3D tour for a real estate agency: what's included, timelines, results
Briefly: a 3D tour for a real estate agency is an interactive virtual copy of the property, which the client inspects online. The average production time is 3–7 days, and the conversion of impressions to offline viewing increases by 2–3 times. The article contains a step-by-step launch plan: from the brief to publication on the agency’s website. A real estate agency uses a 3D tour as a tool for upselling lots, screening out non-target leads and working with regional buyers. This guide will be useful to heads of sales departments, agency marketers and private realtors who want to understand what exactly is included in the production of a tour, how long filming takes, what steps need to be taken from application to publication and what result should be included in the KPI. Below is a step-by-step plan for launching without water, based on the experience of 360° Space. Step 1. Why does the agency need a 3D tour and what problems does it solve? A virtual tour solves three sales problems: shows the apartment 24/7 without a realtor visiting, filters non-target clients (only those ready for a deal come to the offline showing) and expands the geography of buyers. According to partner agencies, a property with a 3D tour in the listing receives on average 49% more views and 87% more requests than its counterpart with a regular photoset. Before starting work, it is important to set a goal: speed up the sale of a specific lot, increase the average bill for agency services, or gain a foothold in the premium segment. The choice of equipment and the amount of metadata in the tour depend on this. Step 2. How to prepare the subject for shooting? Preparation takes 1–2 days and directly affects the quality of the tour. Checklist: remove personal items, documents and price tags, raise blinds, turn on all lights, remove pets, wipe mirrors and glass surfaces. If the object is empty, it is advisable to arrange basic furniture (home staging increases the perception of space). At the brief stage, the agency transmits to the operator the address, footage, access features and wishes for viewing points. At the same time, a convenient time is agreed upon - the shooting takes place in daylight, optimally from 10:00 to 16:00. Step 3. How long does the shooting last and what equipment is used? For residential properties, 360° Space uses Matterport Pro3 and Insta360 cameras. Time on site: apartment 40-60 m² - 1-1.5 hours, house 150-250 m² - 3-4 hours, commercial property up to 1000 m² - 1 working day. The operator adjusts the scanning points in 1.5-2 meter increments to build an accurate 3D model and smooth transitions between scenes. The output is a cloud of points + 134 MP panoramas, from which a tour with a dollhouse view, floor plan and measurements with an accuracy of 1% is collected. Step 4. What is included in the processing and assembly of the tour? Post-production takes 2–5 working days and includes: stitching together panoramas, color correction, removing the tripod and cameraman from the frame, adding information points (layout, size of rooms, finishing materials), branding the tour with the agency logo, adding a contact form and the “Order a showing” button. Additionally upon request: voice-over guide to the property, multilingual signatures for foreign buyers, integration with CRM (Bitrix24, AmoCRM) for automatic transfer of leads from the tour. Step 5. How to publish a tour and where to post it? 360° Space offers three options for storing and delivering the tour. The first is the 360° Space cloud: high-speed servers with technical support, the tour is available via a link and is embedded in an iframe on the agency’s website, CIAN, Avito and Domklik. The second is the customer’s server: the tour is deployed on the customer’s own infrastructure, which is suitable for large agencies with data storage requirements. The third is offline: a standalone version for PC or assembly for a VR headset, works without the Internet and is convenient for presentations in the office. The link to the tour is added to the site’s card on the portal, in the email newsletter, in WhatsApp to the client and in the QR code on the exterior sign at the site. Step 6. How to measure results and ROI? 30 days after publication, collect metrics: the number of views of the tour, the average session time (the norm is 3–5 minutes), the share of leads marked “watched the tour,” the conversion from impression to deal. For 360° Space partner agencies, the average time for exhibiting a lot is reduced by 30–40%, and the cost per lead drops due to filtering out non-target clients at the virtual inspection stage. The tour remains a working tool for 1–2 years - until the decoration or redevelopment of the object is changed. For archives and agency portfolio, keep an offline copy. Below are the latest real estate projects from the 360° Space portfolio: View all projects → What are the typical mistakes that agencies make when ordering a 3D tour? They remove an unprepared object. Personal items, scattered documents and poor lighting kill perception. The tour becomes an anti-advertising of the lot. Save on equipment. Tours from a smartphone and “panorama stitching” applications provide distorted geometry, without plans and measurements. The buyer does not trust such a picture. They do not integrate the tour into the sales funnel. The tour is a link on the website, but is not linked to CRM, there is no application form inside the stage, leads are lost. They do not update the tour after renovations or furniture changes. The discrepancy between the tour and the reality on display breaks trust and ruins the deal. Frequently asked questions How much does a 3D tour cost for a real estate agency? The cost depends on the footage, type of object and set of options (branding, CRM integration, VR version). It is convenient to calculate the exact price for your lot in the online calculator on the 360° Space website. How long does it take to complete a tour from application to publication? Standard period is 3–7 working days: 1–2 days for approval and filming, 2–5 days for processing and assembly. Rush production is possible within 24-48 hours. Is it possible to embed a 3D tour into a card on CIAN and Avito? Yes. The tour receives a direct link and an iframe code, which are accepted by all major real estate portals in the Russian Federation, and also work on the agency’s website and in instant messengers. What will happen to the tour if the agency leaves the contractor? 360° Space provides three storage options: company cloud, customer server or offline assembly. You choose the format to suit your needs and retain control over the content. Calculate costProject catalogMatterport