Real estate is among the industries that are in constant growth. Increasing demand for real estate and high competition among realtors are the reasons why selling properties is becoming more difficult for many realtors today.

In this case, having your own website to promote your offers may help. However, your competitors are also more likely to have it. This means that you need an additional, more effective tool to stand out and get clients. And an excellent solution to this problem is a real estate virtual tour. Using this tool, you can realistically showcase properties, attract the attention of potential clients, and improve your closing rates.

Let’s take a look at what virtual tours are and what key benefits you can enjoy from implementing this technology into your workflow as a realtor.

What Is A Virtual Tour In Real Estate?

Conceptually, a real estate virtual tour is the use of VR technology to create a virtual environment in which the client can look at and explore the real estate as in real life. The value of this approach is that virtual reality allows you to immerse your potential clients in the property that interests them, allowing them to walk through the object and explore the surrounding area. And the client can do all this from their own home!

Even at this stage, virtual tours have a huge advantage, namely that the client has most likely already made a partial decision on the property, and all that remains is to simply visit the property in real life for final confirmation before discussing the price.

A virtual tour provides an easier way to interact, which is an important aspect for many clients, so using this technology in your practice allows you to stay ahead of the competition.

Benefits Of Virtual Tours

Virtual real estate tours have been a trend lately, helping realtors attract more visitors to their properties.

Here are the five main benefits you can enjoy by applying VR technology in real estate:

1. Increased Engagement From Potential Clients

Among the most common strategies of realtors is to upload a large number of real estate images on their website. However, this approach is no longer an effective way to attract buyers since the images cannot provide an understanding of how a house is designed and built in the area.

At the same time, a well-executed virtual property tour can give buyers a more realistic view of the home, thereby increasing their interest and keeping their attention.

With a virtual tour, you can highlight every room and space in a home, allowing clients to navigate and move from one room to another and even walk through every floor and view every detail of the property.

In addition, virtual tours often contain tooltips and additional content to provide more detailed information about the property.

This approach works effectively for both residential and commercial real estate, providing an exciting experience and attracting attention.

2. Higher Closing Rates

One of the things to remember when it comes to your website is that with this approach, your client is usually a potential buyer who calls the number listed on the website to find out more information about certain properties and make appointments to visit them.

However, a common problem with this strategy is that the person calling is not an ideal client. The reason is that while the call indicates interest after viewing the images, the client likely does not have a realistic idea of the property’s structure. Thus, after visiting the property, a potential buyer may find the object not suitable or attractive enough for purchasing. This means you have spent your time conducting the tour and presenting your proposal without closing a deal.

Virtual tours are of particular value in this case, providing the interested buyer with a good understanding of the property, its organization, and its structure. After the first impression of an object in a virtual environment, the client may already know what decision they are going to make. Therefore, using virtual tours in your practice helps you target the most valuable leads who intend to purchase.

3. Cost-Effective Strategy

Contrary to popular belief, virtual tours are not extremely expensive. Moreover, it is a good investment for developing your brand.

It is precisely because it may seem that creating a VR tour is too expensive and takes a lot of time and effort, many realtors abandon this tool, continuing to use old and less effective practices.

If you are the owner of a WordPress real estate website, you can apply the exclusive WPVR plugin, which allows you to create virtual tours. With its help, it becomes possible to turn 360-degree panoramic images from the center of every room of the house into a virtual environment.

Apart from the plugin, you should also purchase a panoramic camera. However, you can also use the camera on your smartphone. This way, you may create engaging virtual real estate tours without breaking the bank.

4. More Attractive Real Estate Services

With a virtual tour feature on your website, you become more attractive to potential buyers as a realtor.

Virtual tour technology allows clients to explore different homes to find the best option without having to waste time and physically visit each property. In addition, a virtual tour of the house helps to amplify genuine interest in real estate, increasing the chances of a purchase.

Offers from a realtor who provides virtual tour services attract more attention since a potential buyer may evaluate the property under their requirements before visiting.

5. Better Lead Generation

Virtual tours are an effective lead-generation tool because they attract attention and are more interesting and interactive than static images.

The virtual tours feature helps build a lead base since you can collect contact information from potential clients who are still undecided about a purchase or are researching real estate and neighborhoods to purchase in the future. This approach helps generate higher-quality leads, as virtual tours are the best way to stand out.