MANSFIELD – Local home sellers and buyers can take advantage of the newest market technology through Haring Realty’s addition of 3D home tours.
Using a 3D camera, realtors are able to photograph an entire home layout and allow buyers to take a tour of a home from the comfort of their own homes. Peter Haring, president and broker at Haring Realty, called the new technology a “game changer.”
“It’s more efficient for buyers and sellers to start home shopping, they’re going to get a real sense of the property before they visit them,” Haring said. “I think it’s important to offer the best possible experience to our customers, and this is one way of doing that.”
For an example of a 3D tour, click this link to tour a home located at 1902 W. Cook Road in Mansfield.
The 3D camera was introduced at Haring Realty in 2015 as part of a revamping of the business, including a new website rolling out in the near future. The 3D tours are slowly being integrated into more and more listings, with the goal being to offer 3D tours in the majority of listings by this summer.
“We think a picture is worth a thousand words, and the reason we’ve always had professional photography done is statistically the homes sell faster and for more money on average with a complete set of photos,” Peter Haring said. “We see this as photography on steroids.”
Haring explained how the 3D camera works by taking eight separate photographs simultaneously, rotating six times for a combined 48 photographs at each strategic point throughout the house. In post production, the photographs are stitched together to provide a 3D, 360-degree view of the entire home layout.
“For most people a good analogy would be to think of it as a Google street view through the inside of your home,” Haring said. “The camera is looking with at least two ‘eyes’ and it’s able to sense depth; we can actually take measurements using the software after we upload the photos.”
From a buyer’s standpoint, customers will be able to get a sense of a home’s space and how it will function for them before seeing the home in person. Haring noted by virtually walking through the home, buyers could possibly eliminate the need to visit homes they can predetermine won’t be a good fit.
“Buyers will often look at a home two or three times before making a purchase decision, a lot of times because they’re trying to recall some details about the home,” Haring said. “Doing this might save them the time of going back through the home, and it will save the sellers time preparing their home for buyers to come through again.”
The technology is also particularly valuable for relocating buyers, who now have the opportunity to tour the homes long-distance and therefore make the most of their visits to town.
Haring said every time he has shown the 3D tours to customers, they’re completely blown away. As the only realtor in the area offering 3D tours, he sees it as just another step in improving customer experiences.
“The first time we saw floor plan tours we thought it would be a point of difference our customers would appreciate, and simply having digital photography was a game changer,” Haring said. “With 3D walk through tours we’re conveying a message and a story about that home effectively to buyers.
“Technology has always changed,” he added. “I don’t think this is the beginning, but I think this is an evolution.”
