3 Tips on How to Make a Virtual Tour for Real Estate
The pandemic might have pushed many real estate agents online, but as it turns out, virtual tours are actually quite useful. Many buyers cite the importance of going through a virtual guided tour or viewing videos in their home shopping journey. This is especially important if many of your buyers are coming from a different city or state and they can’t come to viewings easily. That’s why we’ve put together three important tips on how to make a virtual tour for real estate.
What’s a Virtual Tour?
Virtual tours are a 3D experience for buyers to digitally walk through a home that’s for sale. If your real estate platform uses a 3D tour feature, this feature tends to be highly interactive, allowing buyers to zoom in and out as well as view the home from different angles.
Videos are another great medium for virtual tours, though they’re less interactive. Viewers can’t control the angles or movement of the camera so they’re limited to what the video showcases. Regardless, they give you a good impression of what a particular home feels like.
Many real estate agents also decide to simply Facetime or video chat their client and walk them through the house. Buyers get to ask questions in real time and ask to view different parts and spaces.
Keep in mind that while virtual tours are a wonderful asset, they shouldn’t take the place of professional photography. You still need to showcase clear, well-lit photos of every space in the home!
How to Make a Virtual Tour for Real Estate
1. Use a 360-Degree Camera
A 360-degree or panoramic camera with a high resolution is a must-have. It will allow you to capture each space in a home from multiple angles. This is important for giving clients a good feel of a home’s layout and the amount of space in each room. Luckily, these cameras are affordable and accessible to amateur photographers now more than ever.
2. Use Natural Movements
When considering how to make a virtual tour for real estate, remember to capture a home the same way you would if you were walking through it—it’s important to give potential buyers a more accurate picture of what it’s like to actually be inside it. When you’re planning out your shots, be sure to:
Start with the exterior. Capture the home both from a distance, from the front yard, from the backyard, and from the sides.
Move on to the entrance. Photograph what it looks like to first enter the home.
Walk through the home as though you were giving a guided tour in person. Begin with the kitchen, if that’s the first stop. Take shots of the hallways. Move on to the bedrooms and bathrooms.
3. Open Blinds and Doors
Open all the doors and blinds to allow natural sunlight to flood in. This is to make sure that viewers can see all the important features in a room. On that note, you might want to turn on the lights if the windows aren’t allowing in enough light.
Ultimately, you won’t have to piece the 3D tour together. You can simply upload your photos into a virtual tour software and allow it to do the work for you. While your first time creating a virtual tour might be a bit of a learning curve, these tours are becoming an essential part of marketing your homes well and receiving more qualified, interested buyers.