Key Takeaways:
- Real estate showings are being reinvented
- Buyers want to see 3D immersive experience, video, and professional photos on the same site.
- Controlling a proprietary distribution channel is critical
- Additional capability should include traffic reporting, lead capture, and Make Offer features
Real estate showings start with a series of hurdles. The buyer evaluates the neighborhood, the curb appeal, the first impression inside, the floorplan, the yard. It is a Tinder-like experience but in real life. At anytime, one swipe left and we are back in the car moving to the next home.
For sellers, it can be anguishing to see the buyer’s pull up in front of the house at the appointed time, only to turn and drive away. Lots of traffic at an open house is exciting, but preparing for the event, hosting it, and cleaning up afterward can be both expensive and exhausting. The idea of having a large number of potential buyers walk through a house seems like a good idea, but what if there was a better way.
With safety becoming a more sensitive concern, real estate professionals, buyers, and sellers are best served by reinventing traditional showings.
Experience Real Estate in 3D
A 3D Home Experience is a virtual walkthrough allowing you to see every corner of a home at your own pace. You can view the 3D Home Experience from your home, your phone, or a virtual reality enabled headset in an immersive, one of a kind 3D experience.
Video
Online content is increasingly shifting toward video content. Real estate listing display is no exception. The best online showing experiences include video in an informative, easy to use format, where the personality doesn’t distract from the property. Essential details are critical to ensure that key property characteristics are as accessible as a prospective buyer tours the property.
Professional Photography
Professional photography isn’t new, but the adoption growth makes it non-negotiable. To achieve the best marketing requires preparation and effort. This means getting the property ready to sell physically and digitally. Helping a property look its best requires cleaning, staging, and potentially making improvements. It also requires having a professional photographer with experience and the right equipment. Just as a poor physical presentation can be a liability, so can a poor digital presentation. Distortions, low resolution, poorly chosen angles, incorrect lighting, and incorrect settings can all result in an otherwise acceptable property being overlooked.
Listing Distribution
Once you have a 3D experience, video, and professional photography to complement your listing details, getting it distributed is critical. The MLS restricted branded and custom content, which means it won’t be available through MLS syndication channels. Having a customizable listing website that can host all of this content and be made available to the public is critical to success. Once you have the listing website populated and ready for the public, you have to make an investment in distributing the content. Successfully distributing the content can be as challenging as assembling it in the hyper-competitive world of search engine and social media advertising.
Traffic Reporting, Lead Capture, and Make Offer Features
Measuring performance improves results. Listing display results should be measured and reported to evaluate effectiveness and signal necessary adjustments. Capturing leads is critical to the success in a listing website. Just as a sign with a flyer box distributes information, but one with a text rider captures buyer information, a website without lead capture is informative but less effective. Finally, if someone likes what they see, why not give them the opportunity to make an offer? Time is of the essence, especially the time between “I really like what I see” and “when can we meet”. If speed to lead means anything, giving buyers the opportunity to make offer is the natural next step.
Reinventing real estate showings is a series of steps to ensure that interested parties have access to all of the information they need in one place and can determine interest levels before driving to the property and finding out it wasn’t as presented. While MLS helped take the first step when it centralized and standardized listing content, today it isn’t flexible enough to address needed functionality to accommodate unique presentation, personalized content, and custom distribution channels.
Why isn’t everyone using this technology? It requires a commitment to support the staff and equipment, and it requires internal know-how to distribute the content. ERA Brokers began experimenting with the technology in 2014 and delivered over 6 million virtual showings on its listings last year. It is no surprise ERA Brokers is one of the largest real estate firms between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City and has been in business for nearly 40 years.
Considering selling your home and want to learn more about our marketing solutions?
About ERA Brokers Consolidated
ERA Brokers Consolidated is a brokerage infused with proprietary real estate technology. ERA Brokers Consolidated includes 9 offices on the I-15 corridor from Salt Lake City, UT to Las Vegas Nevada. It is a subsidiary of Brokers Holdings, which operates commercial and residential brokerages in Utah and Nevada. With over 350 agents and staff, ERA Brokers Consolidated was recognized by RealTrends, RISMedia, and Swanepoel as a top brokerage firm in the United States. In addition, it manages approximately $350 million in real estate assets for its clients.