For Bend Real Estate sales, 3D Virtual Tours have become an increasingly important tool since the coronavirus outbreak last year. More specifically, homebuyers, sellers, and real estate agents have had to deal with new restrictions and grapple with safety concerns when it comes to exposure to both the original strain of Covid-19, and now also with the even more contagious Delta variant.

Recently both Matterport and Redfin conducted a survey of 1000 home buyers and 1000 home sellers to learn about their current concerns in the home buying and selling process. Now well into this pandemic, we are learning from this survey that 78% of homebuyers say they are viewing more properties virtually due to safety issues. Home sellers, especially among the older populations, share this concern and are requesting 3D Virtual Tours of their property. According to the survey, 69% of home sellers who did not think 3D Virtual Tours were a necessity before the pandemic now feel they are. 

Another significant trend from the survey was that 71% of homebuyers would now consider purchasing a property sight-unseen compared to the prior response rate of just 16%. Additionally, 82% felt that 3D Virtual Tours provided a much more accurate representation of the home than photos alone. Actually, most home buyers (78%) are concerned that MLS photos are often Photoshopped or give an inaccurate representation of the space.

When asking sellers about the advantages, 67% of sellers felt homes with 3D Virtual Tours attracted more serious buyers and sold faster. Other top advantages were a decrease in the number of in-person visits (41%), and a higher closing price (39%).

The top features identified of the Matterport 3D Virtual Tours included the ability to view the homes floor plan (75%), the unique dollhouse view (61%), and the ability to measure rooms (61%). These features were especially important to the baby-boomers, where 73% indicated they would use 3D Tours to narrow down which homes best fit their needs.

According to the New York Times “the open house is dead.” With the new masking restrictions brought about by the Delta variant of Covid-19, we are seeing a huge uptick in the number of home sellers wanting our Matterport 3D Virtual Tours as part of their MLS listing. Bend Premier Real Estate was the first brokerage to offer in-house Matterport 3D Virtual Tours, and the only local brokerage now with two in-house Matterport operators and set-ups to address this huge increase in home seller and buyer needs.