OutThink - The Outhouse Blog

The Outsource Hub for Home Builders

3D Rendering

How Photoreal Renderings & Virtual Tours Sell Homes


By

Marketing insights from photos of an expedition to Antarctica

Black and white photo of two sets of jagged rocks forming a saddle. Old fence posts in the foreground. Reminiscent of a moonscape.
Deception Island – the caldera of an active volcano. Although taken in black and white, this photo accurately represents the starkness and other-worldly feel of the island.

With even the smallest home builders moving heavily into 3-D photoreal renderings, virtual tours, and animations, I thought it might be interesting to revisit this post from a year ago. This update includes additional information on rendering and virtual reality (VR) tools, plus new images of the latest photoreal renderings, and links to virtual tours. This also is one of my favorite posts, combining my career with my favorite pastime – travel.

A bucket-list trip to Antarctica is one of the most incredible and inspirational journeys. Seeing thousands of penguins and other animals, yet not a single plant anywhere is mind-boggling. The football field-sized+ icebergs, especially the tabular varieties, are astounding. And the monochromatic landscape is other-worldly. I came away with a desire to take better care of our planet, a greater appreciation of finding peace in solitude (this place is desolate!), and the realization I can enjoy summer when the high is just above freezing.

Colorful kayaks and kayakers in water with floating bits of ice, and dark clouds overhead.
Kayaking in Neko Harbor.
Penguins surrounding bright orange duffel bags on a large rock, set on a rocky beach with snow in the background.
The inquisitive penguins.

I also gained some key marketing insights. A recent post, Rules of Engagement, discusses the powerful lesson we learn from penguins, who are the stars of the Antarctic show. They captivate visitors as they gather stones to build nests, guard their chicks, run en masse along the beach to dive for food, and shuffle around checking out us humans. Likewise, digital marketing tools, including Interactive Floor Plans, Interactive Site Plans, and Visualizers, play a starring role on builder websites and are integral to the new home journey. Captivating and engaging homebuyers, digital tools create strong emotional connections and lead to an increase in closing sales.

A lesson also came on the importance of color and texture and how it relates to visual marketing tools like renderings, virtual tours, and animations. Against a backdrop of grey and white, the most captivating photos include glimpses of vivid color, most often provided by humans. Pops of red, orange, and yellow on ships, clothing, and kayaks look stunning in the barren landscape.

Bow of a ship with red trim cracking a giant ice sheet.
Cracking a massive ice sheet in Wilhelmina Bay. Note the power or red.
An expedition team, wearing bright orange and yellow jackets, on an inflatable Zodiac boat cruising through water with chunks of ice
Traveling by Zodiac in the Antarctic Sound.

Colors from nature include teal from glacial ice; clear blue skies; orange, pink, red, and purple emanating from the stunning midnight sunsets; bits of orange and yellow on penguin beaks, necks, and feet; and an occasional rainbow. That’s about it! What really makes Antarctica so dramatic are the textures. Smooth snow, jagged rocks, fluffy clouds. Constantly changing due to weather, they overwhelm the senses.

A black ship with red and white trim next to a giant, triangular, blue-tinted iceberg.
Our ship, anchored next to a massive, blue-tinged iceberg.
Blue icebergs floating in front of a rocky mountain with snow. Clouds overhead, and reflecting in the water.
Cool blue on an iceberg and purple-tinged skies add rare bits of natural color in Neko Harbor.
Bright orange sunset over the ocean against a backdrop of grey clouds.
The most color at any one time, a vibrant sunset, sometime around midnight.

And that brings us to the importance of photoreal renderings, virtual tours, and animations in new home sales. Colors and textures appeal to everyone. They move and motivate us, playing an essential role in marketing strategies. Photoreal imagry brings colors and textures to your pre-built homes. It gives potential buyers a realistic view of your homes, often generating sales before a model is ever built. 3-D Renderings are the first place to start. We still see builder websites with flat, black/white stick drawings. Yuck! These in no way engage the senses like a proper photoreal rendering.

Photoreal rendering for Winslow Homes – daylight.
Same elevation for Winslow Homes – a dramatic dusk shot.

Even more engaging are virtual tours and animations. What’s the difference? Virtual tours, like the ones for DeLuca Homes and KLMR Homes shown here, are user-controlled. Viewers click into a room and then turn the image for a 360° view. Animations, on the other hand, are video tours. Both bring your “model homes” to buyers around the world. Virtual Tours tend to be the most popular as they are more cost-effective, and most users enjoy the hands-on experience.

Invite your buyers to discover your homes with virtual tours. Click the DeLuca Homes kitchen to explore their Mayfair plan.
A stunning home with spectacular views. KLMR Homes Bellos at the Summit.

People love to explore and engage. These are the reasons many of us enjoy discovering the world. When it comes to purchasing a new home, your buyers also want to personalize. By implementing digital and visualization tools on your website, you invite homebuyers to do all three. Contact Outhouse today to learn more about our interactive floor plans, interactive site plans, virtual tours, animations, visualizers, and renderings, plus our interactive kiosks, which incorporate all.

Clouds and a rainbow between two jagged hills straddling a channel with water.
A rainbow – the perfect ending to a storm in the Lemaire Channel.

Visualization Sells


By

Lessons Learned from Zillow + a Trip to Croatia

A mural at the market in Zagreb, the largest city and capital of Croatia.

With its ancient towns, incredibly detailed architecture, and pops of color, the country of Croatia a sight to behold.  If you haven’t been, this is one place that should be on your must-see travel list.  The country is a visual feast, and the great walled cities like Dubrovnik and Split are spectacular! As you sail along the Dalmatian Coast and between the islands dotting the Adriatic Sea, the first glimpse of each city or town reveals a mass of limestone buildings with terra cotta tile roofs.

Korcula Island, a historic fortified town.

Although a bit similar, each is wonderful and breathtaking in its own way.  Color and texture play a vital role in bringing out the unique personality of each island and the coastal area in general.  Fantastic murals, light installations, brightly painted pottery, and fun, colorful yachts and boats stand in sharp contrast to the deep blue sea and off-white buildings.  “A picture paints a thousand words” certainly applies to this amazing country, and that is why Croatia draws travelers from around the world.

Imagery and Engaging Tools are Vital to New Home Sales

The same holds true for your homes when it comes to painting a picture for potential buyers. Describing a “beautiful bedroom with tray ceiling and a pair of windows” is one thing. And then there is this rendering.

Which bedroom is most appealing to you? The one in the description, or the one in this beautiful rendering?!

A recent report by Zillow shows nearly half (49%) of new construction buyers under age 40 (Gen Z and millennials) say they feel very or extremely confident about making an offer on a home solely after seeing it virtually.  The same holds true for 36% of buyers between the ages of 41 and 55 (Gen X).“

2020 brought some unique challenges to the home building industry. With Americans staying home in droves, builders were forced to rethink online marketing strategies. As the abundance of time people spend online continues in 2021, we see a growing contingent of sophisticated buyers who are making most purchases online; and retailers are spending billions of dollars engaging them.  When it comes to their search for a new home, these same buyers seek out and expect a similar, interactive experience.  Outdated 2D renderings and static floor plans are not enough to capture their attention. They are looking for tools like Interactive Floor Plans (IFPs) and Interactive Site Maps (ISMs). These tools are incredibly engaging and build emotional connections, especially the IFPs with their furniture planners, pricing tools, and structural options selectors. Statistics show that home buyers spend 2-3 minutes on the typical builder website. This time increases by 13-20 minutes, on average, with an Outhouse IFP.

Click to engage the Outhouse Interactive Site Plan and Floor Plans.

Statistics show that home buyers spend 2-3 minutes on the typical builder website. This time increases by 13-20 minutes, on average, with an Outhouse IFP.“

Also playing a huge role in online sales are virtual tours and animations, which allow home buyers to walk or fly through homes not yet constructed. These can be so lifelike with running water, crackling fireplaces, and more, they may even look better than the Matterport tours of your model homes. A massive benefit to builders is the cost, which is substantially less than building and furnishing a model.

Click to see our animation in action – bubbling fountains included!

Virtual Tours and Visualizers Bring Maximum Engagement 

Kicking it up a notch are interior and exterior Visualizers, enticing home buyers to select color palettes, materials, and finishes for their new homes.  In addition to clear, vivid images, the Outhouse Visualizer offers builders the choice between predetermined color schemes and a la carte selections.

Yes, model home traffic will gradually continue to grow, but the move to greater interaction online is here to stay. The pandemic has accelerated the widespread acceptance of new technologies. Even people who typically are later adopters have learned to use and appreciate the convenience of interactive online tools (can anyone say Zoom!). Visualizers, Virtual Tours, Animations, Interactive Floor Plans, and Interactive Site Plans are crucial for builder websites. All of these tools are designed to capture buyers. They market and sell your homes from anywhere in the world, even when your sales centers are closed.