Bringing 3D Virtual Tour Technology In-House at Minnesota Real Estate & Management
I’m genuinely excited to share something we’ve been working on at Minnesota Real Estate & Management: we have officially brought professional 3D virtual tour technology in-house.
Going forward, interactive 3D virtual tours will become a standard part of the marketing package for the properties we list. We’ll also be incorporating this technology into select vacation rental marketing and offering professional virtual tour services to other Realtors and brokerages throughout the Brainerd Lakes Area.
For me personally, this is something I’m really excited about because it gives us one more tool that we completely control in-house. It allows us to be more creative, move faster, and continue improving the way we showcase the properties we represent.
3D Virtual Tours Are Now Standard ON Every Listing!
Continuing to Build a Better Marketing Package
We’ve always taken a lot of pride in the marketing we provide for our listings.
Depending on the property, our marketing may include professional photography, drone photography, video, detailed interior and exterior walkthroughs, and both 2D and 3D floor plans.
One piece we haven’t consistently incorporated in the past has been a full interactive 3D tour.
There are different opinions in the real estate industry about virtual tours. Some agents feel they are overrated, while others — and many buyers — really appreciate being able to virtually walk through a property before scheduling an in-person showing.
Personally, I think the real value is in giving buyers another way to understand a property.
Photos can show individual rooms beautifully. Video can tell a story. Floor plans can show dimensions and layout. But a good interactive 3D tour lets somebody actually move through the home at their own pace and begin to understand how everything connects.
That is something photography alone simply can’t always accomplish.
Why Bringing the Technology In-House Matters to Us
This is probably the part I’m most excited about.
Many brokerages use 3D tours primarily on higher-end listings because hiring a third-party provider for every property can become expensive. By investing in the equipment and technology ourselves, we can make virtual tours a normal part of our marketing instead of treating them as an upgrade reserved for only certain listings.
More importantly, having the technology in-house gives us control.
We’re not simply sending someone to a property, having them scan it, and accepting whatever comes back.
We can decide how the property is presented, what areas deserve additional attention, how the tour flows, and what features we want buyers to notice. Every property is different, and I don’t believe real estate marketing should be completely one-size-fits-all.
Some homes have incredible kitchens. Some have unusual layouts that are difficult to understand from photographs. Some have beautiful outdoor living areas. Others are all about the relationship between the home and the lake.
Having this technology ourselves gives us considerably more flexibility to build the tour around the property rather than forcing the property into a standard presentation.
I’m Especially Excited About What This Can Do for Lake Homes
Being in the Brainerd Lakes Area, this technology is particularly exciting to me because so much of our business involves lake properties.
Lake homes can be difficult to fully appreciate online.
A buyer doesn’t just want to know what the kitchen looks like. They want to understand where the lake is in relation to the house. They want to know which rooms have lake views, how the living room connects to the deck, how the bedrooms are positioned, how someone gets from the house to the shoreline, and how all of the indoor and outdoor spaces work together.
An interactive 3D tour can help answer many of those questions before a buyer ever walks through the front door.
That can be especially important here because many buyers looking in the Brainerd Lakes Area are coming from the Twin Cities or even from outside Minnesota. They may not be able to immediately jump in the car and schedule a showing every time a property catches their attention.
If we can give those buyers a better understanding of a property from hundreds or thousands of miles away, I believe that is something worth investing in.
Combining 3D Tours With New AI Marketing Tools
We’ve also started carefully incorporating AI into some of our real estate marketing.
I’m excited about that technology as well, but I also think it needs to be used responsibly.
AI virtual staging and digitally enhanced imagery can be incredibly helpful when somebody is trying to visualize the potential of a vacant room, unfinished area, building lot, shoreline, or other space that may be difficult to imagine from a traditional photograph.
Our goal is never to misrepresent a property.
When we use digitally modified or virtually staged imagery, we believe it should be clearly identified as such. The purpose is to help somebody visualize what may be possible — not to make them believe something currently exists when it doesn’t.
I think there is a tremendous amount of potential in combining traditional real estate marketing with newer technology while still being transparent about what buyers are looking at.
Offering Virtual Tour Services to Other Realtors
Another part of this that we’re excited about is offering professional virtual tour creation to other local Realtors and brokerages.
We’ve invested in professional-grade 3D camera technology capable of producing detailed, realistic tours, and we believe there is an opportunity to make that technology available to other agents throughout the Brainerd Lakes Area as well.
Not every brokerage wants to purchase the equipment, software, and technology required to bring this service in-house.
We already have.
So if another local agent has a listing where they believe an interactive 3D tour would add value, we’re happy to help.
Real Estate Marketing Keeps Changing — and We Want to Keep Improving With It
Real estate marketing is evolving incredibly quickly.
Professional photography still matters. Drone photography matters. Video matters. Floor plans matter. Virtual staging can be helpful. And now we believe interactive 3D tours can become another important part of a complete real estate marketing package.
I don’t believe there is one single marketing tool that sells every property.
What I do believe is that our job is to give each property we represent every reasonable opportunity to stand out, and to give buyers as much useful information as possible when they are deciding whether a home deserves an in-person visit.
That’s why I’m personally so excited about having this technology in-house.
It gives our team another capability. It gives our sellers another marketing tool. It gives buyers another way to experience a property. And, most importantly, it gives us the freedom to continue experimenting, learning, and improving how we market real estate.
For us, this isn’t about adding technology just because it’s new.
It’s about continuing to build what we believe should be a modern, complete real estate marketing package for every property we represent.
If you’re thinking about selling a home, cabin, investment property, or lake home in the Brainerd Lakes Area, we’d be happy to show you how we’re incorporating professional 3D virtual tours into our marketing.
And if you’re a local Realtor or brokerage interested in adding a professional virtual tour to one of your listings, feel free to reach out to us anytime.
