360° virtual tours have recently exploded in popularity, especially during the COVID-19 crisis. During the lockdown, realtors had to rely on virtual tours to show and sell homes. But what about property management companies and rental property owners? If they are not taking advantage of this virtual reality technology, then they must rely on self-access showings. But, self-access showings do not benefit the out-of-town prospective tenants and that is a large market being overlooked, especially people looking to move to the fast growing, “Rocket City” of Huntsville, Alabama!
If you are familiar with Google Maps’ Street View feature, then you know what a 360° virtual tour is and how cool they are! 360° virtual tours allow resident leads to take a self-guided walkthrough of your rental property 24x7, and, they can even do it from the convenience of their own couch. Virtual tours consist of a series of immersive 360° panoramic photographs with “hotspots” that allow one to move from room-to-room. These 360° tours can even come with floor plans so prospective tenants can gauge if their furniture will fit and where it will go! For out-of-towners, this helps eliminate the stress of renting “site unseen”.
The two main benefits to a 360° virtual tour for your rental is to increase leads (especially to those out-of-town) and to decrease unneeded showings. Choosing a home is a very important decision and people want all the information they can find when doing their research. Virtual tours allow them to spend more time viewing the details of you home. So it’s no wonder potential tenants gravitate to listings that offer an engaging 360° tour, which increases the chances of them inquiring about your property.
1. Boost your listings. Virtual tours help boost your listing and generate more resident leads by creating the opportunity and convenience of viewing your rental home at any time, day or night. This helps eliminate the scheduling of in-person showings or giving strangers self-access and hoping they remember to lock-up when they’re done.
2. Catch ‘em While They’re Hot! We live in a very demanding world and listings that can provide instant viewability anytime with a 360° virtual tour eliminate leads having to wait to see your property.
3. Cast A Wider Net For Your Lead Pool. 360° virtual tours not only make showings more convenient for both prospective tenants and home owners, but they make it possible for prospective renters with limited mobility to view to property. You can even get views from out-of-town prospects looking to move to your town. That expands your lead pool by a lot! When you expand access with virtual tours, you will certainly get more eyes and interest in your property and bring more leads to your funnel.
4. Decrease In-person Showings. Video walkthroughs and 360° virtual tours provide tenant leads with as much information as possible before scheduling an in-person showing. And a 360° virtual tour increases engagement by giving the viewer a good feel of the layout and flow of the home. So you know those prospective renters that call you for a showing have already viewed the video walkthrough and/or virtual tour and like what they have seen.
Here are some stats:
360° virtual tours come with many benefits, but your return on investment is quickly recovered at an estimated four weeks or less according to LCP360. For the longest time, Matterport was the “go to” virtual tour platform in the market and it was costly. Today, virtual tours are booming and have become extremely popular. As a result, you now have options for virtual tour hosting, cameras, and tour options. Here are the best ways to get the most out of your virtual tour:
In a nutshell? Absolutely! With ROI’s estimated at less than 4 months, you can’t go wrong. And, unless you remodel or change features within the home (e.g. repaint the walls a different color or remove the carpet and place hard flooring), you can use your virtual tour in your advertising tool kit over and over again! Statistics show that 360° virtual tours are extremely beneficial to add to your marketing plan since they have proven to provide significant impact to rental properties and their online presence. 360° virtual tours provide a powerful, unique and engaging display that allows potential tenants to walkthrough your rental home 24x7 and helps you stand out above the rest! Are your ready for your 360° virtual tour? Contact us and let us tell your visual story!
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