There are over half a million homes listed for sale in the United States right now. That's a huge number of homes for potential buyers to have to sift through and try and figure out which one is best for them.
Real estate listings used to just be a way to provide a quick overview of information on a property, and the showing was for really highlighting the property and wowing the buyer.
Thanks to the rise of real estate floor plans, that's not the case anymore. Floor plans can help sell a house quicker and lead to more satisfied buyers.
Let's look at why you need to include a floor plan when you're trying to market a property.
Schematic Floor Plans for Properties
If you've been wondering why your real estate listing isn't drawing the kind of attention that you expected, it might be due to a lack of a schematic floor plan. A schematic floor plan is essentially just a scaled diagram of a property, showing the layout and size of each room in the house.
A good floor plan should include the dimensions of each section of the house and crucial information like exits and furniture layout. A great floor plan can help potential buyers visualize a property before they've even stepped foot in it.
2D Floor Plans
Property floor plans can either be rendered in 2D or 3D. Both are useful tools to help you sell a house, but they do have some crucial differences.
2D floor plans are essentially blueprints for the property presented as a "flat" top-down rendering of the property and all the rooms inside. A 2D floor plan is great for highlighting certain things around the house.
With a 2D floor plan, you can take a glance and see the exact measurements of each room and the space in between the walls, the rooms, any hallways, or any fixtures.
3D Floor Plans
2D floor plans are great for a quick overview and getting all the measurements of a house, but they can't translate the feel and style of a house thoroughly. That's where 3D floor plans come in.
3D floor plans add a layer of depth and texture that allows buyers to fully appreciate the property as if they were there themselves. 3D floor plans help buyers understand the current furniture layout and how it could be improved or changed.
3D floor plans are the best insight you can give any potential buyer into a property before they come to a real-life showing.
Why Real Estate Floor Plans Matter
We've had a quick overview of what floor plans are and how they're used, but you still might not be convinced that they should be integrated into your real estate marketing strategy.
There are a number of reasons why you should try to include floor plans for every property that you sell. Let's take a quick look at six of the biggest ones.
Find Serious Buyers
A stunning home is a serious investment, and it can be stressful for buyers who want to get all the information they can about any given property. Floor plans can help cut through the noise and help buyers quickly find the home that they want.
Let's say for example that some potential buyers are looking for a house with a south-facing yard that has a balcony. Just one quick click on a listing with a floor plan and they can immediately get this information. They'll no longer have to make time-consuming phone calls or turn up to speculative showings just hoping that the house has everything they want.
This all helps to speed up the entire selling process, it's a win for the buyer and a win for the seller. Having the floor plan there helps to filter out unqualified buyers and ensure that you're only showing the property to seriously interested parties.
Visualization
Floor plans are not only great for getting the dimensions of a property, but they're also wonderful at helping interested buyers visualize the house.
Buyers understandably have a lot of questions when they're looking at houses to buy; how big are the bedrooms? Is there an open-floor kitchen/dining area? Where are the bathrooms located?
Taking a quick look at the floor plan can answer these questions immediately and help them get a good idea of how the house is going to look before they turn up for the showing.
It transforms the showing from an introductory process to an opportunity to close a sale.
Highlight Your Listing
Most buyers will spend a lot of time scanning through several listings a day. Stack that up over a few months and they're going to be looking at potentially hundreds of properties. It can be hard to remember each and every one of those.
That's why you need something that helps your listing stand out from the pack and be remembered. A detailed 3D floor plan will do this. Having the opportunity to inspect and look through the property from the comfort of their own home will help cement it in their memory.
You can communicate things via a floor plan that can be difficult to explain by just using a description. A floor plan is a great opportunity to wow potential buyers with the most attractive properties of the house so that they will remember it and hopefully contact you for a showing.
Establish a Connection With the Property
Being able to assess the house and visualize exactly how it looks begins to foster the imagination of potential buyers.
Before long, they'll be dreaming of their life in the house, how they'd wake up and go to that kitchen and make a coffee. How they'd drink the coffee looking out over that view. In short, they start to think of it as "their home" before they've even been to a showing.
By eliminating the guesswork and providing a clear picture of what the house is going to look like, buyers will begin to establish a powerful emotional connection with the house, which is going to make them much more tempted to put an offer down.
A simple text description cannot provide that same level of connection.
Advanced Visual Content
We live in a world that is dominated by visual content. Busy people looking for a place to buy don't always want to sift through endless overviews describing the house. Rendering a 3D floor plan of a property is the only way to take your visual content to the next level.
What's even better, if you have the capability, is that 3D floor plans are compatible with VR headsets. You can give people an opportunity to literally stand in the house and take a look around.
This will help to further foster and establish that emotional connection that we mentioned earlier.
Sell Difficult Real Estate
Every realtor has had to deal with that one property. The one with all the problems that you just can't seem to sell no matter how hard you try. Maybe the layout is a bit strange, it's in a slightly shabby condition, or it just doesn't seem to capture anyone's imagination. A floor plan can help massively here.
What a floor plan can't do is make potential buyers look past these defects with the property, but they give you a golden opportunity to try and show the property from a different angle.
A floor plan can help you highlight what's great about the property in a way that a showing can't. People just turning up to a showing are going to notice the defects only.
By giving them a floor plan to view first, you can highlight things like the amount of space the property has to offer, the unique layout of the home, etc.
3D Walkthroughs: Next-Level Floor Plans
If you want to take your floor plans up another level, then you should consider offering 3D walkthroughs of the property. This latest technology is an absolute game changer in the industry.
Your buyers can view a top-down 3D floor plan of the property, but just one click can transport them into a 360° photograph of each area in the house and they can take a look around as if they were there themselves.
These walkthroughs are VR-compatible and can effectively act as a tour of the house without anyone having to leave the comfort of their own home.
Find the Perfect Home Today
Real estate floor plans are the secret weapon when it comes to connecting buyers and sellers. Who wouldn't want an opportunity to step inside their dream home before they've even arranged a showing? With the rise of 3D and VR home walkthroughs, selling or buying a home has been made easy.
Looking to sell your home or buy your next one? We'd love to help you out. Get in touch with us today to see how we can turn your real estate dream into a reality.