Virtual home tours have moved from real estate novelty to a very useful Internet marketing tool for advancing your home sale in the best way. The following are some findings and guides to presenting your home in the best way in this age when more than 3 out of 4 buyers turns to the Internet first to review properties and search for real estate agents.

Virtual tours can take two forms: Flash slide shows of the interior and exterior of the home and a video virtual tour. Video tours make use of software applets that any computer can run - making the tour universally accepted by any potential home buyers. Flash slide tours may be a less expensive route to take, but do not convey the sense of immersion that video tours can. However, either method has proven an effective way to excite buyers more than a few static pictures of the home.

1. To get the best impact in your home's virtual tour, go the extra mile and get a professional photographer and graphic designer to create your virtual tours. Studies have found that homebuyers are willing to pay, at minimum, several thousand dollars - or 10% - more for property that has professional photos or videos than amateur productions.
   
   A professional production enhances the perceived value of your property. A benefit of using a professional graphic designer is any problems of the photo, such as low light levels or washed out colors can be corrected with their graphics software.


2. A second benefit is your online real estate marketing of your house preserves the alluring staging done by your real estate agent. With all the de-cluttering, inviting stands of flowers and lush lighting scenarios captured on your virtual tour your home is always putting on its best face 24/7 online.
   
   This benefit doubly affects home sellers since the trend of shopping for homes online has resulted in home buyers usually narrowing their search online to 3 homes to check, versus the 12 or more homes buyers consulting newspaper descriptions typically view. This tends to keep the amount of your home's showings to a minimum and speed up the buying period.


3. By having a virtual tour of your home created, your real estate agent has the additional capability of sending the virtual tour, or a link to it, in emails to their list of home buyers in the market for properties like your home. "A picture is worth a thousand words" is proven true once again with virtual tours. Potential home buyers don't have to guess at what the written description looks like in real life, they can take a virtual tour of your home in all its glory right when they receive the email of the listing.


4. As an extra bonus, your Realtor can use your virtual tour in any number of ways. Besides using the tour on their real estate website's listing of featured properties, your Realtor can post your virtual home tour on your areas MLS or IDX listings. This leverages the marketing potential of your tour to the max.

Advertise your home in the way that home buyers more and more expect the home to be presented for sale and keep your real estate marketing targeted to the most active group of home buyers.

Consult your real estate agent about possible leads on your areas professional virtual tour web designers. You can always consult the Internet Marketing Consultants web site for a more in-depth education on the benefits of virtual home tours.