Using 360 Video in Real Estate
Virtual reality and 360 video are tools that are becoming increasingly available to real estate agents, which has many asking if this kind of technology is going to revolutionize the industry.
New Tech Offers Time-Saving Benefits
As an ex Real Estate Agent, you’re always crunched for time. The more clients you have, the more potential sales you have. But your clients have to be shown houses—sometimes a lot of them—and that takes time. That’s where VR and 360 video come in.
360° Video Tours on RealEstate.com.au
360° Video Tours via Facebook App
360° Video Tours via SMS RealEstate.com.au App
Every seasoned Real Estate Agent has had this happen to them: you and your client(s) drive a long way to see a house. Upon exiting the vehicle, the potential buyers take one look at the house and they instantly hate it. You just wasted so much travel time that could have been spent driving to a house they would actually like and perhaps want to buy. VR and 360 video give you a way to “show” the house without leaving the office; clients can do a virtual walkthrough to get a thorough understanding of how the house is designed and what it’s like to actually be inside of it—without having to drive there. If they’re still interested after the virtual tour, then you all can take a trip to see the house in person.
Allows for detail that can’t be shown by normal pictures
It’s quite difficult to convey space and depth by just using regular pictures, and it’s difficult to get a feel for how the house flows in regards to design without actually walking through the house. Those are problems that VR and 360 video solve.
Easier for homeowners
Trying to sell a house means ensuring that it is constantly kept in a state of near-perfection; you don’t always get a warning for when someone wants to come and check out the property, and there’s often not enough time to do a quick clean-up. VR and 360 video alleviates some of this pressure because the images used for both are only taken once, when the house is looking its best. Of course, when someone decides that they want to see the house in person, it’ll have to be made presentable, but this gives you some time to do, and it’ll only be for those serious about a potential purchase.
Great for out-of-state and international buyers
Let’s say you’re a real estate agent in Melbourne, home of fashion and the tastiest food you’ll ever eat. An individual in New South Wales, Darwin,Perth India or China, or in the desolate areas of America is looking to make a move to Melbourne, but it’s not exactly feasible for them to make continual trips to see houses. VR and 360 video allow clients to see houses and get a fairly accurate impression of them, even if they are states or continents away.
The Costs
There are also time and financial costs associated with using these types of tools. Yes, VR and 360 video are both time-savers and time-takers. In deciding whether or not you’re going to use VR and 360 videos, you have to do a cost-benefit analysis.
Obviously, it takes time to set up a VR tour and/or 360 video. It’s not feasible to do it for every house on the market. And the editing of this videos are really complicated.
Luckily, 360 video is becoming more ubiquitous and more widely-supported. YouTube and Facebook supports 360 video, for example, and they are viewable on mobile and tablet devices.
And the difference between Virtual Tours and a 360 Video it is that you can use it for every house, not only the for high-end, expensive (and expansive) homes with high-dollar buyers.
COMPATIBLE ON UPDATED WEB BROWSERS, TABLET AND MOBILE DEVICES
Give clients a preview of the house
Finally, my own opinion...
''I can remember a year ago when I saw the first 360 video. My reaction was that it was a solution looking for a problem. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would use 360 video.
There have been some developments since then that have caught my attention:
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In the beginning of 2015 YouTube started supporting 360 video. You can look at 360 video on anything that plays YouTube videos but on mobile devices moving the device around changes the direction you are looking in the 360 video. This makes 360 video on smartphones and tablets very interesting. Facebook started this year as well (2016).
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This month the New York times started publishing 360 video in there to their digital subscribers. This means this technology is quickly moving into mainstream use. It’s not just techies that are going to be using it. I showed a 6-year-old how to do it on her iPad and she liked it!
So what does all this have to do with real estate? These recent developments mean you can shoot 360 video of a listing, upload it to YouTube,and then viewers that watch it on mobile devices can have a pretty compelling viewing experience, that I think, is a better viewing experience than the provided by ordinary spherical 360s.
I found this Real Estate Agent in America (USA) taking a different approach, more natural, not for everybody ( I do understand that), but it is another example of what we can do together If it interests you...
Try it out, CLICK ON THIS SENTENCE ---> This YouTube video is a 360 video of Siu Ta giving a tour of the neighborhood and one of her listings in the Toronto Riverdale neighborhood. Watch the video on your mobile device (smartphone or tablet) and then rotate in different directions and the video automatically rotates with your body movement up, down left or right. You can also move the video around on a laptop or desktop screen by dragging the mouse in the direction you want to move.
OK, I’m sure you can find faults with Siu Ta’s video but the 360 video cameras were just barely on the market at that point. The quality will only get better, although our equipment is better and films in 4K quality(maximun quality these days). Please be aware that YouTube and Facebook compress the Videos to a lower Quality... still... with our equipment it will be in very good quality in my opinion.
I think that even though, this technology, may not be fully refined, it won’t be long before 360 video will be able to replace the 360 spherical images with this more compelling, lower-cost alternative that takes less time to create.
I don’t expect this to replace the beautiful cinematic style property videos that we produce but It is a different medium. It’s a cross between traditional 360 Images, 360 Videos and traditional HD Video.''
Kerry Recchia