8 Ways to Get Your Home Ready for its Virtual Tour When Selling

In 2021, the NAR® suggested that sellers and agents create virtual tours for their listings to accommodate recent changes to the transaction process. In the last few years, creating a virtual tour when selling your home is becoming more and more common amongst sellers.

Including a virtual tour when selling can help you boost conversions, attract serious buyers, and enhance your home’s marketability.

Reasons to Consider Creating a Virtual Tour When Selling

Online virtual tours provide more buyers with access to your listing without having to see your home in person.

The convenience and accessibility of virtual tours expand your pool of buyers so prospects from other cities and states can shop your home without having to coordinate travel plans.

Buyers from your area will also enjoy quick access to high-quality video tours of your home. Since prospects have the opportunity to tour your home digitally, buyers are more likely to make serious inquiries about your listing since they’ve already seen more than just a few photos upon outreach.

Since creating a virtual tour when selling is both a new standard of real estate listings and a buyer preference, the best real estate agents will likely suggest adding an online tour to your listing.

8 Ways to Prepare for a Virtual Tour When Selling

Whether you’re creating a virtual 360-tour or a video walkthrough tour, here are eight ways to prepare your home to create the best virtual tour when selling.

#1. Declutter All Areas of the Space

Removing all of the clutter from your home’s surfaces will open up the space to prepare for the virtual tour. Besides focusing on key areas, like the living room and kitchen, remember to declutter the bathrooms, bedrooms, and storage spaces.

Once the home is fully decluttered, deeply clean the interiors.

#2. Depersonalize the Decor

Storing away personal belongings, such as family photos and valuables, will depersonalize your decor to appeal to a wider audience of buyers.

Removing knick-knacks and decorative items will clean up your home and expand its visual space. Personal items and cosmetic choices will distract buyers from seeing your home as a clean slate.

#3. Create Staged Areas to Increase Appeal

Even though visitors won’t be coming to your home in person, staging is still an important consideration for a virtual tour when selling. Staged areas add a narrative component to your listing while helping buyers imagine living in your home.

Whether you’re adding potted flowers or setting up a vibrant fruit bowl, DIY staging will boost your home’s appeal.

#4. Incorporate Natural Lighting

Be sure to open up the blinds and window shades when preparing to shoot the virtual tour. Natural light will open up your home and brighten the interiors, making the space feel more inviting and welcoming.

Relying on artificial lighting can cast a dull haze on your tour, but natural lighting will increase the quality of your digital content.

#5. Clean Out Closets and Drawers

Your virtual tour may open the closets and drawers to give buyers a full idea of your home’s storage capacity. Don’t forget to clean out these storage spaces when you’re decluttering and depersonalizing your space. If you need space to put all of your belongings while you shoot the tour, consider renting out a personal storage unit.

#6. Have a Plan for Pets and Family Members to be Out of the House

You’ll need the home to be vacant when your top real estate team is creating the virtual tour. Be sure to have a plan in place to get family members out of the house for the time needed.

Remember to make a plan for pets, too. Sellers with pets will want to remove all traces of their pets from the house before creating the tour, including toys, beds, and bathroom areas.

#7. Don’t Forget to Clean Up Landscaping

A good virtual tour will also include the outdoor areas, so remember to prune the landscaping and clean up the yards.

Mow the grass, remove any clutter, and clean up any trash. Add an extra touch by planting new flowers or adding hanging baskets to the entryways. Lay down a new doormat, replace old door knobs, and repaint the front door to add curb appeal for your virtual tour.

#8. Plan the Route of the Tour in Advanced

To create a clean and organized online tour, plan the route you’ll take through the home in advance of creating the tour. Take note of any key areas you want to highlight and make sure you’re not leaving out any nooks or crannies.

For more home selling tips to help sellers prepare for open houses and online tours, review other articles on RealEstateAgents.com’s Blog.