Is there a bright future for 3D virtual tours?

**LuckyU** · 09-26-2007, 03:20 PM

Hi. I am currently doing some market research on 3D virtual tours for the real estate industry and would really appreciate some insight from realtors and prospective homebuyers.

After reading many articles, roadmaps and surveys, it seems that 3D virtual tours have a bright future.

What I mean by 3D virtual tour is a 3D environment which would represent a realistic 3D model of a house exactly as it looks like in the real world. The prospective buyer would be able to step into the front door and freely walk through each room of the 3D house as he would do in the real world.

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**Codythebest** · 09-26-2007, 05:19 PM

Virtual tours are on the end. Movies begins to appear now. I think this is the future...

**dbar** · 09-26-2007, 05:31 PM

I agree with codythebest, I think movies or videos are a better choice. At least compared to the 3D stuff I've seen in the past. Do you have any examples you could share of a virtual 3D tour? Maybe what you have is different from what I am thinking about.

**creativeagent** · 09-26-2007, 05:39 PM

I think 3D tours would work well with new construction since they would have floorplans and other schematics available. If I was a builder or had a good relationship (as an agent) with a builder, it may be worth the time to persue this technology.

But for regular residential sales, I think it's overkill. Most homes (if priced properly) sell within the first 30-45 days. By the time you finish creating the 3D video, the home might already be sold.

**Nealrm** · 09-27-2007, 08:20 PM

The idea sounds great and in the furture it will be. However, that furture is at least 5 to 8 years away. There are several key items that need to be overcome

Computing power and bandwidth server side: If you are going to place this on the web you need to be about to handle a 3D tour on several listings at one time. That is going to require a lot of bandwidth and computing power.
Load time: Is the end user going to wait for the 3D tour to come up. Most user will click off a site if they need to wait more than 30 seconds.
Setup Time: A good virtual tour using standard photos cane be up in 2 hours. If you want to use 360 degree photos, add an extra hour. You will be lucky to get a 3D tour up in under 2 weeks. In a hot market the home will already be sold.

All of these will be overcome in time, but not today.