Virtual tours have been all the rage in real estate for the past few years.  I’ll admit I’ve done them, but I have not been overly impressed with the results.  Why you may ask?

Well truth be known, virtual tours distort the property.  They are taken at a static 360 degrees, “stitched” together and then we use a program to simulate  motion.  I’m not sure about you, but I often don’t stand in the middle of a room and spin in a circle.

There really is no need to do a virtual tour if you have video capability.  Videos are much more impressive as you can walk the client through the property – it is almost as good as going to the property in person.

Technology expertise, or the ability to hire the expertise, should always be in the Realtors tool box.  It is incredibly important to stay on top of the trends so you will always have the competitive edge.

Video’s can be placed directly on your website – but hosted on free platforms like U-Tube.  Did you know that U-Tube has over 1 billion visitors a day?  While I realize that Realtors generally market close to home –it makes sense to widen your net, especially in  today’s market.  By using video you can market to potentially millions of people at no extra cost to your business.  In addition, video increases your search engine optimization – which means your video listing can be placed in front of the buyers eyes in Google, MSN, Yahoo and Bing.  In layman’s terms your property will rank on the first page of the major search engines for people looking for property in the Edmonton area.

Another major issue is that most virtual tours depend on Flash players.  If your potential clients are viewing the site with their Iphone, Ipod or Ipad – all they are going to see is a blue cube.  You may think that it’s not a big deal ~ however the Apple user population is expanding at 6.5 million a quarter. Do you think you may have clients or potential clients using an I-touch?  I think you do.

Mobile browsing has had a major impact on the technology that Realtors should be using in 2010 – move away from Flash, move away from virtual tours – embrace video it will do nothing but good for your realty business.

It is terribly important to ensure that you have movie quality video equipment.  As with still pictures, video is a reflection of you.  If the video is shoddy – people will think you are shoddy.  For a few bucks, get your real estate photographer to shoot your video – they already have the expertise and equipment to do so.

If you have any questions on this article, feel free to contact me.