Virtual tours continue to serve buyers, sellers and agents

Do you remember being absolutely baffled when you followed up on a newspaper ad for “cozy cottage” and found a falling-down fixer? Can the term “waterfront access” accurately describe a public boat launch three miles away?

Advertisements sometimes are too complimentary and do not accurately describe the property for which they were written. Homeowners and real estate agents, like many people in the sales game, put the prettiest face on a product to lure the largest number of potential buyers.

Does the medium in which the ad appears have the obligation to check these ads for accuracy? In a capsule, you don’t shoot the messenger. Most of the time, when an ad is out of line, so is its author.

According to media attorneys, a publication or website typically would not have the obligation to check the accuracy of the ad. Publications usually are held “to the ordinary standard of care.” This basically means that unless the newspaper, magazine or website knew, or should have known, about an inaccuracy, it has no real duty to investigate the factual statements made in the advertisement.

There’s no doubt that it is extremely difficult to continually find ways to describe homes. Let’s face it – ordinary places are ordinary. Many agents dread the task and some firms now have designated ad writers. Several years ago, when home-loan rates jumped out of sight, agents and ad writers were faced with the difficult task of merely getting buyers to look at homes. Some ads were clearly in dreamland.

For the past two years, with dwindling inventories and terrific mortgage interest rates and home-loan rates, potential buyers have not had to be coaxed to Sunday open houses. The market is good and if there is a complaint registered by sellers, it’s usually about “Looky Lous,” or window shoppers, who constantly tour but seemingly never make a competitive offer.

The biggest boon for frustrated ad writers was the introduction of video home tours that rocketed on the residential more than 15 years ago. Actual photos of specific properties removed the guesswork of detailing a home’s most attractive amenities while supplying out of area shoppers – and neighbors – with a deeper understanding of what to expect. (“Oh, it’s that place with the great yard. Wasn’t it on the market a few years ago?”).

The most significant event in home tour history was sparked by Toronto’s Kevin McCurdy, then 24, who started a company called Jutvision with his father in 1997. Jutvision, which later became Bamboo.com, stunned the competition by announcing a price point of $99 that included four scenes of the house AND a cameraperson who would go out and film a house.

McCurdy said the $99 deal would spark virtual home tours for the masses and “revolutionize the way we buy and sell real estate in the United States.” Asked how his $99 system worked on virtually any computer and without a bunch of add-on equipment, McCurdy proclaimed “It just works.”

JutVision polished its “videography” product throughout Canada via an alliance with Royal LePage Ltd., one of the largest realty networks in that country. By the time he was ready to roll in the U.S., the competition discovered the kid from north of the border had his ducks in a row. In 1999, Bamboo merged with virtual tour kingpin Interactive Pictures Corp (iPIX) to form a company that served thousands of real estate websites.

Although newspaper advertising is extremely popular, some companies rely on other means to secure borrowers, including television. In 1984, the Reagan administration deregulated the television industry, allowing commercial content programming. Previously, shows were limited to seven minutes of commercials for each 30 minutes of programming. Real estate shows, including extreme makeovers, now are common and help drive traffic to company website.

But don’t get carried away if you are a seller or agent attempting to write an ad. Take the time to include a virtual tour because “it just works” a lot better for potential buyers. A “peekaboo Sound view” should be more than standing on a toilet near a second-floor dormer window and cranking your neck to get a glimpse of water through the neighbor’s trees in winter.

New book: Follow real estate agent and basketball coach Ernie Creekmore as he attempts to solve another murder – this time a “helicopter” parent constantly prodding his star athlete son. Tom Kelly’s “Hovering Above a Homicide” is now in print and E-book form. Get a signed copy at TomKelly.com or purchase at bookstores everywhere and online.