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For the past decades, technologies have emerged within real estate promising to change how buyers and sellers interact and transact. 3D tours enable brokerages to create 3D maps of a property that allow the buyer to explore the entire property before even booking a meeting. Although using a 3D tour seems fun and looks cool, what is the ROI for brokerages that choose to invest in 3D tours to sell their properties? In this post, we will explore the data behind 3D tours and their impact on actually selling a property and bringing value to brokerages.

3D tours help you recruit and retain agents

One of the foremost ways 3D tours bring value to brokerages is they aid with recruiting and retaining agents. With Asteroom, brokerages have different ways to offer 3D tours for their agents. This includes DIY 3D tours, using Asteroom-certified photographers and more. The flexibility provided by Asteroom in how 3D tours are done allows agents to use 3D tours based on their own needs.

In addition to this, Asteroom has customized programs to help brokerages with their recruiting and retention needs. With Asteroom, you can identify pain points in your retention and recruiting strategy and see how you can use 3D tours to assist agents.

To help retain and recruit agents, Asteroom can work with brokerages to come up with customized pricing and promotional strategies for 3D tours to incentivize individual agents to join and retain within the brokerages. 3D tours can help agents be more productive and end up winning more businesses from the other agents at 100% brokerages.

3D tours sell properties faster & at higher prices

The numbers behind 3D tours’ impact on selling properties are clear. According to Zillow, studies have shown that 3D tours sell properties 10% faster. Academic analysis of multiple listing service (MLS) transaction data showed properties spend up to 31% fewer days on the market when they have a 3D tour on a listing. Since a variety of factors go into how fast a property sold, the studies kept the other variables constant to highlight the true impact of a 3D tour on a listing. The research from this study concluded that the impact of 3D tours on listings cannot be denied. There is a visible lift in how fast a property sells with the use of 3D tours.

In addition to selling properties faster, 3D tours also helped sell properties at higher prices. Other studies concluded by Matterport found that 3D tours can sell a property up to 9% higher than a similar property without a 3D tour [Source]. This is because 3D tours bring qualified leads to agents and brokers. This creates demand for a property and can start bidding wars that result in a higher final selling price.

3D tours provide agents with a competitive advantage

Any competitive advantage given to agents can help them get more leads, more listing appointments and ultimately more sales. Traditional brokerages have been losing agents to 100% brokerages over a period of time. Since traditional brokerages require agents to pay more, the only way to keep agents is to provide value that 100% brokerages cannot provide. The addition of 3D tours is an important value-add for agents. 3D tours are a cost-effective way to help agents succeed and it makes it more difficult for them to leave traditional brokerages. With the use of 3D tours, brokerages can provide their agents with a tangible edge over competing agents while retaining their talent.

Re-evaluating your marketing efforts

In today’s digital economy, brokerages need to really evaluate what their marketing efforts are and the tangible benefits they bring to agents. Some key questions that brokerages should ask include:

• Are you really maximizing your marketing spend?
• Are expenditures like making flyers, postcards, food and drinks for open houses benefiting the bottom line?

The answers to these questions will indicate if these extraneous spending brings value to agents or customers. Asteroom can help brokerages manage their marketing better by re-evaluating marketing endeavors and helping redirect efforts into developing agent’s toolboxes and skillsets. This will help agents win more listings by equipping them with the latest technology and understanding of how to properly leverage it to win listings. The capital spent on these activities can be redirected in bringing more value to agents to improve both recruiting and retention efforts.

The business case for using 3D tours is clear through the numerous studies done and the number of agents who are selling properties faster and at higher prices. The accessibility and ease of use of 3D tours provide significant value to both the buyer and the seller. To learn how you can get your first 3D tour of your property, talk to one of our experts here.