This year has been a very different year, to say the least. All types of businesses are having to change the way they work with the property market being no exception. To help reduce property footfall and maintain our distance we’ve seen a massive increase in the number of agents using virtual property tours as a solution.
As 2020 turned into the year of staying inside, virtual tours and viewings have become more prominent and necessary than ever before. Whether you’re searching for your new dream home or wanting to upgrade your car, it’s likely you’ll have come across a video tour or set of photos and panoramics moving you from one arrow to the next from the comfort of your sofa.
Matterport
Virtual tours can be a great way to showcase a sale or rental and one of the top choices in the market, Matterport, has become well known in the industry amongst professionals. Matterport creates beautiful and seamless 3D depictions of homes using high-quality cameras and trained professionals. Suggested on their website are 360 cameras starting at around £400 and the top end cameras being anywhere up to £18,000. They offer their own camera, the Matterport Pro2, at a price of £2,830.
Not only professionals but now anyone with an iPhone (no Android option currently available) can use the software to create a showcase, which could be under a free subscription. The free option will let you have one user and one showcase per month and the option go up to 100 spaces and 25 users per month for £247, with more choices in between. However, it should be noted that the iPhone option is still in its Beta testing phase and doesn’t boast the full range of functions and options of the top end of the price scale.
Here are some Matterport alternatives that don’t require heavy start-up costs, expensive equipment and are easy to use with little-to-no knowledge...
Virtual Tours Online
First, we have a more budget-friendly solution called ‘Virtual Tours Online’, who boast being simple, fast and cost-effective. Their current price is just £40 per month for an unlimited amount of tours. You can use any smartphone or camera to create tours consisting of panoramic photos and single shots with no fancy expensive cameras required. This clearly is a much more frugal option, with the only cost being the subscription fee and a smartphone, which most people already have to hand.
You won’t get quite the same effect with Virtual Tours online as you will when using Matterport, but this is still a great option for anyone looking for a good introduction to virtual tours at a cheaper cost with less commitment. To use this software, you take your pictures and panoramic shots, then you need to upload them to your property, and the software will create a slideshow-style video.
Sceneuno
Our solution, Sceneuno, is a mid-range Matterport alternative that uses a selection of stills, 360s, panoramic and videos used to create an immersive virtual property tour using only a smartphone, with 360 camera as an optional extra. Subscriptions start at £40 per month: for this price, you can have up to 100 showcases on your account, with an additional cost of £20 per 100 showcases.
However, unlike the other two choices, there’s a pay-as-go option where anyone can sign up and create a showcase for just £4.99 per tour. The tour is then stored online for a year and can be used again and again. The showcases can then be sent as a link or embedded into another website, e.g. Rightmove.
The Sceneuno app is available for both Apple and Android devices and has been specifically designed to allow the entire tour creation process to be done in the app. That means no taking photos and uploading them somewhere else and making sure they are the right file type, making this a simple and easy way to create a virtual tour. There is also a web based app available for desktops and laptops.
This app has been designed not only for the housing market – you can create showcases for any item you wish to advertise, meaning it can be used across a multitude of industries. You can showcase anything from furniture to cars, and everything in between.
Making the choice
Matterport can create brilliant 3D models of houses and homes, but can be costly – not only for subscription plans but for equipment costs and training. Sceneuno is a much more affordable alternative for both industry professionals and one-time users alike, with the only cost being potentially as little as £4.99. Whilst Virtual Tours online also has a lower cost, it doesn’t have the seamless ease of use with everything in one place and simply laid out. With Sceneuno, the possibilities for what you can create and advertise are endless.
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