The Value of Home Tours When Selling Your Home

Most homebuyers begin their search online, browsing listings and viewing photos before deciding which homes they want to see in person. Virtual video home tours have become an essential tool for real estate agents and sellers to showcase properties effectively to prospective buyers. Investing in a compelling video walkthrough could be one of the best moves a home seller can make in marketing their property – read on to find out why.

The Advantages of Home Tours

Virtual video tours have become a must for any seller looking to effectively market their home. They provide numerous benefits that make them well worth the investment. For one, video tours allow buyers to view the home anytime from anywhere, expanding the accessibility and reach of your listing exponentially. They also provide buyers with a realistic experience of walking through and viewing the home. It’s much more engaging and informative than photos alone, and gives a better idea of layout and scale to help buyers make the right choice.

Video tours also enable you to highlight specific features and showcase the very best aspects of the home, like a gourmet kitchen or spa-like bathroom. They help buyers determine if it’s even worth taking the time to visit in person for a showing, which saves everyone from wasted time and frustration.

Most importantly, an exciting video tour can create enthusiasm and allow buyers to fall in love with your home before they even set foot inside. Investing in a compelling video tour with creative filming shots translates directly into wider exposure for your listing, and greater success finding a buyer.

Tips for Great Results

Hire a Professional

When investing in a video tour for your home listing, it pays dividends to hire a professional videographer to ensure the highest quality and most compelling final product. While it may be tempting to film it yourself on a smartphone, nothing can replace the skill of an experienced videographer. Look for someone who has extensive experience filming real estate and virtual tours specifically. They’ll have the right equipment and lenses to properly capture both wide shots of each room as well as key details like moldings and fixtures.

A true professional will know how to frame shots effectively and edit the footage to create a cohesive, visually pleasing walkthrough. They’ll use tricks like overlays, 3D effects, ambient sound, and music to enhance the viewing experience. Though hiring a pro costs more upfront, it translates into a showcase-worthy tour that accurately represents a home in the best possible light.

Don’t Neglect the Surroundings

Don’t limit your shots to just the interior of the home. After all, buying a property is as much about the surroundings as it is the home. Walk around the home to highlight features like a spacious backyard, patio area, pool, or landscaping that will help convey the size and style of the space.

Also take some time to film the streets and amenities around the home. This gives potential buyers a feel for the surrounding community and highlights nearby conveniences like parks, schools, and shopping, which are crucial to finding the right property for your needs and lifestyle.

Try to capture lifestyle elements like people out walking dogs, kids playing, or neighbors gardening, as this will help buyers visualize themselves living in the community. Well-filmed exterior shots complete the narrative and show buyers everything that’s great about their potential new home and location.

Enrich the Viewing Experience

When it comes to creating a video that converts, you should never underestimate the power of sound. It’s a key factor for creating an engaging and immersive virtual home tour. Incorporating ambient sound, music, and voiceovers can greatly enhance the experience for online viewers. You may even consider adding natural sounds like birds chirping or a crackling fireplace to make the property come alive.

Background music will also help set the right tone and keep your viewers interested. Choose upbeat songs and avoid anything too slow or somber that might give the wrong impression of the property. If your budget allows, having a professional narrator record a voiceover explaining the home's features helps buyers better understand what they are seeing.

Keep It Brief

When editing your home's video walkthrough, it's recommended to keep each room segment brief – aim for 30-45 seconds per room. This provides enough time to showcase the space while avoiding dragging on too long. Most real estate sites and platforms like YouTube have optimal video lengths for quality and engagement. Keeping segments around 2-3 minutes each allows you to capture the highlights and key features of each room efficiently.

You can move seamlessly from space to space, maintaining the viewer's attention throughout the tour. If certain rooms are larger or have important features you want to focus on, you can extend those clips slightly as needed. But aim to keep the complete tour digestible and easy for viewers to get a good sense of the property without needing to invest too much time. Remember, buyers have short attention spans when browsing listings online.

In today's digital-first real estate landscape, investing in a professional video tour is one of the smartest moves a home seller can make. Home shoppers viewing listings online have come to expect and rely on video tours as part of their decision-making process. As a seller or agent, your goal is to make those crucial first impressions count when buyers view your listing online. A creative, high-quality video tour allows you to control the narrative and showcase your home in its very best light.