Matterport is a 3D mapping service, which uses a scanning camera to create immersive views of interior spaces, similar to the way Google Street View maps the outdoors. Currently, the virtual tour technology is used in residential and commercial real estate, the travel industry, and in news and entertainment.
Still shot from the Matterport tour of 44-178 Nanamoana St – Notice the location key in the bottom left corner
In the real estate industry, Matterport means agents can provide prospective home buyers with a seamless walk through of a home from the comfort of their sofas. Using a link to the tour, a client can click the arrow buttons on the keyboard to move through a space, turn left and right, and look up and down, just as if they were standing in the room. This is an incredible upgrade to the 1990’s era Powerpoint-esque slideshows set to tinny elevator music, still common in our industry.
Still shot from the Matterport tour of 44-178 Nanamoana St – Notice the circles along the ground, which can be clicked on and moved to, with 360 degree views from each, as you tour through the home
It’s in Our Tool Kit
Matterport is now a requirement in any full-service Realtor’s tool kit. Hawaii Life, always embracing new technology in our industry, purchased a Matterport Pro Camera to produce our floor plans in-house. This means faster time to market for our selling clients, and offers another tool for showing property listings to our buying clients, especially those not located in Hawaii.
Selling clients will appreciate we have the ability to produce amazingly accurate home tours and distribute those tours as wide as the internet itself. The thousands of unique visitors to our website now have the entire home tour at their fingertips, whether they live in Japan, on the U.S. mainland, or in Germany.
Buyer clients will often first “meet” the home in the standard internet listing, then view the Matterport tour, and then move on to a FaceTime or Skype tour with an agent in real time. These multiple touches increase the buyer’s familiarity and affinity for the property without ever setting foot inside. Given Hawaii’s remote location, many buyers write offers on homes they have never seen in person, making Matterport an even more important tool in this market.
Matterport offers buyers the personal feeling of being in the house, walking through the rooms.
I recently used Matterport to create a floor plan for my new listing at 44-178 Nanamoana St. in Kaneohe. Give it a try!
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