Will a Virtual Tour Sell DFW Real Estate?

A virtual tour itself will not sell DFW real estate but then why would you want to include a virtual tour in your real estate marketing efforts? According to Dallas Realtors prospective home buyers are looking online for both photos and virtual tours.

 

How Does a Virtual Tour Work?

Without actually visiting the home virtual tours take you inside the home and give you a 360-degree view. Some of them are interactive, meaning you click the mouse and it takes you to the ceiling, the floor, the walls, leaving no inch of the room unviewed. Others virtual tours are flat-screen views put together to give you a moving image that you watch but do not control. Whether you are selling Plano real estate of any DFW real estate the virtual tours will work and cost about the same.

You can order virtual tours a number of ways:

• Hire professionals to take the photos, upload and create the virtual tour.
• Take your own photographs and hire a professional to simply upload and assemble them for you.
• Buy your own software and do it yourself.

What Does a Virtual Tour Cost?

• Larger numbers of spins are usually reserved for the homes listed at more than a million dollars. Buyers want to see the entire property including the guest house, the libraries, the wine cellars, the indoor pool & spa facilities, media rooms, gyms, studios and garages. Cost: Fees vary from $250 on the lower end and up to $3,000 for professional Web sites dedicated to the property.
• Every virtual tour should consist of a minimum of two spins. Even a small 1000-square foot home can be shot on a two-spin tour: the living room and the clubhouse / pool area, for example. Cost: Less than $150.
• These are suitable for larger homes of approximately 2,500 sq. ft. or more and priced at less than a million. The number of rooms or areas that you select to feature will depend on the layout, number of stories and curb appeal. Cost: $250 or less. Interactive virtual tours will cost a little more.

Staging for the Virtual Tour

• Consider the level of the camera. If you raised the camera a foot or so, would it eliminate glare from windows?
• Determine the viewpoints. Take your own digital photo and upload them to your computer and study each room for its appeal and photogenic qualities. Print out the photos you like and show the virtual tour professional the angles that you want.
• Begin the tour focused on the most interesting element in the space and end with that same element. Think about what the viewer will see first to determine your starting point for the tour. You don't want to begin filming a doorway, for example, because most doorways are boring.
• You want the space clean, open, clutter free and to appear much larger than it is. Move excess furniture out of the room you are shooting
• Choose the best spot in the room to stage the camera. While you might capture a wider range of view from a location closer to a hall or door, think about the entire circle of view and how interested your viewer will be staring at a close up of a nearby wall.

Added Features Available for Virtual Tours

• Use Descriptive Text: Most virtual tours provide plenty of space for the marketing description.
• Scrolling Text: Describe that moving video with text that rolls across the screen. Don't rely on the viewer to know enough to scroll down the page to your verbiage. Add a line of verbiage directly to the video.
• Add Audio: Some virtual tours give you the option of adding your voice to the tour. Be enthusiastic, speak clearly, and remember to smile, like you were talking to a friend, because a smile resonates in the voice.

Must Tell Things to Tell Your Home Buyer from the Start

Real estate transactions fall apart every day for a variety of different reasons. Many times these deal killer situations could have been completely avoided if the real estate agent had simply educated their buyer clients a bit about the process before the first purchase contract was ever written.  Don't be afraid of giving your buyer clients an early education about potential problems that may come up during the progression of the transaction and how they are generally resolved and even your role in the process. Negative surprises in an emotionally charged and time sensitive home purchase process can be avoided in many cases by going through a checklist of instructions with the buyers in advance. 

Plano Real Estate

1.    Great Price and Seller Concessions?

Everybody wants to make a good deal on Plano real estate, and working a motivated seller into a great purchase price is the goal of most buyers. Be sure to talk to your buyers about how this will influence the process in almost every aspect through the entire closing process.  Let them know that getting a seller to accept their low ball price will generally insure that they will not agree to further concessions for repairs, etc. As long as you have educated your buyers to this fact, you will hopefully avoid the deal falling through due to seller remorse or inspection correction issues. 

2. A Really Low Ball Offer May Backfire on You

A slow DFW real estate market with high inventory may encourage buyers to make low ball offers to check the sellers motivation level. Sometimes this is not that unusual, and sellers simply come back with a high counter offer to draw the buyer up to a reasonable price.  However, with first time sellers who've cared for and loved their home for many years, a very low offer can offend them and they will outright reject the offer and refuse to negotiate with these buyers. 

3. Do a Comparative Market Analysis for Validate Your Offer

When Dallas Realtors get the question "What price should I offer for this home?". You should advise your client via a comprehensive market analysis (CMA) of similar recently sold properties in that area. This should give a range and your buyer can then choose an offering price based on accurate market statistics. If there are other factors that you can legally divulge to your client about seller motivation or recent market changes, definitely do that and help them to feel comfortable with the price they decide on. 

4. I'm Not an Expert, But I'll Help You to Find One

Too many real estate agents get into trouble by trying to be helpful to their clients in areas that they shouldn't be. You're not an inspector, appraiser, engineer or lawyer. Don't try to take on their tasks and responsibilities believing that you're providing service to your clients. "I don't know" is a valid response, especially when followed with "but I'll help you to find out." You actually enhance your value to the client by being honest about your knowledge and helping them to locate the appropriate competent professional to answer their questions. 

5. Real Estate Sales is How I Make My Living

This will lead to the assumption that you want to get paid. I see too many agents, particularly newer ones, get burned out early in the game showing a great numbers of homes to a buyer who calls one day to say they called on a sign and purchased a home with another agent.  You want to help them to find the home of their dreams, and to devote the time necessary to turn over every rock to find it, you would like to execute a buyer representation agreement. Explaining and getting this agreement in writing will help to assure you a commission if they do buy a home. 

6. Don't Buy Anything Until After Closing

With many of today's buyers purchasing homes at the higher end of what they can afford, there isn't much room left in their loan qualifying ratios. Closings have fallen apart days before closing because the lender did an updated credit check and charges for new furniture or appliances on the purchasers on a credit card.  Always advise your buyers to make no significant credit changes or purchases in this critical pre-closing phase. 

7. Sometimes Stuff Just Happens

There are so many different aspects involved in a real estate transaction and closing, so it's not unusual for there to be last minute changes and delays that move a closing a few days farther back. Many times this is due to loan documents, as the lender wants to see the appraisal, survey, title and other documents first. If any of these are delayed, then the closing might be later than expected. Though it can't always be avoided, try to be sure that your client doesn't arrive with their furniture on a moving truck on closing day with no place to live or money to pay the movers for van storage because they can't move in for three days.

Is It Better To Buy a Dallas Short Sale or Wait for the Foreclosure?

If you put in an offer to buy a short sales Dallas waiting for an answer from the bank can be long and frustrating. A short sale situation happens when a seller's lender agrees to accept less than what is owed on the mortgage to allow the sale between the seller and buyer to move forward, and banks take a long time to decide. Sometimes short sale buyers wait up to six months or more for a response from the bank. Many times the banks answer is no, and that buyer will have wasted much time.

Short Sale Listing Prices

Buyers often get excited about buying a short sale for two reasons. The list price is very attractive and they believe the seller is desperate and they can get a lowball offer accepted. However, neither of those is necessarily true. Not every short sale is a Dallas foreclosure homes and not every seller is desperate. Many sellers and/or their Professional Dallas Realtors often set the listed price unrealistically low hoping to get an offer on their home quickly.

Is There Such a Thing as Preapproved Short Sales?

Realtors find out how low the bank will go is if an offer has already been accepted and the buyer walks away. Only then is the agent free to market the listing as an accepted short sale because banks almost never disclose their bottom price in advance. With a preapproved short sale, the new buyers' wait is shortened. Generally, about the time the first buyers walk away the sellers' documents have already been submitted to the bank, and the bank may have been close to, or had already, issued a short sale approval letter.

Short Sale Negotiations

The sellers can agree to any purchase offer but it's not binding unless the sellers' bank approves it. It doesn't matter what terms and conditions are in the offer if the bank won't accept them. Your negotiation does not really lie with the seller; it lies with the bank's negotiator. Banks often rely on desktop appraisals or BPOs (broker price opinions) to determine the property’s value. Although banks don't want to follow through on a foreclosure, they also want to get fair market value for the property to lessen their losses. It is up to the listing agent to provide comparable sales and to substantiate the price submitted by the buyer.

Will the Price be Lower After a Foreclosure?

Whether a home buyer should wait for the property to go through foreclosure depends on whether the home has one or more a offers on it. If more than one buyer has submitted an offer, the highest and most qualified offer will most likely get the home. If the buyer is the only buyer to put in an offer and the bank is responding negatively it might be in the buyer's best interest to wait until the home is foreclosed on. There is also no guarantee that a bank won't reject all the offers, particularly if none of them are high enough.

Many times banks aren't reasonable and end up shooting themselves in the foot, so to speak. I've have seen several listings where banks refused to accept short sale offers only to end up with the property through the foreclosure process, which then ultimately sell for tens of thousands less than what they were offered with a short sale offer . Don't get discouraged if the bank rejects or counters your short sale offer. Be calm and be well informed. Eventually the bank will put the home on the open market for sale as an REO (real estate owned). Watch for the property to reappear on the market as a bank owned foreclosure home. If the price is reasonable at this point, buy it from the bank, at the same price you offered with your short sale offer. At least buyers of bank-owned homes are relatively assured their transactions will close within 30-45 days, and most likely at a lower price.

Dallas Relocation – Dallas Real Estate Market

The Dallas / Ft. Worth Metropolitan area, commonly referred to as the DFW Metroplex and has a population of more than 4 million, making the DFW Metroplex the 4th largest metropolitan area in the country. Dallas is centrally located and is within a four-hour flight from most North American destinations. DFW International Airport is the world’s third busiest airport. Throughout Dallas one will enjoy the best shopping in the southwest, four-and five star hotels and restaurants, the largest urban arts district in the nation, 13 entertainment districts and much, much more.

Dallas is also known for moderate weather, year-round sports and true Southern hospitality. Dallas is also a leading business and meeting city. In 2008, 24 area businesses were named Fortune 500 companies. During the most recent economic crisis while real estate markets in many other areas of the country have crumbled, the Dallas real estate market has proven to be resilient. Strong job growth and affordable housing are attracting more and more people to the DFW area from around the nation keeping the values of Dallas real estate strong. Planning to move to the Dallas area? Our website will be of much benefit to you. Search the “Real” MLS for a home that is just right for you. You will surely be pleasantly surprised to learn how much home you can get for your money in the Dallas home market. Take your first step toward your Dallas relocation and your first step towards a whole new lifestyle.

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