By James Lockett

The estate agency and new build sectors have been awash with virtual tour companies for years now. They all have their part to play and some do different things than others. But there are a lot of them.

Of course, Covid saw a renewed focus on virtual tours as the property industry was locked down and it was mandated that physical viewings could not take place. Sellers, buyers and indeed agents themselves became hesitant at conducting face to face viewings when the biggest marketing campaign the country has ever seen extolled social distancing.

Some might argue that digital incarnations of a property listing are still yet to be fully appreciated as tools by estate agents and their customers as many, especially the traditionalists in the sector, prefer face to face interactions and the ‘three dimensional’ experience that this promotes. Despite their advanced nature, are virtual tours still somewhat, well, two dimensional?

What tours lack to date are a personal interaction or commentary and the ability to see various important aspects of a home as one walks around. The sort of talking points that, more often than not, come up in conversation mid-viewing – the EPC, the planning permission confirmation for the extension, a timber and damp guarantee or even the measurements on the floor plan as you’re looking at the third bedroom. 

U-See Homes has recently launched as a platform that facilitates third party tours such as Giraffe, Matterport and EyeSpy 360 while offering the ability for the agent to ‘walk through’ the property with up to two potential buyers in a Zoom like format. 

Whilst doing so, they also have the ability to pull in additional resources such as floorplans, the EPC and numerous other documents right there and then, creating a far more extensive and immersive virtual viewing than anything previously seen in the industry. Should the viewer decide the property isn’t for them, U-See allows agents to switch to the next property, considerably reducing the time and efforts often wasted during the initial viewings process.

For video go to: HERE

 The unique benefits of U-See Homes are immediately clear and include:

●        Time saving for agents. Multiple seamless property viewings in one call. More viewings per day mean more sales – better outcomes

●        Cost savings for the agent. Lower overheads from fewer car journeys and less wasted staff outings – increased efficiency and effectiveness 

●        The opportunity to qualify buyers early and properly before a physical viewing, therefore, increasing conversion

●        Sellers are less intruded upon by wasted viewing appointments

●        No more no-shows – deliver serious buyers to vendors

●        International buyers can ‘view’ from afar

●        New homes buyers can be walked through a rendered listing before the development has even been built

●        Google maps integration

What’s more, they have already raised £250,000 in SEIS/EIS funding to further their cause to transform property viewings in the UK and beyond. Not bad for a business born during lockdown and the proof in the pudding that U-See has created something that the industry should sit up and take notice of. 

Don’t believe us? Book a U-see Homes demos and see for yourself – https://u-seehomes.com/bookdemo/

Simon Dempsey heads up marketing for U-See Homes and says

“The launch of USee Homes heralds the advent of virtual tours 2.0 as the next generation of viewings. Lockdown has demonstrated that the property market can adapt to new ways of working and many customers and agents will want to leverage what we’ve all learned from the last 14 months and, in particular, where greater efficiencies using technology are concerned”.

He adds â€œOur primary goal is to enhance the estate agency experience, not replace it and in fact, we’re right behind the high street in this respect.

Whether you use Giraffe, Matterport or EyeSpy 360, our technology utilises any brand of tour, video, any images, brochures or documents to support a much more interactive experience for agents and their potential buyers and will lead to huge time and cost savings but, importantly, greater conversion rates and enhanced customer experiences.”

Recent research from Twenty Ci has attested that the use of virtual tours increases the number of homes sold and at higher prices.