When creating video tours for a multifamily community, a real estate virtual tour camera is a must have. Right? Or is it? 

Before you run out and buy an expensive, 3D camera or even a pricey DSLR with all the bells and whistles, take a quick pause. We’re here to tell you that there’s actually no need to invest in a high-end real estate virtual tour camera after all. Spend that money someplace else because the only equipment you need has been in your purse or pocket all along – your smartphone! Here’s what we mean. 

Real Estate Virtual Cameras

All of the 360 video cameras and 3D cameras on the market can cost a pretty penny. Even the ones that clip on to your iPhone or iPad are pricey and hard to get. And with marketing budgets being squeezed with every penny counting, why spend the excess money on something that’s not necessary and potentially won’t even deliver as much value as something that you’re already equipped with?

Add to that the learning curve of many of these pieces of equipment being extremely high and the investment just got even larger. It’s not that your onsite team members can’t get up to speed quickly, it’s just that they’re really busy people! Probably far too busy to spend time learning how to record and create 3D tours using a very expensive piece of equipment when they could just use one they are already extremely familiar with – their smartphone or have someone come to your property and do it for them. 

What’s most important is that none of these real estate virtual tour cameras will give you the best return on investment. Whether a fancy 3D camera or a 360 camera for real estate or even a pricey DSLR, the price and learning curve and time commitment required won’t really capture or produce what’s really important to today’s audience of prospective residents – the realness of the community.

Authenticity is what today’s prospective buyers and renters are looking for. You’ve probably heard us say that a time or two before. But it’s true! They don’t want another canned tour full of highly produced, single moment-in-time marketing pieces or 3D virtual tours that feel fake and fabricated. Spending money on expensive pieces of equipment like 3D virtual tour cameras will be a quick path to locking yourself into hours or work to simply produce something that will look cool on the website. At the end of the day, the ROI is in leads converting and leases signing. And it’s the real factor that instills trust and transparency into the process and gets deals done.

The good news? There is a way to do all of that and prove an incredible ROI with something you likely already have nearby. 

The Answer is Literally in the Palm of Your Hand

Meaning – the answer is a smartphone or someone to come to your property and create them for you! To effectively create great rich media content that is an attention-grabbing conversion tool for your social media and website as well as an efficiency gaining, ROI generating leasing tool, you don’t need to purchase a fancy 3D virtual tour camera. Add the proper multifamily video app, like Realync, to the mix and you have all you need to quickly and easily generate content that is desired by your audience and wins. 

Realync’s video leasing & engagement solution is a cloud-based platform that works seamlessly on your iPhone or iPad, but also allows you to do the heavy lifting (sharing, posting, embedding, etc.) from the comfort of your computer. So, whenever you need to record a video to post on social or share with a prospect, you don’t have to worry about setting up anything special – just use your phone. 

Today’s smartphones, when paired with Realync, have more than enough technological capacity to provide a quality experience. Take, for example, the iPhone XS. This latest version of the iPhone includes end-to-end screens, higher resolution, depth-sensing, a wide angle 12MP camera, and much more. It allows leasing agents to easily create real marketing videos or simple tours for prospective residents through the community both live and pre-recorded.

While it is literally as easy as pulling out your iPhone, opening Realync, and going, we do recommend a couple accessories that can give your mobile device a little more oomph and professionalism. We’ve covered that short list of recommended add-ons here. But, even without those, a mobile device and Realync are all you need. And, at the end of the day, will save you a lot of money. 

The big factors of realness and authenticity shine through when you simplify things and go with just your iPhone or iPad for these video tour purposes. Not only does it remove the glitz and glam and showcases the space as it is, but videos shot by an iPhone are all you see online today. That means it’s the type of media that people are accustomed to and desire. Don’t believe us? Open Facebook or Instagram…it’s all you see!

Using a mobile device also allows for something no other expensive real estate virtual tour camera can provide — real time video. Nothing is more real, raw, and transparent than a live video tour showing the place how it really is at that point in time. You can’t photoshop live video! And it’s instantaneous fulfillment for prospects. You can literally hop right from talking on the phone into a live tour and tour the entire property on the spot versus having to hang up and call back hours later after you’ve set up your 3D virtual tour camera, captured the scans, waited for the environment to be built and uploaded, then finally send over to the prospect.  

If you’re looking for glitz and glam and highly produced content that looks expensive and sets a certain vibe and atmosphere for your community, then by all means, go for it and invest in that sort of content. If what you care most about with your multifamily investment is NOI and ROI, you’ll set all of that aside and run straight to Realync’s video leasing platform to equip your onsite teams with something that is a proven ROI generating and lead converting machine. 

It’s your money, but before you run out and spend too much of it on a real estate virtual tour camera, reach in your pocket. That smartphone, along with Realync, will get you much further with your marketing and leasing goals.

Interested in More Realync Content

Enhancing your video engagement strategy with 1:1, DIY, or pre-recorded videos will help leasing teams WIN more leases! Get video tips, multifamily knowledge, and more delivered to your inbox monthly by subscribing to The Reel newsletter!