Hi All,

Here's a discussion during Inman Connect Now online conference today (3 June 2020) related to virtual tours and related.

I highlighted in case you want to skim.

Dan

Transcript

Wendy Forsythe, Chief Brand Officer, Fathom Realty, Orange County CA
Many trends that we've talked about here on the Inman stages across the country for a long time. And those are things like virtual tours, never had they been more important than today. And you're going to hear some folks from Matterport join us as the afternoon goes on, and they're going to share what they've observed from their vantage point, being a leader in the virtual tour space.... So we've talked for years about the importance of photography and professional photography and the impact of drones, as drone photography became more popular with more and more consumers focusing on doing as much of that research on their own before they get in a car and drive around, before they go to an open house, before they contact a real estate professional. As marketers in merchandising our listings, those elements have really become an important part now, given the limitations that in most of our markets we've had over those last 90 days [COVID-19]. They've been highlighted and magnified significantly.

Carleton English, Reporter, Barron's, New York, NY
And the research, that's the part of it, what you see when you look at a listing online and what a virtual tour can do. But then there's also that part where some people will want to go and actually see the place. So what are you seeing in showings? How are you seeing brokers adjust to this new normal where showings are maybe a little bit more difficult to do?

Wendy Forsythe
Yes, we've definitely seen a lot of changes in how showings work and for many states across the country, we were deemed early on as essential services. So we could do showings, but it's altered how that happens, right? From the equipment, in terms of personal safety equipment that is needed for a showing, to how we prep a seller, particularly if the home is occupied for a showing, we've had to make very fast pivots in those things.

Wendy Forsythe
But from a marketing perspective, and even a lead capture and lead conversion perspective, we saw really the advent of the video tour requests. So many of the large website providers and third parties started adding this ability quickly as we navigated through COVID for the consumer to request a video tour. Then we had to figure out, what does a video tour really mean, by requesting. And we'll have some interesting dialogue this afternoon on that, but we've had to perfect then as an industry, and really innovate on the fly of how do I give an effective video tour if I am a real estate agent and I'm getting that request from consumers? And we're seeing, that particular button on listings has grown in the amount of inquiries or conversions that come in over the standard request a showing or request more information. So that's definitely a new element that I think we'll see continue on from a showings perspective, after we navigate through this COVID recovery.

Wendy Forsythe
I think the other big thing that happened on the showings segment of the transaction is virtual open houses, an evolution of what a virtual open house means and how to take that to various levels. And I saw a post on Facebook that made me laugh yesterday. An agent was saying, "What does it really mean when it says there's a virtual open house from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM?" And I thought that was a great question because we've seen this evolution of what is a virtual open house, and how do we execute on a virtual open house? So we'll have lots more discussion around that.