Buying & Selling Real Estate

Virtual Tours – A must for Real Estate Listing   by Lisa Marais

Why would a Real Estate Agent not have Virtual Tours as part of their portfolio presentations?

Firstly, the main reason would be that they just don’t understand the value of it, and underestimate it’s effectiveness, and the seller does not see or understand the value of having a one as part of the marketing strategy, through inexperience.

Secondly, cost plays a role and the agent is doing their best to stay under budget and cut costs whichever way they can. The impact is that the seller suffers along with the agent because the house is not attracting attention and the seller is no longer happy to work with the agent, seeing no results.

Virtual Tours are no longer a luxury to have, but in today’s market where eighty percent of people are looking for a new home using the internet, it is becoming standard issue for every listing online. Buyers find it very frustrating to go and see a property listed that sounds attractive, but has no photo’s or Tour showing the interior finishes, style and current standards of how it’s been looked after.

Today most people are suspicious of homes that do not use Tours or Photo’s, and skip over to the next advertisement that does have something attractive to look at in terms of visuals. No immediate impression is made for the listing which has just been shrugged off and glanced over. The Agent is wasting their budget by listing properties without photo’s or a virtual tour and may just as well not have bothered. The very same can be said for sellers who list their properties privately to try and save on paying out agent’s commission. Their listing, without being accompanied by professionally taken photo’s and at the very least a Virtual Tour, is as good as dead in the water.

Buyers do not want to drive distances to go and view a property only to end up disappointed when viewed, especially if they were motivated by a great description and feel mislead and “oversold” by the agency listing that particular property.

Let’s compare a Virtual Tour with the good old-fashioned die-hard business card. These will not be of any use if they’re in someone’s desk drawer or shoebox, or forgotten in a handbag or in the glove compartment of their car. Business cards only bring business when they are properly used alongside intelligent well thought-out marketing strategies, to as many prospective buyers as possible.

The reality is that agents do spend a lot of their budget on websites which very few clients actually get to see. Therefore, no traffic is being fed to them. These websites are not being actively marketed, which causes agents to err and jump to the conclusion that websites don’t work and Virtual Tours will therefore not work either.

Nowadays, Real Estate Agents are becoming more business and internet savvy and are learning that these are great tools to help promote their listing, especially when they are broadcasting the Virtual Tour and using Social Media to get the most exposure for these online gems.

Examples of the most effective ways to use and show them would be on the Real Estate Agent’s Website, sending customer database emails to update prospects and other Realtors of new listings, and by utilising Social Media for example Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.

Therefore, highly skilled and informed real estate agents are using Virtual Tours to their very best advantages, using online strategies to get the best exposure for their sellers in front of approved buyer databases, attracting a following of buyers who recognise that they are using Virtual Tours as a tool that sets them aside form their less nimble competitors.

It would seem that with modern internet technology and broadband, agents are able to offer far more value to their buyers than have been assumed in the past. Just saving buyers time and endless driving and exhaustive viewing, puts the agent in a favourable light with their clients. Being able to choose properties from a short list of Virtual Tours puts the power of choice back into the hands of the buyer, as opposed to past practices of being at an agent’s mercy, being lead from one inappropriate property to the next for grueling hours, purely because that was all that was currently on offer in the agent’s portfolio.

VT’s are here to stay, and are taking a very strong foothold in how people experience modern day technology, whether it is shopping for a new house, business premises, a stunning venue to host a party or big event, or simply as a viewing tool to send family and friends overseas an “inside look” of their latest remodelling project at home.

About the Author

Website: http://virtualmaster.co.za
Lisa Marais is the owner of Virtual Master, specialising in Virtual Tours in South Africa. Her background in Architecture and Interior Design qualification enables her to see the benefits and exciting array of possibilities and applications of using Virtual Tours to enhance and expidite sales for business owners whose product is a property, building, guesthouse, wine farm, wedding venue, educational facility, yacht or even just their house. Virtual Tours are the property industry’s number one breakthrough in successful marketing. http:virtualmaster.co.za
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