If you're the average agent or broker reading this right now, there's a very high chance that 62% of potential clients would rather work with someone else. How can we be so sure? Because 97% of agents aren't' doing it.
It's not surprising to any of us here at immoviewer that a recent survey by Coldwell Banker revealed that, "62 percent of the more than 3,000 respondents to Coldwell Banker’s survey say they’d choose a real estate agent who offers VR house tours as a service to their clients over one who does not. Further, 84% express desire to take a VR house tour before seeing a property in person; 77% say they’d be satisfied with a traditional video tour."
This consumer preference has existed for some time. The 2016 NAR Buyer And Seller Survey showed that 82% of buyers rated virtual tours very useful or useful during their home search. The number that stood out to me, however, was this one, 70%. That's the percentage of REALTORS® who said: "consumers expected virtual tours to be made available."
If consumers want it and agents and brokers know they want it, why do less than 5% of listings have immersive home tours?
We think the answer is simple. Until immoviewer, 360° and 3D tours have just been too expensive and taken too long to create. The high cost of the camera equipment required is only the beginning of the expense. The real expense is the time needed to shoot the tour, often several hours per home. These cost factors have caused the real estate market to see VR house tours as a luxury item. They are categorized as a marketing tool reserved for the upper end of the real estate market. This has to change.
LET US SHOW YOU HOW EASY IT IS!
In addition, consumers really want to see a floor plan. Really!
"Why are floor plans not used in real estate marketing?," Joseph, a consumer from Florida asked in an article I recently stumbled upon at Realtor.com. "I'm in the market for my first home. I have been to a handful of showings finding room sizes not suitable to my lifestyle or a layout that I don't like. This information is easily relayed in a floor plan drawing so why are they not used? It seems like a floor plan would allow me to see what the room sizes are and the overall home layout before a showing."
"I'm a strong advocate of floor plans," one consumer responded. "As a buyer, I have very strong opinions about what I want and don't want, and a floor plan can save a lot of driving and looking."
So what was the answer to Joseph's question? This was REALTOR® Lee Dworshak's conclusion, "I think the primary reason floor plans are not included in the marketing materials of most homes is because they do not exist or cannot be found. It's fairly expensive to have a plan drawn up and if the listing agent doesn't deem it necessary it doesn't get done." As clear as it is that floor plans and VR tours are desired by consumers, it's just as clear that agents and brokers are not delivering these features at scale.
Where I live in Santa Clarita, CA, the median price of a home is currently shown on Realtor.com as 540K with average days on market sitting at 70 days. Of the 781 existing homes on the market right now on Realtor.com, only 10 have VR Tours. So, while 84% of consumers want to see a VR tour prior to visiting a home, 98.63% of the homes for sale near me do not have one. It is harder to get to how many have floor plans, but my gut tells me the numbers are similar. Those listings that have them stand out. Clearly.
So do the agents using them!
The evidence is clear; consumers want this bad enough to use it as a differentiating factor in choosing an agent. We know we've created a solution that makes it affordable immersive home tours possible for every home. How?
immoviewer is not a camera company.
Because we're not a camera company, we focus on using images from any consumer 360° camera, and we'll integrate with those that make their technology available. And we can automatically create floor plans from the images used in the tours. And you can download the floor plans for use in other marketing. It's never been easier or more affordable to give yourself an edge!
This means that for less than $300, you or your photographer can have a camera capable of capturing a full room in a single shot, dramatically reducing not only the investment required to get started but substantially reducing the time to create as well. And the quality of this technology is improving continuously. You shouldn't be locked into any 360° camera technology or forced to take out a second mortgage on your home to afford it.
84% of consumers say they want to experience the kind of tours immoviewer enables and even your gut tells you people want to see floor plans as part of their search process. Let us help you meet their expectations and win more deals!