The real estate industry is a competitive industry, and real estate businesses are always looking for ways to stand out from the crowd and be miles ahead of their competitors.
This attempt to find new ways to improve efficiency and customer service as well as drive sales and revenue has led to significant changes in recent years, and technology has played a big role in driving these changes.
One of the improvements that some real estate businesses have adopted is the application of virtual tours to their real estate projects.
The use of virtual tours has opened an avenue for prospective buyers and renters to get an immersive and interactive experience of a property in the comfort of their home.
In this article, we will explore the various ways in which real estate businesses can benefit from adopting virtual tours.
1. Property Showcasing
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 resulted in a lockdown that lasted months in Nigeria; this restriction on travel and movement in general raised questions on how real estate businesses will solve the problems associated with property showcasing since transportation, contact with strangers, and movement had been temporarily restricted, and virtual tours provided the perfect solution for the problems.
By using a technological innovation that allowed them to showcase properties to clients without either party leaving their home, real estate businesses eliminated the problems of in-person property tours, both pre- and post-pandemic, with the adoption of virtual tours.
In addition, the real estate industry also benefited from virtual tours, as the innovation allowed agents to showcase multiple properties to multiple clients at the same time without any of the interference associated with physical tours of properties.
Virtual tours have also been used to increase accessibility for busy clients, clients with disabilities, elderly clients, or clients located in a geographical location different from that of the property.
2. Testing and Usage of Virtual Home Staging Ideas
Imagine having to bring different sets of furniture, artwork, and other interior design and decoration items to a property you’re showcasing or putting up for a listing.
You’d have to worry about the money, time, and energy it will cost you to rent or buy the items and also transport them to the location of the property just so you can find out which home staging idea fits the home perfectly.
With virtual tours, experiments become super-convenient, and you can try out as many home staging ideas as you want regardless of the location of the property.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re in Akure, Katsina, Benin, or Lagos; all you need is an app, which will give you access to tons of ideas for virtual home staging that you can use for a virtual tour.
Virtual home staging applications like Homestyler, Housecraft, and Room Planner allow you to test different home staging ideas and also create virtual tours.
3. Increased Listing Conversion
Research has shown that homebuyers and renters are more interested in listings that offer virtual tours of the property than those that don’t.
So as a homeowner, real estate agent, or stakeholder, you can bet that attention-grabbing virtual tours are the way to go.
With virtual tours, you have a tool that gives potential clients access to information on properties you put on the market while also enabling the clients to create a connection with the property.
In short, if you want to increase attention to properties you list on the market and use technology that convinces potential clients to buy or rent your properties, then a virtual tour is the way to go.
4. Save the Cost of Physical Methods
With physical property showcasing, home staging, and marketing, you can spend hours of your time in the dreaded traffic jam of Lagos while taking a client to go see a property in Ikeja.
You could struggle to find a convenient time for this daunting task since both you and your client have busy schedules.
Or it may be the financial burden of paying for interior design and decoration items or creating signposts to market properties available on the market.
With virtual tours, you increase efficiency and save time, money, and energy by enabling clients to view properties from the comfort of their own homes without anyone having to put themselves through the stress of the physical alternatives.
5. Access to More Clients
This is another way that real estate businesses can benefit from the adoption of virtual tours. There’s no doubt that the internet and technology as a whole have expanded our horizons and made the world a global village.
With virtual tours, there’s no limit to who Nigerian real estate businesses can reach; they now have access to clients both inside and outside of Nigeria.
Virtual tours mean access to clients on social media platforms, forums, VR and AR platforms, and WhatsApp groups, which can consequently help real estate businesses increase their revenue and client base.
6. Access to Accurate Data and Information for Marketing Campaigns
Enough has been said about how inaccurate social media marketing strategies can be for real estate businesses.
Facebook may be showing an ad for a property in Los Angeles, California, to a user in Ebute Metta, Lagos, just because the user is using a fake profile that says he lives in Los Angeles, California.
With virtual tours, you make use of softwares like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) that use sophisticated methods to access accurate data and information on users so real estate businesses don’t have to worry about directing their marketing campaigns to the wrong users.
With virtual tours, marketing campaigns yield better results, and real estate businesses enjoy higher conversion rates.
This is achieved by providing immersive and interactive experiences for clients and showcasing properties in an innovative and tech-savvy way that convinces the clients to invest in the real estate business.
7. Improve Agent-client Relationships
Virtual tour platforms make use of tech tools that make the tour experience informative and engaging so that clients and agents can have interactive sessions and discuss projects that clients are interested in.
A virtual tour is a great way for real estate businesses and clients to visualize their business and investment strategies and have a clear understanding of what each should expect from the other.
If you are in Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan or anywhere in Nigeria and needs a VR company, Insightful3D Studio is your preferred virtual tour/reality company. Trusted by tens of top brands, we help you craft virtual tours that sell your projects faster to its targeted audience. Contact Insightful3D today or call +234 906 000 6378.
