How to Create a Virtual Tour that Sells Your Home

Guest Author:  Samantha Green 

In an increasingly digital world, the way we sell homes is transforming. Creating a virtual tour that sells your home is no longer a futuristic concept but an essential part of real estate marketing. This powerful tool can be the difference between a "for sale" sign and a "sold" sign on your lawn. So how can you make the most out of it? We asked our friends from a renowned Texas real estate blog, and here's everything you need to know about how to create a virtual tour that sells your home.

Setting the Scene for Success

We live in an era where first impressions often happen online. With the significance of home staging and virtual tours growing exponentially, potential buyers are now looking for immersive experiences that allow them to visualize living in a space before even setting foot in it. 

Technology, especially VR, has revolutionized the real estate market

But creating a compelling tour goes beyond just clicking photos; it involves art, technology, and a human touch. If needed, get help from professionals like statetostatemove.com, and they can move things you don’t want visible out of the house for you. You can also keep your belongings safe in storage until you move to a new place. Without further ado, here are seven essential tips on how to create a virtual tour that sells your home and leaves an unforgettable impression. 

Tip 1: Understand Your Audience

Understanding your target audience is vital for crafting a virtual tour that resonates with potential buyers. What do they seek in a home? If targeting families, showcase the spacious living areas and child-friendly spaces. For young professionals, emphasize modern design and proximity to city amenities.

Assess your local market, gather feedback, and even conduct surveys to identify the specific needs of your audience. By aligning your tour with the tastes and desires of potential buyers, you will evoke emotions and make it easier for viewers to envision themselves in the property.

Tip 2: Use High-Quality Equipment

Investing in high-quality equipment is paramount to creating a successful virtual tour. A good camera, proper lighting, stabilization equipment, and professional editing software can transform your tour. Consider hiring a professional photographer specializing in real estate.

You should try to use quality cameras for the best results. If you opt for DIY, invest a bit of time in researching photography skills and techniques. High-definition images, smooth transitions, and meticulous attention to detail make a virtual tour not just a visual treat but an immersive experience.

Tip 3: Highlight Local Perks

If your property is in a sought-after location, such as Houston, Texas, it's essential to emphasize the perks of living in your area. Detail the lifestyle, weather, cultural attractions, and thriving community buyers will be part of when relocating to the Lone Star State.

Do you have excellent schools nearby? Are there beautiful parks, shopping centers, or entertainment venues? Highlight those aspects, and make sure to connect them with the specific features of your home, painting a comprehensive picture of what life would be like in the new space.

Tip 4: Stage Your Home Virtually

Virtual staging is a powerful way to enhance your property's appeal. Use digital tools to add furniture, decor, and even ambient lighting after you free the space of clutter. Declutter your home before the move, then consider hiring virtual staging services to present different styles fitting your home's architecture and audience. 

By staging your property, you can create a virtual tour that sells your home by appealing to various buyer personas.

Present the space as a fully furnished and lively home, offering various possibilities such as a cozy reading nook or an efficient home office. This type of staging bridges the gap between empty space and a potential dream home.

Tip 5: Add Interactive Features

A virtual tour is not just about visual impressions; it's about creating an experience. By providing interactive features such as clickable buttons, information pop-ups, videos, or 360-degree views, you allow potential buyers to engage with the property actively. Consider adding floor plans or incorporating before-and-after staging visuals.

Think of the interactive elements as a way for viewers to explore, discover, and connect with the property at their own pace. The more interactive your tour is, the more personalized and engaging it becomes, turning a mere viewing into an interactive exploration.

Tip 6: Ensure Mobile Optimization

In the age of smartphones, your tour must be optimized for mobile viewing. This goes beyond simply scaling down for smaller screens. It means ensuring that all interactive features, images, and navigation elements work seamlessly across various devices.

Therefore, collaborate with web developers or use platforms designed to be adaptable to mobile viewing. Test the tour across different devices to ensure the viewing experience is uniform and smooth. A glitch or awkward navigation on a mobile platform can detract from the virtual tour's effectiveness, so investing time in this aspect can have a significant impact on its success.

Tip 7: Share on the Right Platforms

Promoting your virtual tour across the right platforms ensures it reaches the target audience. Utilize real estate platforms, social media, email marketing, and community forums. Collaborate with local real estate agents and networks of potential buyers. 

Choosing the right platforms to promote your home is crucial in reaching the target audience 

Monitor the performance across different platforms, adjust as needed, and ensure your virtual tour is visible to those actively looking. Sharing testimonials or including links to detailed property descriptions can further enhance credibility and provide comprehensive information.

Turning the Key: Unlocking Your Home's Potential

The digital age brings new opportunities to showcase your property in ways that were unimaginable a few years ago. By following these tips, you'll create a virtual tour that sells your home and engage potential buyers on a deeper level. Start exploring open house strategies that work, and remember, a well-crafted tour is more than a marketing tool; it's an invitation to a new beginning. So, make sure to make the most of the technological wonders and make your home truly stand out on the market!

Author’s bio:

With over a decade of experience in real estate marketing, Samantha Green has become a leading voice in virtual home staging and online property promotion. Combining her passion for technology with a keen understanding of market trends, she offers innovative solutions to homeowners and real estate professionals. Her articles and insights have been featured in numerous industry publications, providing valuable guidance on utilizing modern tools to enhance property sales. Samantha's hands-on approach keeps her at the forefront of the ever-evolving real estate landscape.

Photos used:

https://www.pexels.com/photo/wood-fashion-people-woman-8730031/

https://www.pexels.com/photo/fashion-man-love-people-8730022/

https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-using-a-laptop-5198239/

https://www.pexels.com/photo/cute-little-ethnic-girl-embracing-working-mother-4474036/

How to Stage Your Texas Home for a Quick Sale

Our Guest Author today:  Molly Stinson 

Those that have a home to sell in Texas are in luck. The Lone Star State is a popular destination for settling in and starting a new life. For instance, no income tax, lower property prices, and many job opportunities are just some reasons for it. Other, less financial reasons include warm year-round weather and a great education system. On the other hand, the real estate market in Texas is pretty competitive, and standing out in some way is necessary to secure a successful sale. The statistics show that home staging increases the chances of a property selling faster and at a better price. Here’s how you can stage your Texas home for a quick sale.

To properly stage your Texas home, declutter and clean it first

Even if you design your home’s interior perfectly, it will all be in vain if there is dirt around. Cleaning is a must before you even start. And when we say cleaning, we mean deep, detailed cleaning that will prepare your home for staging and sale. Also, clutter ruins your home’s charm as it hides its beauty. So, before diving deeper into staging, you must rid your house of the dirt and everything else that no one needs.

If you stage your Texas home, clean and declutter it first.

Don’t make it personal

The word “staging” is self-explanatory – it means setting up a stage. And, as you know, the stage is an imitation of reality. That is what you should do at home when staging it. But the reality you are imitating here should not be yours. It should be an imaginary reality your guests could be living in. So, in order not to ruin this illusion, remove most of your deeply personal belongings. Those are family photos, memorabilia, items of clothing lying around, collections of keys, or anything similar. You might find this heartbreaking since you are already emotional because you are leaving your family home. But be strong and understand that the home is where the family is, and yours will make the next house as warm a home as this one you are leaving.

Choose more neutral color schemes

The idea is to have the potential buyers feel comfortable in the house you are selling. Also, you want the largest percentage of people interested in buying a house like yours to like it a lot. The research has shown that home décors in neutral colors are the most popular. That kind of statistic is what should guide you through this process. You want the house you are selling to be suitable for almost everyone, and you can expect to sell it fast.

The outside of your house matters as well

Buyers are not just looking at the inside of a house. They care about the outside too. That means you need to pay attention to your yard as well. Ensure you prepare your yard for sale by removing all the junk from it, manicuring the lawn, and taking care of the growing greenery there. Also, in Texas, the outdoor space of a certain house needs to have a sort of entertainment area. There are so many beautiful warm nights spent in the company of your friends and loved ones in your beautiful backyard. 

Make the storage space seem ample

Do you know how you always lack space for clothes or kitchen utensils? Well, everyone does. So naturally, if you make people think your home has a lot of storage space, they will fall in love with it a bit more. And here’s a little trick to achieve that. Empty the wardrobes, drawers, and shelves, but not fully. Make them half full. That will give the impression that there’s such an abundance of space in your house that it just couldn’t be filled.

Make it seem like your home has loads of storage space; make the wardrobes and other areas for storage half empty.

Give the bathroom a hotel vibe

Psychology says that when you continuously feel something about a place, an item, or a person, eventually, you start associating that place, item, or person with that feeling. People usually stay in hotels when on vacation. We associate them with relaxation, happiness, comfort, and rest. Hotel bathrooms have pampering details like fluffy white towels, and someone always switches for clean ones and luxurious little toiletries we love sampling. It is straightforward to introduce that hotel vibe in your bathroom. 

So, when you stage your Texas home, think of this idea. Remember, hotel bathrooms do not contain cleaning products and tools. Therefore, don’t forget to remove the mop and associated items from your bath. Your home won’t need them anymore once you don’t live in them while staging it. That is one of those cheap-to-execute and highly practical ideas you would be crazy not to try.

Give your bathroom a hotel vibe that evokes pleasant feelings in people. 

Hire a pro to give you a (skillful) hand

Finally, as easy as all this may seem, there’s a good chance you will make some mistakes. Unless you are skilled in interior design, consider hiring an expert. All aspects of selling your home are very complex, and the whole generation of professionals have devoted their careers to guiding people through various stages of the home sale. Just as getting a real estate agent to work with you can almost guarantee that you won’t make any mistakes in the activities that have to do with real estate, a staging expert would make your home capable of impressing whoever walks through its front door and possibly even sooner. 

Conclusion

It is clear that when you stage your Texas home, the chances of scoring a quick sale increase manifold. Just always bear in mind that this home needs to look somewhere between a place no one lives and a place that is a home of a very busy but tidy and tasteful person. And if you read all this and still feel like it’s all too complicated, hiring a professional to do it for you would be a smart choice. In any case, staging will get your home to stand out in the fierce real estate market of Texas, which is crucial for finding success with your project.

Author’s Bio

Molly Stinson is an experienced interior designer that specializes in staging homes for sale. She is always looking for new ways to balance impeccable design and reasonable investment in it. She also writes blogs advising people related to her area of expertise. 

Photos used:

https://www.pexels.com/photo/sofa-and-chairs-in-a-living-room-5178066/ 

https://www.pexels.com/photo/cleaning-materials-on-white-surface-4440525/

https://www.pexels.com/photo/organized-white-wooden-closet-5705478/ 

https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-mirrors-in-bathroom-2507016/ 

How to Part with Your Family Home

 Our Guest Author Today:  Sarah Richardson

Regardless of whether you decided to downsize or you’re simply moving to another city or a country for whatever reason, parting with your old family home can be bittersweet and a true emotional rollercoaster. It’s never easy to leave your family home behind because it always feels like you’re leaving a part of yourself with it. But if that has to be done, then there’s no other way but to learn to cope with it. We’ve prepared a few tips on how to part with your family home without breaking your heart to pieces. So, dive in!

Embrace your emotions

Once the decision to move from your old family house is final and you put it up for sale, there’s no going back. And there’s no point in going back. What comes first is acceptance.

Embrace how you’re feeling about moving and selling your family home. Know that it will be overwhelming and the whole process will be emotionally draining, but it’s something you need to deal with in order to move to the next stage of your life in a new place.

Give yourself time to pack up and go through all the memories every corner of your home (and your backyard) carry. Cherish the good times you had in this place. Cry if you have to in order to be able to let it all go in the end.

Try to see moving to a new place as an adventure and like an empty photo album ready to be filled with new memories. 

Patience is Key When You Need to Part with Your Family Home

Your decision is final, and maybe you’re ready to start packing and moving your things. Still, expect the process to be lengthier than you anticipated. Dealing with all the paperwork can sometimes take months longer than your initial estimate. And if you also have to deal with selling your old home, then that’s double the stress and worry.

Patience is key here. Make sure you’ve dealt with everything you need to cover in order to move out of the old home and move into the new one. Leave the rest to people who handle the paper, your legal representative, real estate agents, etc. And use the given time to part with your family home at your own pace and pack up properly. You can also use the time to make any changes you want in your new place. It’s better if you do that prior to actually moving in. Anyway, see the lengthy process as beneficial to your mental health since it enables you to cope with this life-changing event without any rush.

Organize a farewell party with your loved ones to say a proper goodbye to your old family home.

Organize a farewell party in your family home if you like. There’s no better way to part with your memories and the years built in your family home.

Rely on your chosen real estate agents

When you’re selling your family home you spent years and years in, all the emotions can get in the way of being rational and approaching the selling in a business-like manner. Leaving the whole process of selling to the professionals is the best thing you can do. The truth is, no family will ever be good enough for your home. And that’s okay to think, but not to act led by those thoughts.

The right agent will make the entire process easier since they can help you determine the most realistic price for your home. As we emphasized before, your emotional attachment to the house determines the high value it has for you, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the real price will match your expectations. Therefore, it is necessary to trust professional and objective estimation of your family home. In that sense, your chosen real estate agent is a true confidante to rely on through the entire process of relocation. They’ve already been through it all countless times and know how to approach the process sensibly and objectively. Meanwhile, you can focus on dealing with the process of moving unencumbered by the selling of your family home.

Packing and moving can be stress-free if you rely on professional help.

When relocating within TX, the most important thing is to make sure you hire experts to make itstress-free, especially if you’re moving long-distance. Reliable movers can make the whole process of transporting your cherished items from your family home to a new place go smoothly and can further help you with their expert advice on any moving-related matter.

Focus on the future

Accepting that you’re moving out of your old home and all the emotions that come with it are the first step toward embracing your future home. Once you revisit your old memories and say a proper goodbye to your old home, it’s time you start focusing on the future and on your new place.

If you bought a home that doesn’t require any additional modifications or refurbishing, you still have a lot to do to make it a warm and cozy home. Planning what décor goes with your new place, buying some new furniture, or just settling in takes some time. Make sure you find the space for all that in your mind, heart, and your schedule.

Moving into your new home can become a starting point for creating new memories with your loved ones. So don’t hesitate to invite your family and friends to help you with the process of setting up your new place. It can be a bonding opportunity and a fun experience for everyone involved.

Learning how to part with your family home is not that hard if you embrace the change.

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of how to part with your family home, but one important thing to bear in mind is that you need to embrace the change in order to be able to handle it with as much ease as possible. Hiring a top realestate agent will definitely make the entire process of selling and buying less stressful. Hiring reliable movers can also help a great deal when relocating. Whatever the reason for your move, don’t be afraid of the unknown, and make sure you have a strong support network of family and friends through the entire process. In the end, remember that home isn’t a place—it’s a feeling.

Author Bio: Sarah Richardson has worked as a professional content writer and social media manager for 5 years. She has written for Evolution Moving Company DFW and helped moving companies expand their online presence.

Photos used:

https://unsplash.com/photos/Mx5kwvzeGC0

https://unsplash.com/photos/Q9yr-cvJr30

https://unsplash.com/photos/sxNt9g77PE0

https://www.pexels.com/photo/word-goodbye-on-white-surface-4439451/

3 Tips for Selling Your House in Today's Market

 

The #1 walkaway from this video is a recommendation to find a professional real estate agent that you trust! If you do not have one, reach out to me - if you are not in my immediate area, we have professionals all over the state that we can connect you to. We are always glad to help. It is a real short video, so check it out!