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Getting My Virtual Tour Business Rolling

Hello RTV! I’ve only been here in Texas 1.5 years. Moved here for family and job. Well the job lasted about 12 months. As I mentioned in my last blog I’m a tire expert, however, this last job put the final nail into the coffin. In other words, six days/wk., 13hrs/day and drive distance of 44miles each way through Dallas from where I ended up with a beautiful house close to my in-laws. Why I didn’t shoot myself is beyond me! So after so many years messing with tire of all sizes, I gave in!

I’ve been a lover of photography and especially virtual tour photography for as long as I’ve been in the tire business. I Love Photography not tires. Tires put the bread on the table.

I’m not to far from retirement and decided to do the one thing I love more than anything else. What lead me into real estate was a friend that sold me my house here in Dallas. She suggested I look into real estate at Keller Williams, I thought this was a good Idea and thought I might combine Photography with Real Estate sales. I asked who provided their photography and that’s what got the ball rolling for me. I checked the various virtual tour software outfits, quality and virtual tour services offered. Long story short, I came across RTV more times than any of the other websites out there so I knocked on the RTV door and it was cheerfully answered.

Next, I spoke to a couple of their agents. Coming across RTV more times than the others was like shopping for a home, I had the same feeling when I walked into the right home, I knew this one is for me.

I found that RTV has much more to offer than just photography. RTV offers Powerful Virtual Tour Marketing tools, Business tools, Weekly Webinars, Leads, National Accounts, RTV is Web Savvy, RTV is SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Savvy, RTV is Education, RTV is helpful & Friendly in all ways, RTV is EASY to use, YES RTV IS Photography,….and the list goes on. If this hasn’t convinced you, go to their web site and surf every nook and cranny as I did. I had to be 100% convinced.

Once I was convinced, I jumped in with both feet, I took on the complete virtual tour software program (FusionMax XS). This includes software, equipment, and all the tools I mentioned above (FusionMax XS).

As big as RTV is the thing I like most is they are your friends that can help you get your virtual tour business up and running and help keep you running. Once your comfortable shooting some practice virtual tours you can submit them to RTV for approval. Once approved by RTV your ready to receive leads and tour track jobs from their national accounts that come up in your local area. This means they provide to you the account you shoot it and send it to RTV who will then pay you for the virtual tour. Outside of that, you are your own real estate photography business and everything is 110% your brand. The RTV support/learning center will keep you up to date on all things from A to RTV!

Most virtual tour companies offering 360 virtual tours are not necessarily doing 360 degrees spherical /celling/floor virtual tours, this is where RTV and the others differ in their technology and approach to this market.  RTV offers full motion video, cylindrical panorama, spherical panorama, and of course still image tours.  It’s amazing!

Being a photographer, you most likely have most of the equipment needed. What you may not have are wide angle or fisheye lenses. For example; 8mm lens wide angle lens, 8-15mm zoom lens or 15mm fisheye lens.

Lastly, you will have to have a Virtual Tour Company website. Going through RTV,
I got a special deal on a fantastic web site. See my website I can make all the changes and additions to suite my taste. Very cool.  Good luck to you all looking to startup a virtual tour business and I hope you choose the best virtual tour software company like I did!

See you out there!

Jack Dimaio
Owner

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“Success with RTV from a Real Estate Agent’s Point of View
In early 2005 as the real estate market here in the Florida Keys started to slow, I could see I would have to brush up on my marketing skills and find better ways to expose my listings to potential buyers. With so many Florida Keys homes and condos sold as vacation homes, an online presence with great photos and virtual tours becomes essential. A few years earlier I was the first agent in our area to do virtual tours. I had tried the two-shot version but the results were not very good. Then the market got so hot, and properties were selling so fast, there was no real need to have tours. I could see the tide turning and I wanted to add virtual tours back to my listings so I started doing some research to find the best solution. After looking at a lot of low quality tours, I found RTV. Having taken some photography courses in college, and with over 30 years in the real estate business taking photos of houses, I decided to do the tours myself. My first RTV tour was of one of the highest priced homes in Key Largo. Shortly after submitting it, I received a call from a buyer who said his wife had seen a virtual tour on the Internet and she wanted him to take a look at the property while he was in the Keys. During the showing he called his wife at home and told her to look at the virtual tour again. They decided then and there to make an offer. They ended up buying the property. The wife never came to see it until closing. The selling price was $3.7 million.

Since then there have been other situations where a buyer’s partner or family member could not be present but the decision to go forward was based on the virtual tour. Many times in the course of showing one of my listings with an agent from another company, I hear the buyers talking about having seen the virtual tour on the Internet. It seems they find the listings and have their agent make the appointment which results in more showings and sales for my sellers. I have a contract pending on a property which is scheduled to close later this month. The buyers have never been inside the house. Asking price almost $3 million.

In spite of our market being down almost 50% in the number of sales, and the inventory being up almost 50% in the number of listings, this has been my best year ever in real estate with over $12 million in sales so far – and it is only April. Thank you RTV for helping take my career to a new level.”

Sharon Nyman

Virtual Tour Provider

Feature List

  • 100% Your Brand & White Label
  • Advanced Customer Storefront
  • Advanced Photo & 4K Streaming Video Delivery
  • Automated Weekly Traffic Reports
  • Built-in 360 Virtual Tour Software
  • Calendar Integration & Job Scheduling System
  • Create Interactive Floor Plans with Hot Spots
  • Custom 360 Virtual Tour Layouts
  • Discounted Virtual Staging Services
  • Easy-to-Use Secure Client Portal
  • Invoice, Prepay, & Pay-To-Download
  • Jobs from RTV’s National Hotel Accounts
  • Photographer Management System
  • Secure HTTPS Links
  • Six Elegant Property Website Layouts
  • Stripe, PayPal, Square, & QuickBooks Integration
  • Unlimited Hosting
  • Unlimited Phone Training & Technical Support
  • Works with ANY 3D–360 Camera
  • Zillow, Matterport, & iGuide Compatible

“RTV, Best Service, Great Products!!!
We opened Photos Sell, real estate photography in January 2015. I found RTV during a search for a portal site so I could send high res images over the internet to my customers. When I called this company I was greeted by the owner himself. Jason LaVanture. Jason explained what RTV was about and what they can do for my new business. Great customer service, training, high res Virtual Tours and much, much more. After I signed up I got all of the above and much, much more. I received excellent training on the system. Instant help from customer support almost never got a voice mail and when I did they always got right back to me ASAP. The product is like nothing else, it set me apart from my competition. Look if your pictures are not good, they will no look good on any medium. I now work for 35 agents and exclusive with two large Brokers in our area. I am busy as hell. I read the complaints on this company and my response to those who complained is: you can’t make a living off the leads you get for RTV. You need to market you self, have a great product and provide great customer service. Look, I am no one special to RTV, just a customer and I have received outstanding service, their web portal works flawlessly and is easy to use and navigate. I can pickup the phone and speak to the Owner any time, he is a great resource and can be depended upon should you have a problem!! Thank you RTV. I prefer not be anonymizes: George Pulizzano, Photos Sell, Tampa, Florida.”

George Pulizzano

George Pulizzano Photography

“I became a RTV Full Service Provider after I researched many different virtual tour software solutions and purchased several different packages from virtual tour companies in the industry. RTV wins hands down! Their tours are truly INTERACTIVE and professional quality. Unlike other software that can distort images and give the ‘fishbowl’ effect, RTV offers a superior software solution that forgives even the most amateur of photographers and allows professional photographers to REALLY show off their work. In the last year my company has produced more than 170 tours for both commercial and real estate applications and that number is growing daily. On top of our own marketing efforts, RTV has sent us MANY qualified leads! 95% of all the leads that they send us result in an immediate order! To top the cake, their support staff is ON THE BALL!! A BIG thank you to Torie, Jon, Jacque (tour track), Ben and especially Jason for all of their training, support and attention to detail. I have been known to be a little ‘fiery’ and passionate about my business, but they have always answered my support requests promptly and professionally! I highly recommend their software to anyone who is even considering doing their own tours in-house OR starting a virtual tour company. You simply CANNOT beat the level of support or quality of software.”

Cheryl Waller

Virtual Tour Provider

“Success with RTV from a Real Estate Agent’s Point of View
In early 2005 as the real estate market here in the Florida Keys started to slow, I could see I would have to brush up on my marketing skills and find better ways to expose my listings to potential buyers. With so many Florida Keys homes and condos sold as vacation homes, an online presence with great photos and virtual tours becomes essential. A few years earlier I was the first agent in our area to do virtual tours. I had tried the two-shot version but the results were not very good. Then the market got so hot, and properties were selling so fast, there was no real need to have tours. I could see the tide turning and I wanted to add virtual tours back to my listings so I started doing some research to find the best solution. After looking at a lot of low quality tours, I found RTV. Having taken some photography courses in college, and with over 30 years in the real estate business taking photos of houses, I decided to do the tours myself. My first RTV tour was of one of the highest priced homes in Key Largo. Shortly after submitting it, I received a call from a buyer who said his wife had seen a virtual tour on the Internet and she wanted him to take a look at the property while he was in the Keys. During the showing he called his wife at home and told her to look at the virtual tour again. They decided then and there to make an offer. They ended up buying the property. The wife never came to see it until closing. The selling price was $3.7 million.

Since then there have been other situations where a buyer’s partner or family member could not be present but the decision to go forward was based on the virtual tour. Many times in the course of showing one of my listings with an agent from another company, I hear the buyers talking about having seen the virtual tour on the Internet. It seems they find the listings and have their agent make the appointment which results in more showings and sales for my sellers. I have a contract pending on a property which is scheduled to close later this month. The buyers have never been inside the house. Asking price almost $3 million.

In spite of our market being down almost 50% in the number of sales, and the inventory being up almost 50% in the number of listings, this has been my best year ever in real estate with over $12 million in sales so far – and it is only April. Thank you RTV for helping take my career to a new level.”

Sharon Nyman

Virtual Tour Provider