Virtual tours, a panoramic digital camera technology which showcases properties and other large ticket items for sale on the Internet, revolutionized on-line marketing initiatives in late 1997. But high prices, lack of skilled photographers and end-users, and the slow development of broker/agent/MLS on-line infrastructure restricted the technology to the luxury home market.

Interactive Pictures Corporation (IPC), makers of IPIX virtual tour software is out to change the paradigm by making virtual tours inexpensive and user-friendly enough so that they will become standard marketing procedure for every home listing.

IPIX fires the first shot in pricing war

From its vantage point as the first company to introduce virtual tours on the Internet, IPC has worked over the past 18 months to reduce costs for an easy point-and-click digital camera marketing solution. Today, the company will debut its new low cost package - $49.95 for a four-room virtual tour that can be placed on as many sites as the agent or broker wishes, from a personal Web page, to the broker's site, to the franchise site, to the home portal sites such as Realtor.com and HomeAdvisor.

Working with large franchisers and home search companies such as Century 21, ERA, and Coldwell Banker, and Homes.com, IPC has learned that agents want to do more with digital photography, but the operating costs as well as optional fees have been prohibitive for many. For example, some competitive virtual tour companies offer one posting per home, with additional postings costing as much as $20 each. That means that, until now, an agent had to carefully choose where to put the listing.

The good news is that multiple listing opportunities clearly exist. Agents aren't being charged by their brokers or franchisers for including virtual photography in their listings. IPC is working with HomeAdvisor.com, among others, to support the technology at no additional cost to the agent.

To put every piece in place, IPC has created partnerships with Kodak, Nikon and Olympus to provide a choice of digital camera products "at competitive prices. " For $895, an agent or broker can purchase a digital camera such as the Kodak DC200, which comes equipped with the IPIX Wizard software, a fish-eye technology that enables 360 degree photography and enough "keys" to do four-room tours in nine houses. After that, the agents can dial into the Internet for additional keys at $49.95 per home. The keys enable the agent to post the home tours through IPC to as many sites as the agent wishes.

Kodak, among others manufacturers, has led the way by reducing digital photography to a point and click level. The agent takes a picture of a room from one perspective, turns around and snaps the opposite view. Then s/he takes the memory card and downloads the photo files to his/her computer. The IPIX Wizard does the rest, creating an on-line image of the rooms, bonding the two photos into a 360 presentation in which the user can point a cursor and see into every corner in a breathtaking panoramic view.

The beauty of it is that the IPIX images can be used free of charge for instant viewing during listing presentations, over and over again. No charge is incurred until the images are forwarded to IPC for Internet formatting and processing. And, the digital camera can be used other ways. Take standard shots for feature sheets, special events, or family vacations and download to the computer for posterity.

For agents and brokers who don't want to own their own cameras, IPC is working on creating a network of MLS photographers through Homes.com. For an additional $50 per homes, IPC will dispatch a photographer to the agent's listing, take photos of four rooms and upload the tour to the agent's specifications.

The second step - affecting how homes are marketed

The significance of the lowered pricing is that IPC has just opened the door real Internet marketing to the starter home and move-up home sellers and their agents.

Ed Lewis, VP of marketing for IPC says, "We have been working with major real estate brands on the technology side. Our goal is to make it possible for any agent or broker to make virtual tours part of their Internet marketing."

"While others limit the capability of the agent by charging to post the tours on multiple sites, we are the only technology that allows agents to own their own photography," he explains. "We also offer two ways to work with us, either the agent/broker can own or lease their digital camera from us and take their own pictures, or we can offer them a turn key service provided by a professional MLS photographer."

There is almost no learning curve. "A fourth grader could do it. You just put the camera on a standard tripod, take the pictures, pull out the memory card, stick it in the computer, download it and then look and down with your mouse," shrugs Lewis.

Lewis believes that virtual tours will become the new MLS standard for presenting homes. "One difference is the quality of the image and the unlimited viewing perspective. The second is ease of use. This has enormous benefits for the seller, the agents and the buyer. They all save time."

The only hurdle left is residual misconceptions about the technology with agents.

" What does a virtual tour on the Internet mean to an agent?" asks Lewis. "It means the listing agent can provide the most competitive listing tool possible for sellers. It means eliminating most walk-throughs for buyers who can use the virtual tours to select or eliminate homes. It drives value to everyone involved - the agent, the seller, and the buyer."

"Everybody wins."

See More: Technology Advice

Published: February 22, 1999

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.