Do you feel that virtual tours are going to be a standard give away to properties owners that want to sell? More and more in California virtual tours are becoming necessary to keeping a listing. There are a lot of tour companies out there. Which ones do you use? vrhomes.us has been good to us.

Absolutely.

http://www.visualtour.com/ is great for now.

Here's the virtual tour of the future.
http://tinyurl.com/8z3ge

Virtual tour of the future??? Why? It's the most ordinary VT I've ever seen.

Really.

So all of yours look like this or better???

Where could we see one of your masterpieces????

I think it's an interesting virtual tour, but how can the user control the views?
Also, because I don't have speakers hooked up on the PC I'm using right now - who was that speaking on camera? The agent or the seller? Either way, it seems like using one of those two on the tour would be questionable for the following reasons...
1-if it's the agent, then it would violate our MLS policy which forbids virtual tour links or pictures from branding or promoting the agent (that would include providing the listing agent's name or face.)
2-if it's the seller, then it borders on Fair Housing standards that remind you that you can always stay out of trouble when your advertising describes and identifies the HOUSE, not the OWNER.
--A

It's not meant to be MLS photos. It's a professionally produced video done by Inman News.

I looked at this clip again and I don't see any sort of Fair Housing violations anywhere on either side of the border. I find it's helpful to potential buyers to hear and/or see the sellers tell how they've enjoyed their house and maybe their reasons for buying.

I ask my sellers to write a short paragraph or two telling potential buyers just that.

I watched the video and thought it was a little hoaky. Too much on the owner and not enough on the property.

I'm not quite convinced that a virtual tour is any better/if not worse than a showcase of still photos. Give people enough to look at online then get them inside the house that's how you sell houses. I doubt most people will be buying houses based on a virtual tour for a long time to come. Maybe never.

Virtual tours ignore a lot of details that can make or break a sale.

If it's not meant to be on the MLS how would you distribute the virtual tour?
--A

Your personal website.

A company website

e mail to prospects

Realtor.com

Yahoo real estate

URL in print ads, sign riders, etc.

I direct all my traffic to my site not MLS. Put yourself in the sellers shoes. You have several agents after your business. We used to distinguish ourselves by our hilite sheets. Virtual tours are an extension of this.

I loved the Inman virtual tour!

A serious buyer would drool over that movie several times a day...until they bought it. It whets the appetite for more. It is great marketing.

I think that buyers will look at this with different eyes than those of crusty old real estate agents like me....I don't have the time for it...but they do!

Thanks for sharing.

I like the virtual tours. I use Obeo.com and they take the pictures for me and host the tour. It's got a great Back office where you can see the number of hits on each day ... where they are coming from Realtor.com/mls/other search and they even e-mail the statistics report to you and the owner at whatever interval you select.

The information on the left is fantastic for the buyer with demographics, maps, e-mail ability, setting up showings, etc.

You can see one that I have at www.obeo.com/204739

vrhomes.us is really good too.. they take the photos for you and writeups and voice overs. it's great...

Whitney.... please admit that you are a representative of vrhomes. Acting as if you are just posting because you want to better the real estate community is tried here every day.

Honesty is respected. Attempted deceit is not.

So, Jim Lee... You just wouldn't share a virtual tour on Realtor.com and your local MLS, or you would buy two virtual tours?
--A