Luxury Real Estate Turns to Virtual Tours to Continue Thriving

If you’re a luxury real estate agent or prospective buyer, it may feel like you’re facing difficult times due to the pandemic, and a warranted worldwide hesitation to face-to-face interaction.

With safety as a top priority on everyone’s mind, the push to be responsible and stay indoors is strong. However, photos simply aren’t enough when purchasing real estate; prospective buyers want to ‘get a feel’ for a place while walking through it – especially when it comes to luxury home buyers. However, with real estate virtual tours on the rise, viewers can get an experience as if they’re walking through a home or office building. Thanks to modern technology in all its wonder, prospective owners can look inside these spaces from the safety of their current homes.

For those selling luxury homes and real estate agents, this is great news – people are significantly more likely to buy homes after they’ve toured the space. With the ability to do so virtually, some may even buy the property without ever having stepped foot in it, particularly investors who will never live there. It’s also great news for those looking to purchase a new luxury home because they don’t need to face the health risks of in-person touring, yet they can still find their perfect new home.

The Key to Buying and Selling Homes in 2021 and Beyond

In most business arenas, it’s become clear that figuring out creative solutions to new problems caused by the pandemic is of paramount importance. At the same time, technology and creativity have never gone together better.

Many industries now turn to technology to connect us and keep businesses running, and ensuring they have the right experts at their side is crucial. That’s why partnering with an IT provider like Computers In The City is a superb strategy to ensure your tech needs are met and maintained appropriately.

Although it may not feel like the right time for businesses to be spending, investing in technology may be an exception given its innovative abilities. With tech’s aid, businesses may even thrive – not just survive – during these challenging times. Adaptability is necessary for all successful businesses, and luckily home brokerages already have it in spades. It’s no surprise they’ve already adapted to using tech as a key business tool in their marketing arsenal.

How to Tour New Luxury Homes Online

There are several virtual methods to look around a prospective new home.

360 3D Navigation

The first and most common is 360 3-D navigation. Software can enable a “dollhouse” mode, a floor plan mode, and the ability to virtually “walk through” each room. In some ways, you can gain more insight of the home with this viewing method, including capabilities to measure spaces within the house.

Video Walking Tours

Next are video walking tours. Agents should remember that viewers want a detailed experience, particularly of watching the demonstrator interact with the house; this is especially useful for luxury homes with special features to show off. These virtual tours may be facilitated via a video chatting platform, like FaceTime.

Social Media

We can’t forget about social media as a very effective way to share and promote available properties. Real estate agents can make use of Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Instagram Stories, and others to showcase homes to a whole network and spark interest. It’s more important than ever that agents are equipped with the proper training and knowledge to use these tools successfully.

The importance of technology can’t be understated: buyers expect professional 3D photo and video quality. As their first (and sometimes only) impression of the property, both should be as perfectly executed as possible. Furthermore, websites should provide a killer user experience, with seamless navigation and no bugs. Live videos or video chats shouldn’t cut off because of internet instability or similar glitches.

Virtual Reality Tours

Finally, there are virtual reality tours.

A room can be captured by using 3D imaging cameras, loaded into a VR program, and decorated with imagery of walls and furnishings. To capture outdoor areas and the home’s exterior, professionals use drones and incorporate this imagery into their program.

It’s even possible to render these 3D images before a home is built, although it does require the skills of a specialized 3D artist who understands architecture and design. It’s an incredibly useful technique for lining up prospective buyers for properties that aren’t completed yet.

A cool aspect of using VR tours is the ability to swap out the “staging” components, like flooring, finishing, and furniture. Not only does this save thousands on staging pieces, but it allows viewers to choose the style that most appeals to them. By visualizing the home this way, they’re more likely to buy it.

Virtual Tours Help International Buyers Find Luxury Properties Worldwide

Luxury buyers likely want homes in multiple cities or countries. Virtual tours allow buyers from far and wide to consider purchasing options for their new luxury homes. Allowing them to experience a thorough viewing of a home from anywhere in the world widens the pool of buyers significantly, and makes searching that much more convenient.

For example, the economy in China is greatly improved recently, and Chinese luxury buyers are now able to purchase second or third homes elsewhere. In fact, Chinese buyers currently constitute a significant percentage of global real estate purchasers in the market.

The Future of Virtual Touring

After the pandemic is over – and social distancing is no longer of the essence – the trend of virtually touring prospective new homes will continue. It saves significant time and energy for buyers and sellers alike.

Prospective luxury home buyers can view many different properties within a small timeframe without travel. As they decipher which properties they’re most interested in (without booking physical walk-through appointments), real estate agents don’t need to conduct as many showings. As selling and leasing become easier and faster, Return on Investment (ROI) is increasing for investors at a faster rate.

Perhaps we won’t do away with live in-person home tours altogether, but utilizing the technology available for facilitating virtual tours can serve as a tool for all parties involved to maximize efficiency and increase success rates. In the end, technology can do much of the work for us- if we let it.

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