360 Degree Virtual Tours!

Today, an agent asked me about virtual tours and the different technologies available so I thought it would be a good topic of discussion.

A Virtual Tour is a method of viewing a home on your computer as if you were standing in the middle of a room and looking 360 degrees around the room. Depending on how it is setup, you can move through the house getting complete views around the rooms instead of just still shots. 

Virtual tours are a great way to market a home as well as provide information about the neighborhood and area. Houses are staying on the market longer and as a result more agents are looking at Virtual Tours as a way to enhance the marketing on the house. Internet savvy home buyers appreciate the enhanced viewing and it may be the tool that causes them to request a showing and purchase the house.

There are 3 ways of taking the pictures(s) for a Virtual Tour.

Stitching: The camera is placed on a tripod and then rotated taking a picture every 30 degrees. The pictures are then stitched together into a continuous 360 degree picture.

180 Degree Lense: A special lense is placed on the camera then two pictures are taken. One for each half of the area. These two pictures are then combined to provide a complete 360 degree virtual tour.

360 Degree Lense (Egg Solutions): A special lense is placed on the camera that takes a complete 360 degree tour in one photograph.

I personally prefer the stitching method since you have 12 pictures which can be enhanced (lightened/darkened) as needed or used for still shots.

The Egg Lense creates something known as fish-eye. As you view the tour, it appears as if the walls are coming at you.

Regardless of the technology used, Virtual Tours are a great way to expose your home to the market.