Lockdown measures increased the number of estate agents using virtual tours to enable property viewings to be conducted efficiently and safely. Before the pandemic, virtual tours were considered expensive and non-essential and were generally reserved for marketing premium property.
Even though the markets have now returned to normal, many industry experts believe the popularity of virtual tours is here to stay. Customer expectations have shifted, with more buyers actively looking for virtual tours to help them sift properties and reduce the number of physical viewings they need to attend. Virtual tours add value for estate agents because they enable more people to access the property, including those from overseas.
Virtual tours reduce the number of viewings the sales team need to arrange and conduct, allowing them to spend more time converting sales and nurturing leads. There is also evidence that virtual tours increase the time prospects spend on estate agents’ websites; more engagement ultimately leads to more customers.
Here we look at the software estate agents can use to create virtual tours.
Virtual tour software allows estate agents to create a 360-degree view of the property and grounds. Some software will require a specialist 360-degree camera, but the camera on a smartphone might be sufficient for others. Alongside the camera, you will need to choose the virtual tour software that will work best for your business.
The right virtual tour software for your real estate agent business will enhance the quality of your listings. The best one for your business will depend on cost, tour type, hardware requirements, ease of use and integration with your website.
There is a wide range of software providers to choose from. Below, we have selected the most popular virtual tour software options. (Please note, pricing may vary based on usage and features)
Matterport were pioneers of the first dimensionally accurate, photorealistic virtual tours. Matterport’s Pro2 and Pro3 cameras offer excellent solutions in the world of 3D reality capture, their high-resolution scans offering great clarity and vibrant HDR visuals. Their newest 3D camera, the Pro3 model, can even blend outdoor captures seamlessly with the interior footage using LiDAR technology.
Along with an immersive perspective of each room, Matterport provide a unique doll’s house view, a 3D model of the entire property, allowing a user to see it from an outside perspective and to navigate through different levels.
To achieve the best results, it is best to book a skilled Matterport camera operative to carry out the 3D scanning. However there are individual subscription options available for beginners or those looking to personally experiment with the technology.
NicheCom is one of the Matterport’s largest UK partners, with over 120 operatives spanning the length and breadth of the country. Matterport scans can be booked individually or as part of a property marketing package that can include photography, floorplan, EPC or video.
GotoView is a bespoke, virtual viewing platform that combines a Matterport 3D showcase with video call facilitation, pulled together in an easy to navigate web portal. Agents can present the property via a virtual viewing with a number of prospective buyers logged in for a live chat. The agent can direct the viewing, ensuring a smooth walkthrough, focusing on the property’s highlights, and is available to answer any queries immediately.
A number of hosted virtual viewings can be carried out on one occasion, saving time for everyone involved. Agents can reduce their time on the road, costs for petrol and CO2 emissions. Vendors can waste less time tidying up for viewings that go nowhere; buyers can view at a time of their convenience and tenants often let on the strength of a virtual viewing alone.
MadeSnappy360 is a UK company providing virtual tours to some of the biggest names in the UK real estate market. It is easy to use, simply place your 360-degree camera in a room, push a button on your mobile phone and the virtual tour is captured and exported to your phone.
Back in the office, you can upload the photos to MadeSnappy’s website, add your branding, link the rooms together to make a tour and add the tour link to the property listing on your website.
Your VR Tours is an app that allows you to create videos for your virtual tour on your smartphone (available on Apple and Android). The tour is created and published directly from your phone, allowing users to view the tour whilist on site and re-take photos as necessary.
Tours are available instantly to post to your website.
Your VR Tours is now FREE (used to cost £80 each, or you could subscribe and publish up to 250 tours for £100 per month). Now is a great time to give this a go.
My360 can create interactive virtual tours with 360° panoramas, hotspots, and floor plans. They focus on ease of use and affordability so you can make virtual tours on a budget.In line with their aims, My 360 sports a simple drag-and-drop interface for tour creation, and even automatic tour generation from 360° photos.
You can use a mobile app to capture and edit tours on the go, and they offer some virtual staging options with basic furniture placement.
Price: There’s a free plan with limited features, but their estate agent package starts at £29 a month (but billed annually).
Kuula supports all panoramic images, whether you shoot with a 360-degree camera or use a DSLR. After uploading your property photos, you then proceed with creating a tour. You can add animated transitions or background audio, connect separate images, set the order and edit descriptions.
There is a free version, but you can’t add your branding or edit your tour. The professional version is $20 per month, and the business version $36 per month.
Tour Wizard software lets you upload panoramic photos and transform them into a virtual tour. The software is extremely user-friendly. Your virtual tour will be online in less than 15 minutes from the moment your images are uploaded and the order placed.
You can either pay per tour or choose one of their monthly packages, ranging from $29.98/month (Standard), $49.98/month (Premium), $59.98/month (Pro).
Capture 360-degree photos of the property using a Floorfy camera (or another compatible 360-degree camera) and upload them to your Floorfy account.
The software will generate a virtual tour that can be shared on your website, social media and property portals. Pay for an annual subscription and receive a free camera and two months for free. Monthly subscriptions are also available.
The tariffs vary according to how many active virtual tours you require and the number of agents using the software.
360 is another company that provides both the hardware and software required to create virtual tours. Their cameras are provided for free as part of the subscription package. With a Giraffe camera, you simply need to place the camera in a room, push a button, and the virtual tour is captured and exported for you.
There’s no need for any file formatting or file transfers. Prices are available on application and depend on the size of your business.
Use any 360 camera, DSLR, or mobile phone to capture panoramic photos. Upload them to EyeSpy360’s cloud platform and receive your product as a download within 24 hours.
EyeSpy360 offer a pay as you go option, priced at £1 per 360 image, minimum spend £15. (This is a one off cost)
Capture your images on your smartphone with iStaging’s smartphone capturing kit or use a compatible 360-degree camera. Customise your virtual tour with iStaging do-it-yourself VR Editor, then publish or embed the URL on your website or social networks. The property subscription starts at $5 per month.
Lapentor allows you to use any 360 degree camera to create a virtual tour, and then upload it to their app (usable on mobile or PC). They support self-hosting and an editable user interface without any coding involved. Their major selling point is that they are initially free to use, with the option to create 3 free projects each containing 20 panoramic tours before upgrading to premium.
They have one premium pricing option which begins at $25 (£20) per month which allows you to create unlimited tours and projects.
Cloud Pano is an accessible virtual reality software for real estate, because it allows you to capture 360 tours using their app via your mobile phone (or using a 360 degree camera).
They allow you to begin with 3 free virtual tours before having to pay, with the interesting option to purchase more tours on a case by case basis for 10$/£8 each.
However, full access to their Pro Plus Plan is a must if you are planning to create many virtual tours, with the price either being 33$/£27 per month (billed annually), or 49$/£40 per month (billed monthly).
Pano2VR lets you create interactive virtual tours with 360° panoramas, hotspots, multimedia, and VR support. It’s a very versatile piece of software that can work with simple 360 photos or multi-scene VR sequences. While on the more technical side of the market, its capabilities make it a useful tool for any letting and estate agent.
They offer customisable templates, integrated floor plans, analytics data for your VR videos, mobile-friendly viewing, and even VR headset compatibility.
Price: Varies depending upon the service or product you choose, but the current perpetual licence is €499 (excl. VAT). There is a subscription option at €30/month with Pano2VR 8 beta.
Nodalview offers the standard virtual tours, photography optimisation, and floor plans. However, they also help customers utilise their tours across different social media platforms, track leads and offer a lot of analytics data.
Pricing: prices start at approximately €39/month.
Virtual tours were once a nice-to-have media tool or reserved for luxury real estate, but now they are essential to estate agent businesses. Here are some of the ways virtual tour software can add value for real estate agents:
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