Are you wondering if creating 3D virtual tours is an effective way to market your rental properties? Traditional showings aren’t exactly dead, and since Covid is behind us, there’s no reason people can’t leave the house. Despite this, three-dimensional tours have remained popular and are even preferred, most notably for single-family residences.
Today, online virtual property tours are an essential marketing strategy for investors, and here are 4 reasons to use them.
Now that most people are constantly connected to the internet, they search for just about everything online before making any moves in person. Just like people compare prices online before visiting a store, they also prefer looking at properties online before taking an in-person tour.
With so many variables that can make a property appealing (or not), real estate virtual tours make it easy for people to narrow down their search while preserving their time and energy.
Photos are great, but they’re not enough. A 3D virtual tour will have a larger impact on prospective buyers or tenants by showing them aspects of the property that don’t translate well to still images.
For instance, they’ll see the true depth of each room and get a better idea of the layout as they travel from room to room. They can also catch minor details that could be deal-breakers.
How many times have you driven all over town to show properties to potential tenants who are obviously disinterested at first sight? You went through the motions to show the whole property, but knew they weren’t a match when they stepped into the house. Even though you can’t avoid it, and it’s part of the game, it feels like a waste of time.
According to a statistic published by CNBC, four out of five renters rely on the internet to find their home. This is great news for your digital marketing campaign, but it means potentially attracting people who won’t know they aren’t truly interested in your rental until they take a tour.
Hosting 3D virtual tours will assist in filtering out some of those people, which will reduce the number of tours you give. According to statistics published by SeekBeak, virtual property tours reduce wasted viewings by 40%.
Preserving your time is one of the greatest benefits you’ll get from hosting 3D tours. The better your tour, the more people you’ll filter out who aren’t a match. Give people as much detail as possible so they can see it all before they show up in person. You’ll have more time and energy to connect with people who are a better match.
When marketing your rental properties, you want to use the most effective methods possible. It might make sense to create listings in print, but you can’t skip digital marketing. However, you can’t just toss up a basic 3D tour on YouTube and expect applications to pour into your inbox. A simple video tour is a good place to start, but if you want better applicants, you need interactive tours.
You’ll reach a wider audience with interactive tours. Interactive content is more engaging and allows people to control how they tour the property. They can choose which rooms to visit, zoom in on certain features, and move about as they wish.
With high-quality real estate virtual tour software, people can click on things around the house to learn more. For instance, you might want to include additional information about your outdoor pool, basement, or all the cool features that come with your smart fridge. You can even add information about how to use specific features around your property.
Using 3D virtual tours is a cost-effective marketing strategy with a high ROI because you don’t have to leave your house to show the property as often. You’ll spend less money on gas and less time driving, and you can use that free time for other activities.
Once you create a virtual tour, you can reuse it an infinite number of times without spending another dime. For example, when you stage your property before filming a virtual tour, you’ll always have a staged tour available for prospective tenants, even if you choose not to stage the unit between tenants.
You also won’t need to deal with coordinating a showing with a current tenant who is planning on moving out. Instead of taking potential tenants through the house, you can send them to the virtual tour for a better first experience. If they want to see the house in person, you can schedule a tour, but their first impression will already be high-quality.
Although it’s not a direct downside, a 3D virtual tour won’t show potential tenants the surrounding area, including the buildings or luxury homes next door. To get a feel for the neighborhood, people will need to visit a property in person and take in the whole scene.
Virtual reality tours aren’t a complete replacement for in-person showings, although they supplement them quite well. If someone wants to talk to neighbors or drive around to see what the rest of the area looks like, a virtual showing won’t help with that.
Creating 3D virtual tours will boost your marketing efficiency by making it easy for potential tenants to view properties from home. You can highlight a property’s best features within the tour, and cut down on the amount of time and energy spent on in-person showings.
Showing vacant properties is essential, but it’s also exhausting. That’s why you need a property manager. At Green Residential, we provide superior property management services to investors in the Houston area who would rather focus on being an investor than a landlord.
We provide full-service property management that includes tenant screening, inspections, repairs, maintenance, rent collection, and more. Contact us today to request a free property analysis; we’ll be happy to discuss how we can help.