Open houses are no longer the only way to view homes for sale or showcase your home on the internet. Virtual tours of real estate are taking the market by storm and proving to sell homes faster than those without virtual tours in their listings. According to RIS Media, listings with photographs and virtual tours are viewed 30% more than those without.

Virtual tours “transport” buyers inside the home and give them a 360-degree view of the rooms. Some tours are interactive and let you “walk through” the home by clicking an arrow. Other have flat-screen views that give you a moving tour of the home without any user control. For an example, check out Virtual Tour Café, a company created by real estate agents where owners and agents can create virtual tours of homes.

The cost of having a virtual home tour created can vary depending on how many spins you include and if you hire a professional to shoot the footage. Additionally, it is important to stage your home before shooting a virtual tour to give it the greatest possibility of sale.

Here are some excellent examples of home virtual tours. If you are considering shooting the footage for a virtual tour yourself, follow these tips:

• Don’t pan around the home too quickly; you want to give the potential buyer sufficient time to view the house without becoming dizzy.
• If you are featuring something important in the house, count to ten before moving the camera away from it.
• Consider using a tripod; shaky hands make for seemingly unprofessional tours.

If looking at virtual tours has the wheels spinning on selling your home or buying a new home, I would enjoy the opportunity to sit down and talk over your plans! We can review your financial situation and decide which home loan program is right for you.