Infoimaging technologies create "virtual tours" in real estate

Key take-away:

Virtual Tours help increase exposure of sellers' properties, using panoramic digital scenes to help "show" a home online. This essentially increases the liquidity of the market. Buyers benefit from better visual information, such as interactive viewing that simulates an open house. Prospective sellers and buyers save time and hassle. RE/MAX is at the leading edge of using this blend of imaging-and-information technology.

The real estate industry relies on constantly changing data to provide potential buyers with the information they need to find, select and purchase properties. Multiple Listing Services provide real estate sales agents with information about properties listed by other agents in their area. Until the late 1990s, this dynamic database was compiled weekly and printed out with black-and-white photographs of properties. Prospective buyers would rely on agents for details currently available properties, or would browse the MLS book.

The Internet has become the most important source for consumer home searches, with the Internet overtaking newspapers as the primary media resource for consumer home searches. The advent of affordable digital cameras speeded up the process of posting pictures of available properties online.

Virtual tours are created by assembling photos of a room to let the viewer scan the room panoramically or from top to bottom. Virtual tours can be posted on a Web site as easily as a conventional still photograph and can be viewed through a dial-up or broadband Internet connections.

The key benefit of Virtual Tours is increased exposure of sellers' properties, essentially increasing the liquidity of the market. Buyers benefit from better visual information, such as interactive viewing that simulates an open house. Both the sell and buy sides of the transaction save time and hassle.

Today, only 15 percent to 20 percent of RE/MAX listings now feature virtual tours, but the market appears poised for substantial growth.

Download the full IDC case study on RE/MAX's experience with virtual tours. Adobe Acrobat Reader required.

Bruce Benham, chief technology officer of RE/MAX, explains how virtual tours help sell more real estate. Listen to this 60-second infomercial. (.mp3 format)