Buying a House with Virtual Tours
Real estate agents and home sellers alike can benefit by becoming familiar with the virtual tour, a string of photographs or movie clips that allow online lookers to experience a 360 degree view of a home and its features before seeing it in person. The virtual tour is a great introduction to a property and helps a potential buyer sift through listings to determine which homes he or she is truly interested in seeing. If you are in the market to buy a house a virtual tour can save you a lot of time.
The virtual tour sparked interest a few years back but lost traction during the real estate boom when properties seldom stayed on the market long enough to warrant creating the tour and posting it on the web. However, lately some agents have revisited the use of virtual tours in hopes of standing out in a sea of listings.
Approximately 80 percent of home buying begins on the internet, and property data information about a home, including the virtual tour, helps prospective buyers to become better prepared in the event that they make an offer. According to the most popular real estate website, www.realtor.com, listings that provide a virtual tour generally receive 150% more visitors than the listings that do not. But just how effective is the virtual tour as a boiler-plate resource? What about the case of a downtrodden fixer-upper whose appeal lies more in its affordability and potential rehab investment than in its current aesthetic? The agent and seller's discretion should determine whether or not a virtual tour would enhance the listing for a particular house.
In performing a property search in public records or disclosure sources you can buy a house like the real estate pros do. The virtual tour lets you see what you are buying but dont forget the deeper real estate disclosures and property information.
One should consider that the image quality and lighting in a virtual tour will make or break the practical use for the tour itself. Case in point: if the lighting is blown out or too yellow, chances are that the virtual tour is not accentuating the details and positive attributes of a property, thus defeating the purpose. In short, if the tour is not well-produced, perhaps it is unwise to expose something that does not show well in this format. Specialized software that includes music, text, and even voiceover capability is available for a monthly fee to agents at www.visualtour.com. Additionally, there are professional virtual tour production companies whose sole purpose is to produce the most seamless and attractive tour possible, and they tend to be reasonably-priced. For the higher-ticket listings, it may be worth your while to employ one of these companies that guarantees their work and will deliver a tour that only enhances the listing to a polished perfection. For more tips on how to buy a house we will be adding new information directed at the new and first time homebuyers.