Creating a virtual house tour doesn't have to be complicated or costly. Whether you're showcasing a new house on the market, creating a tour for a new apartment building, or sharing your living space, you don't need expensive equipment or advanced editing skills. In this blog post, we'll walk you through a step-by-step guide that will help you create a stunning virtual tour using just the tools you have on hand. Get ready to turn your home into a digital experience that anyone can explore!
TLDR: To create a virtual house tour:
- Prepare: Stage the home and maximize natural lighting.
- Film: Use a tripod or stabilizer and shoot clips that are 5-10 seconds long.
- Edit: Use a quick and easy editor to assemble footage, add key info, and brand the video.
What is a virtual house tour?
A virtual house tour is an online, remote walkthrough of a property. While some advanced tours use interactive 360-degree views, many effective tours are simple, professionally edited video walkthroughs.
Virtual tours are now essential in real estate because they:
- Increase trust: They offer a trustworthy, authentic experience compared to static photos.
- Widen reach: Buyers start their research online; a tour appeals to a broader, global audience.
- Filter leads: They help qualify buyers, limiting in-person showings to only highly interested prospects.
Getting started: What you need
Ready to jump in? You probably already have all the tools you need to record a virtual house tour! Here’s what you’ll need:
- A smartphone or camera
- A microphone (The one on your headphones will do just fine)
- A video editor (Animoto is free and comes equipped with tons of templates and beginner-friendly tools)
Recommended:
- A tripod
- A simple light kit
- A gimbal to keep your video steady
Quick filming tips & prep
We spoke with Scott Tushman, co-founder of MIM Marketing in Motion Inc., for some advice on shooting videos for virtual tours created with Animoto.
Scott has been involved in sales and marketing for over thirty years and has helped clients around the globe to develop interactive tour videos. He shoots many of the videos himself.
Pre-filming prep
- Tidy up & stage: Wipe down all surfaces, sweep debris, and tuck away cleaning supplies. Stage the home to help buyers envision living in the space.
- Nail the lighting: Maximize natural light. Open all curtains and turn on all interior lights. If needed, use a portable LED light to illuminate darker areas.
- Plan the route: Lay out a clear, fluid walking route. This ensures you hit all key rooms and features smoothly, minimizing reshoots.
Filming technique tips
- Use a stabilizer: Always use a tripod or lean against a wall. Camera shake is the fastest way to make a video look unprofessional.
- Shoot short clips: Film clips that are 5–10 seconds long for each feature or room angle. You will only use the smoothest 3–4 seconds in the final edit.
- Vary movement: Use three or four simple camera movements: floor-to-ceiling, ceiling-to-floor, left-to-right, and slow zooms. Avoid fast panning.
- Capture exteriors: Always include a stabilized shot of the outside of the property, such as the front door opening or a walk-in shot from the exterior to the interior.
How to create professional tour videos with Animoto
So now you have a lot of footage of your home… but what do you do with it? Animoto will help you to transform this raw tour footage into a professional video. And you don’t need any video editing experience to do so! Just sign up for a free account and get started.
Looking for even more real estate video ideas? Here's a list of 47!
Step 1: Choose a template
We make getting started super simple by providing you with professionally designed video templates. These templates serve as a great starting point for your videos by providing you with a narrative flow and placeholders for your photos, videos, and text.
This template was created with a virtual apartment tour in mind, but it can easily be edited for any property. We’ll show you how to add your own photos and videos, change the colors, and use your video to tell the story of your property.
Step 2: Upload your media
Once you’re in your video workspace, you can upload all of your video clips and photos to Animoto. Just import them from your device or cloud storage platform and watch as they load into your media tray.
Don’t worry, you can trim and edit your video clips once they are fully uploaded.
Want to record a webcam video? You can do so right in Animoto! Just click the record button at the top to start recording a friendly welcome message to introduce yourself or the property. If you’re feeling camera shy, you can also choose to record a voice-over and speak directly to your audience.
Step 3: Drag, drop, and edit
To add your media to your video, just drag and drop them into the placeholders. You can always scale, trim, and adjust the volume of your video clips by clicking on them and selecting from our simple video editing tools.
To add more media, you can either add another media frame to your block by clicking on the Media Frames button just below the text icon, or add another block. When you add another block, you can choose from a variety of text, media, and mixed layouts. Then just repeat the steps above to add your own content.
Step 4: Add text
Tell your story by adding text to your video! You can add information like the location, neighborhood highlights, apartment features, rent, square footage, pet policies, and more.
Here's a list of inspiring real estate quotes to set the scene.
Step 5: Apply your brand
Now, let’s tie it all together by applying your brand! This will help to grow your agency’s recognition and add a professional touch to your video.
With Animoto, you can upload your own logo, add custom colors, and even upload a custom font. Then, you can apply these design changes to your video with a single click by creating a Saved Brand. Now, every video you make will reflect your own professional brand.
Need to create an unbranded version of your video for MLS listings? It's easy! Here's how.
Step 6: Finishing touches
Music sets the mood of your video! Each template comes preloaded with a licensed music track. You can stick with this song if you like it, or explore the hundreds of other songs available! Here’s a roundup of licensed songs we recommend for real estate videos.
And if you want to add a little something extra to highlight key features or add movement to your virtual house tour, consider adding elements! These animated stickers come in a variety of shapes like circles, arrows, and even CTA buttons that you can “stick” right on top of your video. Check out these real-estate-exclusive ones we created just for you!
Step 7: Share away!
Just like that, you have a professional virtual house tour made with only a couple video clips, some photos, and your brand.
Create your virtual house or apartment tour today
Feeling ready to take on your next tour, share your latest listing, or promote an open house? We’ve got your back! Here are some more templates to help you hit the ground running.
New Real Estate Listing
Want to create an eye-catching video to promote the latest listings to hit the market? Here are some templates for you!
Both templates offer a sleek and modern design to set your photos against. And once you have some tour footage ready to go, you can simple drag and drop it in to create a cohesive and engaging video. It’s really that easy!
Open House Promo
Now it’s time to close the deal with an in-person viewing! Use this open house promo template to get viewers excited about seeing your property IRL. You can include virtual tour footage here to entice them and create a “sneak peek” of what they’ll get to see in person.
Virtual house tour FAQs
If you found this helpful, don’t forget to tag us so we can see and share it too.
Happy video making!
