Carol Jones adds virtual tours for online listings

Now, when potential buyers log on to the Web site of Carol Jones, Realtors, they aren't just looking at still photographs they can take a tour of the house inside and out.

In early January, the company began offering virtual home tours on its site,

www.caroljones.com,

and within a month virtual tours were available on 85 of the homes listed. More homes are being added to the site daily.

"Viewing a home this way is almost like being there," said Diane Nicholas, a broker with Carol Jones, Realtors. "It's a 360-degree circle view of the neighborhood and rooms."

A visitor taking a virtual tour has a choice of four different views of the home. "The views can include both outdoor and indoor shots and are selected by the listing agent to represent the best attributes of the home," Nicholas said.

Because the agent chooses what homes are listed on the virtual site, the homes also range in price. Once inside the site, the viewer is asked to type in his price range. A local film company, ipix.com, shoots video of the homes in full color.

"This is a phenomenal tool for us and, more importantly, for our sellers," said Bob Fitzgerald, general manager of sales and operations. "It's like having open house seven days a week. Interested buyers can take a tour without ever leaving their home or office."

Fitzgerald said the site's hits per month have almost doubled since adding the virtual tours. The company's Web site was averaging 199,000 hits per month, which increased to 397,000 in January.

The amount of time visitors spend on the site has increased, as well. Average user time has gone from 10 1/2 minutes to 13 minutes.

Jane Chenoweth, who has residential listings all over Springfield, has two offers pending on virtual-tour homes.

"One of the interested parties is from the northern part of Missouri and the other is from San Antonio, Texas," she said. "I've had calls from Chicago, Omaha and Scotland, as well. The people I talk to say the virtual site gives them a good idea of what housing in the Ozarks is like."

The site can also be a time saver for the agent and the prospective buyer.

"By the time I talk to a buyer, he has a pretty good idea of what he wants," Chenoweth said. "It's a good utilization of time and a quicker way to achieve the goal of purchasing a home."

Rick and Pam Gardner have 14 of their listings on the virtual tour. The Gardners work in southeast Springfield, Ozark and Nixa.

"We recently received an e-mail from a buyer who just raved about the virtual tour," Pam Gardner said. "He liked being able to tour the homes without having to go anywhere."

She said the Web site lets people begin looking without having to speak to a Realtor if they're not ready for that step. "It also helps them weed out some of the houses they know they wouldn't be interested in," she added.

While the Gardners haven't sold a home listed on the virtual tours yet, Pam said they feel really good about their prospects.

"We've had a number of people go on some of the tours and then call us for more information."