Pivo 101: How to create pro-quality 3D tours
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Simply adding high-quality photos to your home listing used to do the trick, but in today's competitive market, you need to go above and beyond to meet buyer expectations. Today, the quality of your digital property marketing could be the determining factor in a buyer wanting to see more of the home. The good news is, there’s an easy solution: If you want to provide a complete experience for potential buyers, include 3D tours.
3D tours are an integral part of the real estate sale. They offer buyers a glimpse into what it would be like to walk through a home even before they step foot through the front door. Luckily, there are solutions out there that can create 3D tours quickly and easily so anyone can get started.
So, you’re convinced about the value of a 3D tour. How do you create the perfect one? Here are a few tips to make video tours like the pros.
Select the right tools and equipment
There’s a common misconception that creating virtual tours is costly, time-consuming and complicated. And, well, this was right! Before tools like Pivo, making quality 3D tours meant hiring a professional photographer with an expensive camera just to get usable results. Now, video solutions are available that allow you to capture beautiful photos and create a tour with just a smartphone.
You should consider creating virtual tours regularly, which means you need a solution that works fast. 360 cameras are quick, but if you also want to save costs, we suggest checking out interactive smart pods that let you do the same work but for more than half the cost.
Set up proper lighting
When it comes to 3D video tours, lighting is everything. It can transform a $500,000 home to a property that looks like it should be worth $1 million. With the right lighting, you can emphasize the beautiful details in a home and showcase exactly what makes it special. We suggest turning on every light to set a more welcoming mood. Also, open all curtains and doors to let natural light shine through and illuminate the entire space evenly.
Tidy up and stage the home
You're creating a tour to showcase a home, so it should look its best! When a potential buyer is viewing a 3D tour online, they want to imagine themselves in the home. Before capturing your tour, clean up the house and remove any distracting mess or clutter that could affect the buyer's opinion of the home. We also suggest removing large items that could interrupt the 3D tour's flow. And again, lighting is vital to ensure that your home's features are seen. The more visible and clear a house is, the more secure a buyer feels when contacting an agent about the listing.
Set the proper tripod height
Ensure that your tripod is level to minimize error in your 3D tours and that all photos look like they’re taken from the same floor. You can use the level that comes with your tripod or download one on your phone.
If you are working with your smartphone and an interactive smart pod, find a pod that comes with a built-in bubble level so you can adjust the tripod for consistent and uniform shots. It's also recommended to extend your tripod so that your smartphone is set between your chest and eye level. This is important to ensure that the room doesn't look smaller than it actually is; there’s nothing worse than setting buyer expectations high only to have them be disappointed when they view the property. Pivo’s Real Estate Standard Pack comes with an affordable smart pod with a bubble level and a tripod to make capturing tours simple and quick for agents.
Hide before you capture a shot
People are looking to see a tour of a home, not photos of you! (Think of yourself as the behind-the-scenes director, navigating your smartphone through every shot.) Ensure you and any members of your team are hidden behind a corner or in another room to avoid being seen by the camera. Another note to think about is if you have a furry friend around the house, be mindful of where they are on camera. Finally, when in bathrooms and bedrooms, don't forget that you can also get caught in the mirror's reflection. If you have a remote control, this is the time to use it. It makes capturing from afar or while you're hiding much easier.
In the end, 3D tours are easy, and with practice, (and a really good camera pod) you’ll be creating them like the pros.