Creating Virtual Tours, Secrets to Success

Posted on February 22, 2011 by admin

In the world of real estate, it is a balancing act between selling and marketing, which most of the time leaves little time for the selling because the real estate agent is doing all the marketing!

A real estate agent needs an inside support team to handle the day to day marketing tasks such as updating listing websites, preparing listings, laying out listing brochures, ordering virtual tours, etc. or the agent needs to look to vendors to alleviate the marketing demands of the real estate business.

When looking for vendors to handle the real estate marketing demands of your business, choose a vendor that offers one stop shopping. One stop shopping should include creating virtual tours, graphic design and website design. This keeps things simple, one vendor means one person to call with questions, one person to work with and share ideas.

We recommend Virtual Tour Mania for your marketing and creating virtual tours. They offer one stop shopping and every virtual tour comes with a listing website. Other services include listing brochure design, YouTube marketing, Craigslist Marketing, and Realtor.com Marketing.

Here is the problem, if a real estate agent is stuck at a desk conducting all the marketing then they sure aren’t in the field working leads and doing what they do best and that is selling.

Learn more at http://www.virtualtourmania.com

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What is a Virtual Tour? Virtual Tours Explained

Posted on February 11, 2011 by admin

A virtual tour is an online video presentation of a particular location that allows the viewer to virtually tour the location through the use of photos, enhanced imagery, interactive tools and more.

A virtual tour is an perfect marketing tool to showcase real estate property, hotels, universities, golf courses, museums, banquet halls and more. A virtual tour eliminates distance and the obstacles associated with distance by allowing a person anywhere in the world with an internet connection a bird’s eye view into your showcased location. In other words, you open the doors of your property to the entire world and eliminate the barriers associated with travel.

Real estate agents are frequent users of virtual tours. Virtual tours help real estate agents sell property faster because buyers become, “sold” online when viewing the virtual tour. Once the tour is viewed, many buyers will have built up anticipation to see the property and in many cases will make their decision much faster. The virtual tour is the catalyst that motivates many buyers to reach out to the selling agent and schedule a showing.

There are two types of virtual tours and they are custom virtual tours and semi-custom virtual tours.

A custom virtual tour is when every aspect of building a virtual tour is done for the client. This includes working with a professional photographer employed by a virtual tour company that will capture the beauty of your location. Pricing for a custom virtual tour can range from $200-$2000 depending on the size of the location, number of photographs, deadlines, etc.

A semi-custom virtual tour is when the client’s photos are used in the construction of the virtual tour. This is a less expensive option and has the same bells and whistles of a custom virtual tour except that the client’s photos are used. Some companies will edit and enhance those photos for color, clarity and sharpness and use the enhanced photos in the building of the virtual tour. Pricing for a semi-custom virtual tour start at around $55.

Virtual Tours are a must if you want to showcase your home, hotel, banquet hall, museum, etc to the world. They break down the walls of a brick and mortar location and all the viewer to freely roam the confines of your establishment without leaving their home! Use a virtual tour anytime you want to showcase a property.

For more information about virtual tours visit http://www.virtualtourmania.com

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Real Estate Marketing, a Virtual Tour you can Afford

Posted on January 28, 2011 by admin

The recent downturn in the real estate market has forced real estate agents to re-think their marketing plans. Gone are the days where agents can afford to pay one to two hundred dollars on marketing, including virtual tours.

Many homes for sale during this downturn are so under priced the many agents are passing on ordering a virtual tour for the home and instead choosing to do the basics, which amounts to maybe a brochure.

The attitude is most homes are short sales or foreclosures and to spend money on virtual tours to market these properties seems futile.  However, a study conducted by Virtual Tour Mania shows that short sales and foreclosures sell 52% faster than those without a virtual tour when it comes to this type of sale.

The virtual tour study was conducted over a one-year period from January 2010 to January 2011. During this time real estate agents and banks who bought an Easy Virtual Tour package through the company averaged less than 60 days on the market versus properties without a virtual tour who averaged over 365 days or more on the market.

“The results were stunning,” says Joseph Sanchez, president and founder of Virtual Tour Mania, a full service virtual tour company headquartered in Chicago and serving the entire United States. “The results of this study really emphasize the importance of marketing even during the tough times. If you are the 20% or so of agents who do spend on marketing, you are ahead of 80% of the rest,” he said.

Sanchez is a pioneer in the virtual tour industry. Started back in 2006, Virtual Tour Mania rode the wave of quick sales a result of the hot real estate market that tripled their business in just one year. However, when the downturn occurred in the housing market, Sanchez discovered the need for a less expensive virtual tour option or what he calls a semi-custom virtual tour option known as an Easy Virtual Tour.

The concept is simple, the agent shoots the photos, which typically occurs anyways when launching a listing and then the agent uploads them to Virtual Tour Mania’s website. Once photos are received by Virtual Tour Mania, edits and enhances them using a powerful photo editing program called Photoshop®. The final photos are then used to build the virtual tour complete with a listing webstie for the agent, access to visitor statistics great for showing the client, free upload to realtor.com, upload to YouTube, tour buttons that link to flyers, maps, other listings, etc and every virtual tour matches the company/agent brand.

The cost for an Easy Virtual Tour is only $55 for everything mentioned above. To learn more about an Easy Virtual Tour visit http://virtualtourmania.com/easyvirtualtour.html or phone 815-342-6622.

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Virtual Tours, a less expensive option

Posted on January 20, 2011 by admin

A new and less expensive virtual tour option is now available from Virtual Tour Mania that is perfect for short sales, foreclosures and median priced homes called Easy Virtual Tour.

Easy Virtual Tour was created to give real estate agents access to all the tools and beauty of a virtual tour but with a twist. The way an Easy Virtual Tour works is the agent shoots the photos and then uploads them to Virtual Tour Mania’s website. Once photos are received, they are professionally edited and enhanced for color, clarity and sharpness. The newly enhanced photos are then used in the virtual tour complete with music, links to maps, your website, contact info, property info and more. Once tour is complete, it is uploaded to realtor.com, the MLS and for an additional fee uploaded to YouTube.

An Easy Virtual Tour is priced at only $55 and includes up to 15 property photos, a free agent website containing all your tours, a branded company header, branded and unbranded links, all of the enhanced photos are returned by email to the agent for use in their marketing and free uploading to Realtor.com.

“Many agents are not aware that there is a less expensive alternative to custom virtual tours,” says Joseph Sanchez, president and founder of Virtual Tour Mania. “We realized there was a demand for a less expensive option that didn’t eliminate the most popular features of a virtual tour that everybody enjoys so we came up with the Easy Virtual Tour,” he said.

Hundreds of real estate agents have used Easy Virtual Tour since its inception over a year ago. With the downturn in the housing market, agents need to watch their marketing dollar and for only $55 not only do you get a professional virtual tour but you also get your photos enhanced by Virtual Tour Mania’s graphic designers to use in any marketing piece.

Virtual Tour Mania is a full-service virtual tour company serving the entire United States. For more information visit their website at http://virtualtourmania.com/easyvirtualtour.html.

Easy Virtual Tour Example1

Easy Virtual Tour Example 2

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Virtual Tour Options, Custom vs. Semi-Custom

Posted on January 19, 2011 by admin

Virtual Tours are a must for real estate agents if they want to sell a property quickly. They provide a 360 degree view into the home 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on the internet for the world to see.

When you are shopping for a virtual tour provider, keep in mind the types of virtual tour options that consist of custom virtual tours or semi-custom virtual tours.

Custom Virtual Tours are prefect to showcase that  exceptional property priced $300,000 or higher. When you order a custom virtual tour a photographer comes to the property and shoot all the photos. After the photoshoot, the virtual tour company will construct panoramas that when uploaded to the virtual tour viewer, will give the feeling that the room is rotating or revolving around the viewer. A custom virtual tour will use still shots combined with 360 panorama photos set to music with plenty of links to your website, maps, and other pertinent property information. Links to realtor.com and YouTube are available as well.

A semi-custom virtual tour is the less expensive option and great for short-sales, foreclosures and homes priced in the median range. Every home for sale should have a semi-custom virtual tour to attract not only local buyers but out-of-state buyers as well. When you purchase a semi-custom virtual tour, you are responsible for shooting the photos and the virtual tour provider is responsible for editing the photos for color, clarity and sharpness and then programs the virtual tour using the enhanced photos. Just like a custom virtual tour, the semi-custom tour is set to music with plenty of links to your website, maps and other pertinent property information. Links to realtor.com and YouTube are available as well.

View the differences below:
Custom Virtual Tour Example
Semi-Custom Virtual Tour Example

What ever you virtual tour option you choose for the your next property just remember if a picture says a thousand words then a virtual tour says a million!

For more information about purchasing a custom or semi-custom virtual tour visit http://www.virtualtourmania.com

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Virtual Tour Options, Save using Easy Virtual Tour

Posted on January 13, 2011 by admin

Virtual Tour Mania is pleased to announce their Easy Virtual Tour service that now allows real estate agents an inexpensive solution to help solve their virtual tour needs.

The way Easy Virtual Tour works is the real estate agent shoots the photos and uploads them to Virtual Tour Mania through their website www.virtualtourmania.com. Once photos are received, they are edited and enhanced for color, clarity and sharpness and used to build the virtual tour complete with special effects, music, contact info, maps, etc. Once the virtual tour is constructed, the enhanced and edited photos are emailed back to the real estate agent so they can use in their marketing literature projecting quality imagery.

The Easy Virtual Tour is perfect for short-sales and foreclosures but also for traditional sales for those real estate agents on a budget. Easy Virtual Tours provide a professionally built and visually appealing virtual tour and the added bonus of having professionally edited photos to use in your marketing campaigns for one low price of only $55.

Turnaround time on an Easy Virtual Tour is only 24 hours and is added to realtor.com with no extra costs as long as the agent is a member. If the agent is not a member, realtor.com charges $10 but Virtual Tour Mania does not mark up the price and simply extends that price option to you.

Real estate agents, who use Virtual Tour Mania services, whether needing a Custom Virtual Tour or an Easy Virtual Tour, each receive a complimentary branded listing website to use to enhance your marketing image. This website is available to you with no extra costs and just an added benefit of using our services.

Virtual Tour Mania is located in Ill., and has provided real estate virtual tours for agents across the country since 2007. They have served over 500 clients and are considered a valued resource by many brokerages across the country.

For more information about Virtual Tour Mania and their virtual tour services, please visit www.virtualtourmania.com on the Internet of phone 815-342-6622 today!

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