Top 5 Reasons to Consider Virtual Reality for Real Estate in 2017

In 2017, you will continue to hear more and more about virtual reality in real estate. According to 3D/VR media company Matterport, 76 percent of real estate professionals plan to or are already using VR to be more competitive in 2017. As a broker/owner, you likely have seen virtual reality solutions at trade shows, from local photography vendors, or on other listings in your market. With adoption expected to rise this year, now's the time to figure out if it's right for your brokerage.

It's an immersive way to experience a home online. So why should I consider 3D/VR in 2017?

You want to attract and retain agents

As you know, recruiting is a constant for most brokerages. Top agents look for brokerages when their current brokerage does not keep up with, or provide them with, the best and latest technologies to help them succeed. By offering a program directly, or through a third party vendor, to capture the 3D scans — and easily supporting the agent's ability to display that 3D content on your website — you've added tools to their tool belt that are not yet commonplace. This is an opportunity to differentiate yourself in the marketplace.

You list, or want to list, luxury properties

Sophisticated sellers expect the latest marketing methods to sell their properties, and sophisticated buyers want the convenience of touring a home whether it's 11 p.m. or while at their busy office. Letting a seller experience a 3D or virtual reality model during a listing presentation is a great technique to win a listing. By not offering 3D or VR solutions, you open the door to losing a listing to another brokerage.

You work with homes that attract millennials

There is a misconception that 3D/VR is only for luxury listings. That simply is not true. Millennial buyers, who research online extensively before they buy anything, will gravitate toward listings that provide them with the most information. Those that do are more likely to attract those buyers. Millennials have grown up with 3D environments — it's been around video games for years, so it's a format they can navigate quite easily.

You want your website to be a destination for buyers, and the envy of other agents

We've seen the power of video in real estate (and other) marketing. It's engaging. It draws visitors in and makes them hang around. But, too often, real estate video can simply be a slide show of still photographs, which, in this day and age, doesn't cut it. However, 3D media is new technology that is very engaging because it's self-directed. It's not linear in time like a video, where you see what the editor wants you to see and the order in which to see it. Viewers decide where the beginning, middle and end of their experience is. From my own experience, once you've researched properties with 3D media, looking at other homes without it can be a less-than-satisfying experience. Users will seek out homes that give them the visual experience they want when searching for a home.

You want to improve the quality of your showings, and make your agents more efficient

If your agents are tired of calling up sellers with last minute showing requests and causing the owners to gather the kids and pets and clean the house for buyers who, upon walking in, just aren't that interested, then virtual reality media can help. By letting buyers preview the homes in great detail prior to visiting the home, they can effectively eliminate the homes that are not a match for them. This saves them time, and the listing agent and seller time. As a result, the QUALITY of showings increases, because buyers have effectively seen the home online and still want to tour it in person.

So, there are a lot of valid reasons to explore 3D media for your listings in 2017. Regardless of the 3D technology you choose (GeoCV, Planitar, and Matterport, among others), or whether you purchase equipment or hire a vendor, do make sure that the website vendor you are using can effectively and efficiently post and display the 3D media on your website. It's a powerful visual tool that will engage visitors and keep them looking at your listings with 3D media. However, if you can't display it easily, it's like being given a Mercedes without the keys. Looks great, but is useless.

To view the original article, visit the Tribus blog.