Open Houses

How 3D tours are changing the way homes get sold

A small but growing number of brokers in Greater Boston are highlighting the homes they want to sell by posting 3D tours online.

Brokers say open houses are seeing more visitors than ever, despite the rise of online 3D tours. Aram Boghosian

July 20, 2015

3 minutes to read

3D is not just for big blockbusters like “Jurassic World’’ anymore – it’s one of the hottest new trends in real estate as well.

A small but growing number of brokers in Greater Boston are highlighting the homes they want to sell by posting 3D tours online.

In a move that will likely be another boost to the use of technology in home sales, Zillow will soon let brokers link to 3D tours on their online listings.

Where 3D tours will take real estate remains to be seen, though changes are likely in the years ahead as what is now a novelty becomes more the norm, brokers say.

Sight unseen

At the cutting edge of the 3D home tours trend locally is Briggs Johnson, a Brookline real estate broker turned photographer.

If his business is any indication of the future of 3D home hours, it may be a bright one indeed, with a dozen different brokers at various firms now using his services.

Johnson began by taking still photos of rentals while working as a broker in Boston before going out on his own. He then took another leap, investing in a Matterport 3D camera, which retails at $4,500.

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The 3D tours allow you to check out a home as if you were walking through it, using your keyboard to move around.

3D house tours are especially helpful for potential buyers in other cities, who may not have the time to actually visit the Boston house or condo they are interested in buying.

In fact, a Milwaukee couple recently bought a condo in Bay Village for their daughter, who will be attending college here, after touring it with one of his 3D tours.

“They bought it sight unseen,’’ Johnson said.

The 3D technology is also great for a second visit. It allows a husband or wife to see the house first and then show it off to their spouse through a 3D tour instead of having to trek back out there.

Open house supremacy

But 3D tours are unlikely to challenge the supremacy of the traditional open house, which remains as popular, if not more so, than ever.

The technology has its limitations. The houses that work best for the 3D tours are those that are clean and uncluttered, with dingier or messy homes not coming across so well.

“It’s really good for the properties you want to show off,’’ Johnson said.

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He doesn’t see his 3D tours replacing open houses, but rather supplementing them.

Brokers agree, reporting strong showings at open houses amid a cutthroat competitive market.

Rich Hornblower, an agent in the Back Bay office of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, said the virtual tours could help couples get a sense of the layout of a house and where they might put their furniture.

“It’s starting to catch on and people are starting to ask about it,’’ he said. “But I think people are still going to want to go to the open house.’’

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In fact, one trend now is to restrict 3D showings until after the first open house. That means more buyers – including many serious ones – are showing up, since it is their first shot a seeing the listing, said Neda Vander Stoep, who also works out of Coldwell Banker’s Back Bay office.

“This strategy has significantly increased open house traffic… Everyone wants to get in to preview the unit at the open house before offers are reviewed,’’ Vander Stoep wrote in an email.

Still, most brokers aren’t using 3D technology, at least yet. Hornblower, for example, is friendly with Johnson and knows of a broker at another firm who has started posting various home tours online, but he has yet to use it in a listing.

But that is likely to change, Johnson contends, noting that the brokers he pitches to are instant converts once they take a look at a 3D tour and what it can do.

“It is definitely increasing,’’ he said of 3D house tours. “It is just getting the technology in front of people. Once they see it, everyone is instantaneously wowed.’’