a dramatic impact on creating the differentiation that you need to attract customers. Best of all, your listings will sell faster.
VISUAL TOURS PRODUCTS
KEY PRODUCT BENEFITS
BOXBROWNIE.COM
Real Estate Photo Editing & Virtual Tours
PRODUCT OVERVIEW
The Australian start-up giant specialises in taking mediocre photos and transforming them into magazine ready, highquality imagery. BoxBrownie.com’s online platform allows you to upload images and have them returned within 24 hours (all standard edits) with no ongoing fee.
FEATURES:
Exploding onto the real estate stage in 2016 with their high-volume, low margin, business structure. BoxBrownie.com have continued to be leading experts in their field after expanding into the American market. Now being used in over 85 countries globally.
A combination of high-quality output, minimal cost and fast turnaround time is what you can expect every single time.
Enjoying a range of services dedicated to suit any property professionals needs, including twilight conversion, virtual staging, CGI renders, virtual renovations and floor plan re-draws.
BoxBrownie.com have also risen to be the planets leading editor of 360° imagery with edits including, image enhancement, virtual staging and item removal.
BoxBrownie.com’s services are specifically tailored to residential, commercial and property management verticals to aid in agents and realtors taking their marketing to the next level. Providing professional high-quality edited photos will not only present the property in its best light but generate more leads for your listing.
TESTIMONIAL:
“Thanks BoxBrownie.com for making my seller’s empty lot come alive digitally, based off his plans. Makes my job easier!”
- Herman Chan, Golden Gate Sotheby’s Int’l Realty (No. 8 Top Sales Professional)
Contact Information
Matterport 3D
The digital twin destination
Contact an expert:
888-993-8990
KEY PRODUCT BENEFITS
MATTERPORT
PRODUCT OVERVIEW
Matterport’s mission is to deliver the highest quality customer experience real estate professionals can offer, through the most informational and representative view of a listing.
Drive engagements and grow business in today’s market behind the power of 3D ‘digital twin’ differentiation.
FEATURES OVERVIEW
FEATURES The ability for anyone to self-navigate a property at anytime and on any device.
Get 4K photos, video assets, social media content and the most immersive 3D tour - all for the cost of 2D photography.
With Measurement Mode, give clients the power to digitally measure anything within a 3D property tour - walls, ceiling heights, doors, floors and furniture - to increase readiness and confidence in their buying decisions.
Ease of use and simplicity in sharing. Quickly post across channels including your MLS and social media. Send directly to anyone to experience at anytime, on any device.
TESTIMONIAL:
"We have not lost a listing presentation since we started using Matterport; the only ones we lost are the ones we didn’t want."
- Bill Lawton, Keller Williams Realty
KEY BENEFITS
WIN MORE LISTINGS WITH THE POWER OF iGUIDE
iGUIDE attracts more serious home buyers by providing the property information they demand.
PRODUCT OVERVIEW
iGUIDE is the Ultimate Online Listing Solution.
Simply book a photo shoot with a local iGUIDE Operator. The day after they scan and shoot the property, the completed iGUIDE will be emailed to you with everything you need to list the property on search portals, your website, and social media.
There are three key components of every iGUIDE:
1. The iGUIDE - Buyers easily navigate their way online through iGUIDE’s engaging 3D virtual tour, interactive floor plan, laser-accurate room dimensions, and square footage calculations.
2. iGUIDE Report - Agents receive next day delivery of the iGUIDE Report containing the shareable and downloadable 3D tour links, professional images, essential property details, and easy-to-embed code.
3. iGUIDE Analytics - Valuable call-to-action insights and stats that are delivered weekly help you market listings better, understand the online behavior of buyers, and share results with clients.
PRODUCT FEATURES
Every iGUIDE includes:
KEY PRODUCT BENEFITS
RICOH Tours is the only all-in-one mobile app solution for real estate agents and property managers. It allows anyone to capture and share a professional quality virtual tour of a home in minutes with the supported Ricoh Theta 360° camera and mobile phone.
RICOH Tours
A game-changing mobile app solution that allows anybody to create professional quality 360° virtual property tours with your mobile phone in minutes.
PRODUCT OVERVIEW
Connect with the Ricoh Theta camera, input your listing address, press the shutter, add label & repeat – that’s it!
Faster Than Ever: 360° images are automatically assembled in seconds and instantly uploaded to the cloud. You can share immediately from your phone, to Facebook, MLS or marketing site.
Best Value: An affordable DIY 360° virtual tour solution. Unlimited interactive tours with unlimited images and unlimited tour cloud software all for one fair price.
360° Virtual Tour Walkthrough: Add tour paths within your 360° virtual tour to create connections between any space and enable a real walkthrough experience from room-toroom or multiple floors.
Floor Plan Editor: Paths can be easily pinned to a floor plan for smooth interaction between room-to-room from your smart phone.
MLS Compatible: Get a compliant version of your virtual tour and paste it to the virtual tours field in your MLS.
Market Yourself: Brand your business with each tour, add a logo, head shot & contact information.
Analytics: Know your referrals with detailed visitor analytics. See how often your tour was visited and what properties are most popular.
TESTIMONIAL:
“RICOH Tours is super easy to use and helps our agents accomplish more for sellers and buyers alike. We are truly impressed with its simplicity, and affordability."
- Bret Shugue | Marketing Director at Bogar Pilkington Group - KW
KEY BENEFITS
VHT STUDIOS
Image Is Everything
PRODUCT OVERVIEW
The nation’s leading provider of professional real estate photography and visual marketing services, delivering excellence to real estate professionals across the country, ensuring properties are seen more, sell faster, and at a greater price.
FEATURES
Unrivaled Photography Experts
Our photographer evaluation process surpasses industry standards, ensuring a superior product and experience.
Three Distinct Photography Series
Designed to meet the needs of every listing from condos or starter homes to large estates with no preset packages, because one size does not fit all.
Image Management and Distribution
Choose images via our On-Demand Review and Delivery platform. Download selected web and print-ready photographs immediately. VHT Studios can distribute directly to local MLS, brokerage website, and media partners.
Additional Services
A complete suite of visual marketing products - Drone, Floor Plans, Virtual Staging Suite, 3D Tours.
Brokerage Partnership Program
Our solutions differentiate and elevate a brokerage’s brand by keeping the brand cohesive and consistent across multiple marketing channels.
Nationwide Coverage
We service all markets across the U.S.
Pioneering the industry since 1998, we’re proud to say we have photographed more than 13 million rooms and helped more than 470,000 real estate professionals sell over $300 billion in properties.