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Virtual Tour vs Walk Through Video

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Captivly Media

With over ten years of experience in photography, captivly media is one of the top real estate photography companies. With several certifications and active members in multiple associations, Captivly maintains the highest level of quality with every project.
iGuide virtual tour on a computer screen
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Screenshot of the home page of Zillow

Most people know that when listing a home, they need some sort of online presence. This can help out-of-state buyers look at the home before making a decision, as well as in-town buyers trying to narrow down their open house or home tour visits. The biggest issue we see when creating an online ad is whether they should opt for a virtual tour or a video walkthrough. For our Captivly Real Estate Photography visitors, we’ll get straight to the point and note that you should always opt for a virtual tour. However, most of you are probably wondering why virtual tours are better than video walk-throughs. Read on to get that question answered and find out all the benefits of a virtual tour.

Zillow Retiring their "Zillow Video Upload"

For years, many of us relied on Zillow’s Video Upload tool to get our homes out. However, the quality of these videos vastly differed in quality from listing to listing. Some were grainy; others were only a minute or two. In short, while the concept of video listings may seem incredible, there was just no way of ensuring consistency. Earlier this year, Zillow announced the discontinuation of video uploads. If agents make videos, they must link them to the MLS, and Zillow will place them under their “Facts and Features” section.

Leverage Zillow Interactive Floor Plans

Rather than relying on video uploads, Zillow is switching over to virtual tours. These allow people to view a home at their own pace while Zillow gets higher-quality pictures and listings. Virtual tours will now lead on listings, allowing users to tour as many homes as they want at their own pace.
An Example of a Zillow 3D Virtual Tour and Zillow Interactive Floor Plans

What is a Virtual Tour

Virtual tours are best thought of as Google Street View for your home. A professional photographer will come in and take panoramic images of the house using a special HDR camera. These images are then edited to create a 3d virtual tour. With a 3d tour, viewers can zoom in on specific features of the home (no more needing to describe intricate molding) and get a better feel for how rooms are laid out by viewing it from certain angles. This interactive experience allows them to explore the home on their own time and look at what they’re interested in.

Benefits of a Real Estate Virtual Tour

Virtual tours offer an assortment of benefits for sellers and potential buyers alike. They’re easy to stage, allow buyers to interact with a listing, have a lower bounce rate than listings that rely strictly on video walk-throughs or pictures, and allow people to fully explore space without ever leaving their couch. Other top benefits of virtual tours include:

Generate More Interest For Your Real Estate Listing

An estimated 99% of buyers between 23-56 search online for homes, and 95% of all buyers search the internet for homes. Furthermore, 51% of buyers found their home online in 2022. In short, the online real estate market is one of the prime ways your potential buyers will find your home, and you need to generate as much interest as possible in your listing. When you utilize virtual home tours, you can hook people onto your home as soon as they view your listing. This also helps you expand your reach, meaning you will reach more potential buyers than you would by using stagnant photos or a video tour. Finally, your virtual tour allows potential buyers to focus on precisely what you want them to rather than leaving it to chance like a video tour. In short, posting a listing without a virtual tour can make you lose out on potential buyers and generate less interest.

Save Valuable Time Showing Houses

Selling a home requires a lot of time for both the seller and the realtor. New property listings in certain areas can attract hundreds of potential buyers, resulting in numerous phone calls and many dead ends. All of this potential interest can result in all parties wasting hundreds of hours on curious people rather than looking to buy a home. Virtual home tours allow potential buyers to explore, listings-including those who are just curious. Those interested will reach out, reducing pointless phone calls and saving time.

Stand Out from Competitors - Realtors Under Utilize Virtual Tours

Not every real estate agent knows the benefits that come with virtual tours. This can lead to lackluster listings that simply don’t attract buyers ( and doesn’t promote your brand to property owners ). Virtual tours allow your listing to stand out from the competition, putting your home well above those without one. You’ll get more people who want to explore your listing, opting for the virtual experience you are offering rather than going to multiple homes in person. Offering a 360 degree virtual tour puts your property listing ahead of the curve and allows you to close faster.

Get Social With Real Estate Marketing

Let’s be honest; social media is a significant factor in most people’s lives. With the rise of the 360 tour, more and more people are sharing them on their social media profiles. They can even go viral! In addition to appearing on social media and in search results, a well-made virtual tour is also more likely to get emailed to prospective buyers meaning more reach and marketing to your listings.

Highlight Key Features Of Your Listing

One of the biggest complaints sellers have when looking at video tours is how they can’t show off key features in the home. Because everything moves quickly, videos can’t focus on intricate detailing, while photographs can’t let buyers get a feel for the home’s layout. A virtual tour combines the best of photos and videos, allowing potential buyers to see small details and understand the home’s design. The best part? You can customize the digital tour to focus on what you want, like new renovations.

Improve Your ROI

Your Return on Investment (ROI) is essential when looking to sell a home. Following strategies that cost you a ton of money and aren’t attracting your ideal buyers have a poor ROI. For example, drone videos were quite popular a few years ago. Although these are excellent for properties with a lot of land, they’re not that great for a home in the suburbs. Virtual tours allow you to avoid pointless in-person tours as well as online features that aren’t going to appeal to your buyers. This will enable you to focus on what matters… selling your home!
A man holding a video camera to record a real estate video walk through

What Are Video Walk-Throughs

Video walk throughs are short, concise videos that allow sellers to showcase unique elements on the property. A realtor or seller will walk through the entire home, recording each room and letting buyers see the layout of the home. However, it also requires the seller or realtor to ensure the home is staged correctly. Furthermore, quality control is nonexistent for many videos, and anyone with a phone can make one.

Video Walk Throughs - Something cool for your buyers to watch

The biggest (and, in some cases, only) thing a video tour offers buyers is that it gives them something to watch. They also allow users to see the home’s layout without needing to interact with the media beyond hitting play. However, videos are selective in what they show, and many potential buyers tend to question what they see in videos and whether it represents the property.

Final Thought On A Virtual Tour vs Walk Through Videos

Selling a property requires many moving parts, and nothing is more time-consuming than figuring out which elements your online listing should have. Although many people relied heavily on video tours in the past, many realtors realized the importance of a 360 virtual tour. Captivly proudly leads the pack in real estate listings, adopting technologies for buyers and sellers alike, love-including video tours. Our realtors are dedicated to selling your home as quickly as possible while ensuring that sellers get an excellent deal. Contact us today to get your home on the market sooner rather than later.

Comparing a virtual house tour to a video tour. With the virtual tour, your customers can quite literally walk through the house in the comfort of their own home, at their own pace, and visualize the property with 360 degree images. They are a staple when it comes to real estate marketing for multiple factors; This makes you stand out from other agents that don’t offer this, you can give a buyer the capabilities to view the property before they schedule a walk-through, and by leveraging a virtual tour you can highlight every aspect of the property – statistically driving higher offers. Do I need a VR headset to view a virtual tour? Not at all, While you can view a 3d walkthrough with a headset and have a virtual reality experience. You can load the viewer on your computer and use your mouse to view the entire thing.
Not at all, While you can view a 3d walkthrough with a headset and have a virtual reality experience. You can load the viewer on your computer and use your mouse to view the entire thing.

Captivly keeps our real estate photography pricing simple and affordable. So if you are looking to earn more listings, attract more potential buyers, then real estate pictures are a crucial step in the process.

Absolutely, There are many ways to virtually stage a 360 tour. This can be done for a fraction of the cost compared to having the entire property staged. You can also select the interior design that you would like to have added to the images.
While some real estate agents will take a video of their virtual tour, they are not videos. This tour is traditionally composed of 360 degree still images that will allow a potential customer to walk through the property from anywhere on the planet while getting the feel of how the house is laid out.
Many different roles would benefit from a virtual tour. A property manager who is looking for renters, Real estate professionals looking to promote their brand and attract a potential client for their listing, and even property owners who are selling their house FSBO.
Video walkthrough videos are typically short highlight videos of a listing. Some realtors will use their phones to capture these videos, while a professional will break out a gimbaled camera. These videos intend to focus on the layout of a home and prived extra context to the photos.
Absolutely, in our opinion, if it came down to picking a virtual tour or a video – the virtual tour should win every time. When done correctly, this can also be used to enhance the online sales process for realtors. Many agents don’t leverage virtual tours allowing those that do to stand out from the competition and quickly improve their brand as a real estate professional.
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