text: Over the past decade, the single-family home market experienced a boom in both supply and demand. Despite increased labor and construction costs, buyers flocked to purchase homes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic as people were leaving major cities for a more suburban lifestyle.
  Now, in a post-pandemic world with interest rates at 15-year highs, there are fewer home shoppers in the market. Developers of single-family homes are experiencing longer sales cycles and often need to lower asking prices. Decreasing sales velocity and pricing ultimately leads to significantly thinner margins, increased carrying costs, and lower project IRRs.
  In this more challenging environment, how you visualize and stage the property is the single most important tool you can use to maximize sales price, decrease time on the market, and drive quality leads to your property.
  But sometimes it’s hard to figure out exactly how important these visualizations are and how much you should invest in doing them right. Especially for homes that aren’t even built yet.
  There is hard data, though. Working with The Proptech Scout to source sales data for 6,700 homes recently sold across the United States (more specifically in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, and Nevada), StageGlass conducted an analysis of the impact 3D virtual tours had on the final sales price and the days on the market for homes that have sold over the past 24 months.
  The analysis found that, with statistically significant results¹, the inclusion of 3D virtual tours correlates with an:
  StageGlass has seen these results in action. Bahoora Homes used StageGlass’s 3D virtual tour technology for the marketing and sale of The Blossom Home, a small development in Pontiac, Michigan.
  Bahoora was able to achieve an industry-standard-breaking conversion rate of 14%, an 8.3% increase in final sales price compared to projected sales price ($520,000 compared to $480,000). They sold all homes within 3 weeks, which is significantly shorter than the time period other homes in the area are on the market.
  Why is this so? No one should be surprised that 3D virtual tours help home shoppers create an emotional connection with the home. They can visualize themselves within the home, and better imagine how it meets their lifestyle needs. All this can be done prior to the home being built or before making the decision to purchase.
  But StageGlass goes one step further. With our custom personalization process, StageGlass helps your buyers not just know at a glance what their new home will look like. They’ll imagine the life they will live, by showcasing the usage of space in the way most likely to help buyers know if it’s the right home for them.
  For example, imagine a buyer is looking at a third bedroom. In a single click they can change it from a child’s bedroom to a home office or even a gym to visualize their needs.
  StageGlass can help home builders maximize sale price, increase sales velocity, and drive higher-quality leads with hyper-realistic and personalized 3D virtual tours. If you’d like to learn more about our market research or are interested in speaking, please reach out directly by email to sterling @ stageglass.com. www.stageglass.com
  (1) Using a hedonic model with OLS regression, 3D virtual tours had a P-value of 0.00 when utilized as an independent variable with the dependent variable being “Sold Price” and a P-value of 0.10 when utilized as an independent variable with the dependent variable being “Days Listed”.
  (2) Independent variables included No. of Beds, No. of Baths, Square Footage, Year Built, Years Since Built, Has 3D Tour, Has Video, Has Images, City, State, Zip, Sold Date, Sold Price, Sold Price Per Square Foot, Days Listed.
  Sterling Jawitz is the VP of Operations at StageGlass with deep expertise in both proptech and real estate development. Prior to StageGlass, he was the Directory of Real Estate at Stuf, a partner in the real estate development firm VisonaRE, and the first employee at Common.
  In his free time, he enjoys endless walking and exploring of cities, spending time with his dog Bao Bao, building small replicas of historical and famous buildings, and designing / brainstorming new public and private projects. He’s based in California.