More often than not, when it comes to making a property purchase, prospects tend to aggravate towards what they see rather than just plain words. This is why prospects will overlook great property listings with tremendous advantages because the visual representations are not intriguing enough or cannot sway the buyers’ emotions to make the purchase. They probably have pictures of empty walls and dull spaces that cannot spike any element of interest.
As a Realtor, not giving enough attention to this aspect of marketing could pose a challenge that will cost you many clients. A more challenging situation would be in cases where you’re dealing with a proposed property. As your marketing tools are floor plans and elevations with no guarantee, your clients even understand how they are read and interpreted. Potential clients are even less likely to make the purchase. Eventually, these challenges are bad for business.
Virtual real estate is the ultimate solution to these challenges. With the aid of 3D architectural visualization tools, a little bit of life and personality can be added to your visual representations as a marketing arsenal, and this will, in turn, increase purchases more than ever. Beyond just the expected turnover, virtual real estate is especially handy with the current situation of COVID -19, where social distancing is advised, and on-site property tours may seem a little far-fetched, the business can still go on as usual.
Some of these 3D architectural visualization tools will be discussed here with tips on how they can be optimized for your benefit.
1. Virtual Tours
This is a fantastic way to visually appealing, interactive, and immersive property listings. This option for potential clients allows them to appreciate the property by virtually visiting from their convenience entirely. While on the virtual tour with your clients, the best parts of the property should be highlighted and shown to them.
To achieve this, you should consider preparing and writing a script as a guide to help you remember everything you want to highlight and promote. Practice your lines so it sounds natural and fluid rather than a rehearsed repetition of words. Another helpful tip is to mark your camera placement points throughout the property, and your camera angles to highlight the property’s best parts. It is advised to have a run-through of the entire 3D virtual tour first to spot errors and correct them before the virtual tour is done.
Some advantages of using this tool include a 360-degree view of spaces, room-to-room walk-through, flexibility to zoom in and out of spaces for viewing details clearer, and detailed information on interior design elements. The more the client can see, the fewer questions they will have and the more likely they will make the purchase.
2. Panorama
This tool is a spin-off from virtual tours, although this one focuses on a single room. It is a spherical render of a space that allows you to view that space from different perspectives. It is more engaging than still pictures and is less expensive when compared to full virtual tours; hence, this is an option to consider, especially if you want to optimize your marketing options with lesser funds.
3. Virtual Staging
Staging your properties is a marketing strategy that can increase sales by a whopping 73%. However, this is an expensive and tedious routine because it involves renting furniture, moving them from one place to another, and the like. Virtual staging takes away the stress and expenses involved with staging a property but leaves the result at the same margin or even more.
The process of virtual staging involves the services of a Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) specialist who uses digital 3D models of furniture and arranges them within an image of an empty room to suit the style and decor you aim to achieve with the staging. This simple process can transform an open room with boring walls and views into a welcoming and appealing space full of personality and vibe. It even goes beyond interior spaces as the same process can be given to the property’s exterior to give it a facelift.
An important tip here is that before the 3D models are placed in the picture by the CGI specialist, all unnecessary and unflattering items should be removed from the image using special software.
4. Virtual Open Houses
This tool is likened to a live stream tour of a property through the interior and exterior that allows you to interact with your potential clients on the spot. This is a very interactive option as you get to answer questions or concerns of the property as they arise. To a large extent, you have better chances of convincing a client to purchase the property with the help of this tool because some people will be forced to make an “on the spot decision.”
These open houses could be held privately, by appointment, or general streams for a group of people, which all depends on your clientele’ preference. To ensure that you reach a larger audience, you should announce and promote the date and time for this virtual open house so potential clients will be aware and sign up to attend. Consider getting the services of a professional camera person, so you don’t come off as an amateur and finally, work with a script. It will not only make the job easier, but it will ensure that you touch on all the relevant aspects of the property.
5. 3D Animations
This tool allows you to highlight both the interior and exterior of a property. It goes beyond that to show the relationship between the property and its environs, such as the existing access roads, surrounding buildings, landscape elements, and the like. Its fly-through attribute gives you a bird’s eye view of the building, while the 3D walk-through feature gives you a real-time experience of the building. The use of animations as a marketing choice for Realtors is highly effective. Even if the project is yet incomplete, the animations will show the clients what to expect eventually.
This tool can be optimized to your benefit by using the animation as an opportunity to tell a captivating story about the property and expressing the concept of the project using a voice-over. Stories have always been a handy marketing measure. Therefore, your choice of words and expressions should be chosen carefully so you can engage the client’s emotions. Also, carefully choose the background music if necessary as music has a strong effect on our feelings.
6. 3D Floor Plans
Most of your potential clients, at first glance of a floor plan, have little to zero interpretation, so it is essential to find ways to simplify their understanding. 3D floor plans are a fantastic way to achieve that because it transforms a 2-dimensional drawing, gives it depth, texture, shadows, materials, finishes, etc. The result is an easy-to-understand and engaging 3-dimensional representation of your 2D floor plan. Furnishings can be added as well to spice up the spaces with a bit of coziness.
The highlighted tools have different functionalities but aim to achieve the same thing: to help you effectively market and eventually sell off your properties at a much faster pace with even more convenience for both the potential clients and the Realtors.