Sell Homes Faster and at a Higher Price With 3D Tours

If ever it was a suitable real estate marketing strategy to simply hang out a yard sign and hope for the best, that day has long gone. In the fierce arena of today’s market, you need to leverage every tool at your disposal. You know that a comprehensive marketing plan consists of an array of strategies, anywhere from print advertising to social media marketing , each tool with its own set of strengths and its own place. All designed to work in tandem.

Well, what if a new opportunity presented itself? An emerging digital strategy that is quickly reshaping the way homes are bought and sold. Would you add it to your tool belt?  What if that strategy appealed to the majority of buyers and sellers, more than ninety percent, especially those from younger generations that make up most of the market. Would you bite? Well, if that is not enough, there is evidence that including a 3D virtual tour, such as the Matterport 3D Virtual Showcase , in your marketing package could help you sell your properties more than thirty percent faster and at a higher sale price. Curious yet?

What is Matterport?

Virtual home tours are not necessarily a new commodity. Agents have, for years, created content for YouTube and other platforms to advertise a property. But the 3D tour of today is a far cry from those old still-photo and video clip montages. Matterport is a proven leader in 3D virtual tour technology, with a product termed a digital twin for its ability to portray a property accurately and without the distortion common among other products. Beyond virtual, a Matterport 3D Tour is virtual reality, or as some call it, “reality capture”. 

Matterport 3D is a process that captures a three-dimensional model of a home – every room, every surface, complete with measurements – and allows viewers to immerse themselves in a self-guided virtual walkthrough experience. All they have to do is click or tap the screen on their computer or mobile device to look up, down, or all around, and move from one place to the next – all from the comfort of their own living room.

With Matterport , you can lend your clients a realistic sense of what a property looks like at ground level – or any other level, including doll house and floorplan views, all in high-resolution, high-definition imagery that eclipses ordinary photo slideshows.

Matterport releases results of two studies

Plenty of anecdotal evidence has made its way around the market to reinforce the effectiveness of 3D virtual tours when used alongside traditional practices, print advertising and other strategies that are part of your marketing mix . Well, that evidence is supported by a pair of recent studies released by Matterport that show the use of 3D virtual walkthroughs can have a quantifiable effect on your real estate transactions. Conducted by two separate researchers, the studies reveal that listings featuring a Matterport 3D Virtual Tour tend to sell for a higher price and spend less time on the market than homes listed with a more traditional approach.

The first study employed a statistical analysis of transaction data from the MLS (multiple listing service) across four separate US markets. It showed that, depending on the market, the average listing with a 3D virtual tour sold at as much as a nine percent higher price than those without. And those deals closed up to thirty one percent faster! The 3D virtual tour technology used in more than ninety percent of those listings? Matterport 3D.

The approach in the second study relied on a more traditional comparative market evaluation, similar to the way an agent might perform a comparative analysis for a listing but on a larger scale. The results were similar to the first study and showed that properties with a Matterport showcase spent twenty percent fewer days on the market than those that did not include the feature.

Matterport as part of your marketing toolkit

The results or these two studies demonstrate that 3D technology is quickly emerging as an essential element in real estate marketing. Further supporting the evidence is a report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) who found that the most common first step taken by home buyers in the home search process is to look online. Those who do, prefer immersive listings – especially Millennials who make up the majority of the real estate market and who, according to the NAR report , are more likely to share them with friends and family.

A conventional approach to real estate marketing that capitalizes on proven strategies – direct mail and other avenues for print advertising (postcards, brochures , flyers, et al.), professional photography services , social media presence, and a website highlighting your business brand – become far more effective when you can augment your offering with a 3D virtual tour. Feature a property on your website and send visitors to a virtual tour. Highlight a link on a listing page. Integrate a 3D tour into your print materials with a QR code tied to an online tour. You are sure to give a great first impression and capture the attention of your customers.

You can even improve the SEO value of your website as a result of including 3D virtual tours by offering visitors quality content, improving the bounce rate and time on page, creating backlink options, and escalating shares on social media.

Indeed, if clients across all age groups prefer the immersive experience of a 3D virtual tour that can be performed without leaving home , and at the same time yields up to nine percent more money in thirty-one percent less time, why would you consider anything less than a Matterport 3D Virtual Showcase , the “digital twin”, for your customers?

The post Sell Homes Faster and at a Higher Price With 3D Tours appeared first on Hometrack Real Estate Marketing .