How do you shop every day?

What are your expectations?

Is your phone now your one-stop research tool?

The world is changing so fast with buyers and sellers’ expectations changing every day. Technology is changing every minute and as every improvement becomes available, buyers’ expectations increase.

One thing is for sure – we all want everything NOW and we don’t want to wait. From how long we are happy to wait for an UBER to how long it's going to take that new online purchase to be delivered, we are more demanding and time-poor than ever. And guess what? - home buyers are no different.

One of the biggest technological implementations we have chosen to make in our business over the last year has been the implementation of 3D walkthroughs for all our homes. It was a big decision to make but the results are in and now we could never go back.

At DUET, one of our corporate goals is to always be adding more and more value to the buying experience, making it easier and smoother for a buyer to purchase a property. We know that when you do this, we get more people through homes, more energy around homes and far greater sale prices for the clients that we represent.

So what are 3D walkthroughs?

A 3D walkthrough is a virtual reality walkthrough of your entire home. It allows buyers to walk through your home as if they were there. They can look up, down and all around giving them a far better insight into the flow of the home, something static photos can never do.

How do you use a 3D walkthroughs?

The great thing about today’s technology is that it can be used on any device. Buyers can view the virtual-tour on their phones (which incidentally is how the majority of buyers are first going to see your property) or they can view the virtual tour on a laptop, or for those that are very familiar with the technology they can use their VR goggles for an immersive experience.

We include a link to every 3D walkthrough on all our signs and home open brochures allowing buyers to access the tour quickly and easily.

That sounds expensive!

Cost is always a factor and property marketing is always a hot topic of discussion for home sellers and their agents. However, 3D walkthroughs are one of the cheapest marketing tools we use and generally cost no more than $300. 5 years ago we would have paid over $2000 for the same service. When you compare that to the $500 per week home sellers used to pay for advertising in The West every Saturday is starting to look like very affordable.

What effect does a 3D walkthrough have on the sale of your home?

We have access to fabulous tracking tools that allow us to see how many people have viewed the 3D walkthroughs and the effect it has on the home sale. Overwhelmingly, we have seen that 3D walkthroughs can almost double the number of people that you get through your home. Correspondingly, it gets rid of a lot of time wasters as those people that have no interest in buying your home but would love to come through at the most inopportune time to have a sticky beak, now no longer need to waste anybody’s time because it’s all available online.

We have seen that over the last six months buyers have gone from thinking that 3D walkthroughs were a new and novel invention to now expecting them for every home. If you don’t have one, it’s the equivalent of putting your home online two years ago without any photos or any floor plans.

Why do buyers love them so much?

Answer to that is very simple if you think about how you like to shop for products online:
• It allows buyers to have a detailed look through online at a time that’s convenient for them.
• 3D walkthroughs allow buyers to measure spaces and rooms. You can measure up the fridge space, how big the bench space is.
• 30% of our buyers are coming from overseas and over east at the moment so the 3D walkthrough empowers them to pay for a plane ticket to come and view the property in person.
• The number of buyers that are now purchasing the home purely from the 3D walk-through without ever having visited the home is on the increase.
• High income earning buyers are often extremely time poor, having the 3D tours allows them to manage their home purchasing process online when they have the time available to them and they are not tied to the home open times.

A recent industry survey from our technology partner showed that both buyers and sellers are no longer satisfied with static photos and would overwhelmingly opt for a more immersive experience.

The first touchpoint in the buying journey is an online listing, where an immersive 3D tour can afford a property an impactful first impression. Nearly 80 per cent of all respondents would switch to a real estate agent offering immersive 3D tours of listed properties. The survey also revealed that “among all generations of home buyers, the first step taken in the home search process was to look online for properties,” often resulting in buyers eventually visiting the home that they viewed online.

Millennial and Gen Z respondents were overwhelmingly in favour of more immersive listings. For instance, 83 per cent of Millennials and 94 per cent of Gen Zs would switch to an agent offering these services. Millennials now make up the largest share of home buyers at 37 per cent and with younger generations coming of age as the primary buyers in the real estate market, it’s important to pay close attention to how they shop and buy homes.

In Summary

So, a lot has changed in technology, but not much has changed with people. We are always looking for the best, the fastest and most efficient way to get from A to B and this includes buying a home.

If you’re looking to sell a home in today's market, you need to be aware of who your target market is and how they are going to be shopping for a home and ultimately make their decision. Be very involved and aware in the marketing process and make sure that you are doing everything you can in conjunction with what your agent suggests to get sold.

What seems like a substantial $500 saving on marketing expenses upfront could end up being a very expensive mistake at the end of the day when you get your final sales price. Unfortunately, once you are sold and settled you can’t rewind the clock and do things properly so get them right from the start and have no regrets.