As question marks are raised over the major portals’ ability to show ‘next generation’ features, a system has been launched which allows a virtual tour to be filmed, edited and shared with a potential buyer or tenant in a matter of minutes and at a cost of £1 per property per month.
It is the latest proptech innovation to go live, after being hot-housed by an accelerator, and appears to raise question marks for the major portals as to how they handle proptech.
Several other new proptech products are in the immediate pipeline, reflecting the growing importance of proptech to the industry – and their challenge to those portals which cannot currently enable, for example, virtual tours and chats with agents.
Last week, Zoopla announced a £1m investment in four proptech companies.
While earlier virtual tour systems are in place for agents, Vieweet 360 looks to be a significant advance, combining a fisheye lens and a new app.
Vieweet co-founder Domenic Versace said: “Vieweet 360 is set to revolutionise the way property professionals create virtual tours.
“For the first time, they can get a complete virtual tour live online moments after the photographs have been taken. It’s 100% mobile, there’s no need for expensive digital SLR cameras or complicated editing equipment, and the Vieweet App does all the hard work for you.
“In fact, you can film an entire virtual tour of a standard three bedroom property and get it up and running on the web in less than ten minutes.”
An adaptor allows a fisheye lens to be attached the phone’s camera and locked into a 5ft high monopod.
Standing in the centre of each room, the agent takes four images, each 90 degrees apart, which will be put together by the app’s ‘auto stitch’ technology. There is also the facility to create ‘hotspots’ in the tour, allowing the viewer to move from one location to another.
Versace said: “The people taking the images need no photography skills as the A=app guides you through the process, avoiding the need to hire professional photographers. It also creates a fully-interactive experience for the viewer, who can control how they want to look around each location, and by clicking on the ‘hotspots’, decide where they want to go next.”
The Vieweet 360 Starter Kit costs £240, which includes the 360-degree fisheye lens, monopod and other attachments required to take photographs as well as a 12-month subscription allowing the user to have 20 properties live on the Vieweet platform.
Properties can come on and off the platform as many times as the subscriber likes. If more properties are required, agents can buy a bolt-on, which costs an additional £20 per month for an extra 20 properties.
Vieweet was part of the first London cohort of the Barclays Accelerator powered by Techstars in 2014. The ambition behind the programme is aimed at supporting the growth of developing fin tech companies.
Lubaina Manji, Barclays head of group innovation, said: “It’s great to see one of the alumni of our first accelerator cohort bringing new innovative technology to the market. With the Barclays Accelerator we aim to accelerate the development of groundbreaking products and services, developing fintech that has the ability to transform industries.”
Vieweet, founded by Domenic Versace and David Poullier two years ago, is known to be making waves in the proptech sector and is expected to make further announcements.
There is a demonstration on how to create a virtual tour at the first link, and the results of one taken with an iPhone at the second:
No, No NO. This is a great idea and the worst thing an agent can get into. Been tried before and as everyone knows unless you have a perfect dream showhouse it fails miserably for the average Joe’s property. All the IT buffs on here no doubt will jump in but the whole idea of marketing is to use it as a carrot to get someone to the property. People need to feel for the property and all this does is switch buyers off if all that clutter is tunnelled into your vision before making an appointment to view. We tried 360 tour years ago and dropped it very quickly as it was counter productive, very noticeable feedback from the buying public that it was putting them off from viewing. Common statement was, “we don’t need to view now, we don’t like it”. So many things effect the buyers perception when watching with these gimmicks.
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There not enough hours in the day to describe how this is fundamentally flawed. We’re in 2016! Who still thinks 360 spinners have a place? And who has the time to take 4 photos (per room!), check they’re lined up etc etc.
The email headline read “New virtual tour system launches – and could prove challenge for portals”. A challenge to the portals? This headline is nothing more the clickbait.
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Couldn’t agree more!
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Next generation? 360 spinners were around in the late 90’s! Completely agree with wooden top, property marketing is not about allowing people to zoom in on the mouldy patch in the plaster, it’s about presenting an inviting, complementary vision of the property, with just enough hooks to generate an enquiry to view. And as if any agent has the time for all this extra work.
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Could work well for rentals when the tenant is relocating from outside of the UK, so can’t view in person.
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