Best of times or worst of times?
Judging by the traffic on this forum. It must be a terrible time for
real estate vr tour providers? Or they are all very very busy....
Anyone have some words about "market" situations" and how they affect VR providers?
I know it's ugly out there...but I saw on CNBC that data about houses, (Zillow, etc) remains
very popular. What about visuals?
Over the summer, I saw lots of people walking down the street in my area taking a single still shot
of each house from across the street.
Re: Best of times or worst of times?
I am a contract real estate photographer in my area and have been for about a year and a half. Last fall was busy but this fall it was dead, however, my schedule since the first of the year is as busy as it would be in April. I may not be the best person to talk to about this because I live in Michigan where the market is probably the lowest nation-wide but the best way to describe it is inconsistent. I expect this spring to be good but as for the rest of the year, it's hard to tell.
I do agree with Doug, when it's harder to sell a house the agents will market more, for the most part. When houses were selling in 30-60 days they didn't bother marketing.
What I am beginning to see here is that agents are starting to market less expensive homes, more. It used to be that they only used tours and professional photography if the house was expensive but I am just as likely to do a tour in a $100,000 home as I would in a $1,000,000 home. I think they are beginning to see that everyone is shopping for homes online even the lower middle class and those are the homes that are selling, not the expensive ones.
Should be an interesting year.
Anne
Re: Best of times or worst of times?
Hi All,
I have been doing Real Estate tours for the past 5 Years and each year have seen an increase in business, like Anne said when the market is bad Realtors who may not usually market may go for the Virtual Tour as a "Last Ditch effort" to sell a home. I really believe it is a matter of educating the realtors on the benefits of virtual tours more than anything else though. Our "Real Estate Book" (A color publication of Homes for sale) has been struggling and even let thier photog go last year...Print advertising is becoming a smaller and smaller part of the equation. Talking to another IVRPA member from France ...he said the market is hot over there with Homes selling quickly and he is seeing very brisk business. Its all in how you sell it I think !
Dennis M. Carbo
Re: Best of times or worst of times?
Michael
Is 180° the other way around.
When the market is good, like it has been for the last few years, Realtors tend to spend less on advertising, including Virtual Tours and Photography.
When the market slows, they spend more on marketing & advertising.
I did 97 virtual tours in 2006 and 127 in 2007.
I raised my prices January 1st for my higher quality still photography and virtual tours and am booked all this week and already most of next.
And I'm getting calls from people who haven't had me do work for them in years.
Douglas Aurand
Albuquerque, NM