Real estate marketing has changed in the past decade remarkably. Making listings stand out from a bombardment of options for potential buyers is now more essential than ever in the information age. Luckily, there are tech solutions that can make this simple. In this post, we’ll show how Hausvalet has done this over 8000 times for brokers, increasing conversions, satisfying buyers, and making communication more efficient.
How real estate marketing tools have changed
Pre virtual tour, listings of properties were limited to 2D photography and sometimes drone footage to show the lay of the land online. While these are still a key part of every listing, in 2022 there’s more you can do to make your life easier as a broker. Now, you can elevate your listing with 360 virtual tours of the property with ease. All it takes is the right software and a virtual tour captured with the right hardware. Enter Hausvalet…
How Hausvalet works - Elevating real estate marketing materials
Hausvalet is a service for real estate brokers to make their property stand out with world-class real estate marketing materials. They photograph the property and create virtual tours of each space, allowing potential buyers to view both images and explore the property from their phones or in virtual reality using a headset such as a Meta Quest. Here’s a stunning example of one such tour that racked up 10,000 views.
Once a virtual tour, photos, and often drone footage is taken, Hausvalet acts as a platform for potential buyers to reach out to the broker directly while viewing the property. While getting a feel for the property, viewers can contact the broker with a click of a button. Then, a phone call will be sent to the broker's mobile device through the Hausvalet app and a live stream of what the client is seeing in their virtual tour will be available to the broker. Making communication fast and simple. Here’s the process in action with Insta360 Pro.
Why should your listing include a virtual tour?
To put it simply, it's better for brokers and it's better for clients. They save both parties a ton of time, they increase conversions, and they allow for a lifelike experience of the property without actually having to visit it in person. Let’s dive into both the client and broker side:
Why virtual tours are better for brokers
Brokers looking to close a deal know that making their listings stand out is essential to any client. Giving people an immersive experience of the property from anywhere in the world allows them to get an almost tangible feel for the property. That leaves a far stronger lasting impression on the buyer. Once they’re convinced, the Hausvalet platform makes closing the deal as fast and simple as it gets. Just a click for the client. That reduces friction in closing the deal and makes conversions simple.
Not only that, having solid real estate marketing tools means less labor for the broker, saving them time and money in the conversion process and freeing them up to focus on what's most important. Delivering exceptional service. Hausvalet summarizes that here:
“Our turnkey platform also makes it easy for brokers to schedule photoshoots, manage their media, and also acts as a lead generator for them to find new clients.”
Why virtual tours are better for home buyers
Home buyers are looking for their dream home and they want the process to be as simple as possible. The ability to virtually visit a property allows them to view multiple properties at speeds never before possible, and the full immersion in VR can make that process almost as good as the real thing, whether that’s via their own mobile or a VR headset. When they’re ready to contact their broker, they don't need the hassle of calls and scheduling. It’s all done in-app to make communication seamless.
In short, it makes their viewing and communication process faster and more immersive online than ever before.
How virtual tours can improve your real estate marketing materials
It’s not just a better listing that helps the client make a decision. It’s the emotional connection they’ll have with the property by getting a feel for it. They can view each room to scale, exploring the property and visualizing how they’ll make it their own. Relying on 2D images isn’t enough to evoke that feeling in the client's mind that it is the home they’ve been searching for. Not only that, but the often used wide-angle shots can sometimes be flat-out misleading to the viewer, leading to remorse upon an in-person viewing. The result is lost time for the brokers, and a sour taste for the client.
Virtual tours with an Insta360 Pro or Pro 2, in addition to a premium software experience from Hausvalet, alleviate these issues for buyers. This makes the close that much easier.
Why a premium virtual tour camera is essential
A tour alone isn’t enough. It needs to be done with a camera up to the job. This comes down to a few factors: Image quality, flexibility for custom rigs, and software. Let's take a quick look at each of those and why Insta360 Pro 2 is the ultimate virtual tour camera.
Image quality - Make the tour worth viewing
When you shoot a virtual tour, you’re capturing a 360-degree view of each scene, so a high resolution is essential as it's spread across that sphere. Hausvalet opts for Insta360 Pro 2 because of its 8K resolution, allowing for each of its 6 cameras to capture the detail that your property listing deserves This is even more important when viewing a virtual tour through a VR headset as opposed to a mobile phone, as low-quality video really stands out on a great headset.
Beyond resolution, Pro 2 sports in-camera HDR. In layman's terms, it’ll make sure tough lighting conditions as you’d find in a home don't spoil your shot. The dark and the light parts of the image will be clear, delivering a lifelike result.
Custom rigs - Speed up the job
Some virtual tour cameras can be bulky and heavy. This makes them tough to work with and can increase your workload. In Hausvalet’s case, they utilized Pro 2 due to its small form factor and lightweight build. They built their own custom rig to make the capture process simple, which houses both a traditional camera for the 2D images and Pro to capture the virtual tours. This means their photographers only need to carry one piece of equipment when shooting each room, speeding up the job for over 8000 shoots.
Software - Make your workflow easy
Insta360 makes its own custom software, Stitcher, to make editing simple. Combining the footage from all 6 of Pro 2’s cameras is a breeze as the software does the heavy lifting, allowing you to tweak and edit your footage to make the property pop. Not only that, but direct integration with third-party apps via Insta360’s API means both shooting and hosting are easier than with other brands. Hausvalet put it best:
“We realized that the API offered us the possibility to design and build a custom workflow tailored to our needs, we were then able to fully integrate it into our custom workflow”.
Looking beyond 2022 - The future of virtual tours
Virtual tours of homes are now widespread—they’re essential real estate marketing materials. Going beyond 2022 however, they’re evolving and filling more niches creating new opportunities for astute virtual tour creators.
Hausvalet is helping with virtual hospital visits in Quebec and even helping hotels improve their online booking experience with tours of the complex. Going forward, we can see virtual tours being an essential part of visiting any space online before arriving, perhaps even as common as a 2D photo. It’s evident our experience with the internet is changing, we’re somewhere between traditional website visits and metaverse-like experiences. No doubt virtual tours will be an integral part of this shift.
Where can you get started?
Hausvalet pride themselves as a platform without equal. They bring listings to life via full digital experiences of properties with photos, floorplans, virtual tours, videos, and more. To learn more, head over to hausvalet.ca
Looking to get ahead of the trend and create your own virtual tours? An Insta360 Pro 2 is the tool for the job. Shop Insta360 Pro 2 here. If you're just starting out in the industry and have budget concerns, then a great alternative is our Insta360 ONE RS 1-Inch 360, offering our top-of-the-line camera performance in a smaller package (we've actually got footage of it in action, too!).
Keen to keep up to date on Insta360 stories? Keep an eye on our blog and sign up for our mailing list. You can also contact our Enterprise team directly to see how 360 cameras can benefit your business.
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