Showcase Listings with 360 Photos
360 photos support is now available in YGL. 360 photos are much better at showcasing a property than traditional photos, giving users a 360 view of the surroundings. You can use 360 photos as a standalone tour or as a good supplement to your existing video walkthrough.
See Example:
https://site.yougotlistings.com/9744/rental/67342299
Uploading 360 photos is the same as uploading traditional photos. They are automatically detected after upload. They appear on your personal site after a virtual tour, before traditional photos. Remember to add photos captions to indicate which room it is, which makes the viewing experience much better.
To take 360 photos, you'll need a 360 camera. The future of real estate is becoming more virtual, we think this is a good time to invest into a 360 camera. There are a lot of good videos on Youtube on this topic. Here is one to get you started.
When purchasing a camera, do keep in mind that not all 360 cameras are capable of shooting 360 videos, if that is also a capability you are looking for. So definitely do your research before purchase.
Again, if you have any questions, please reach out to us at virtualtour@yougotlistings.com. We look forward to hear from you.
Lead Inquires for Off Market Listings
We are seeing a good amount of property inquiries for off market listings. Once your listings are syndicated to our 3rd party syndication partners, YGL does not have direct control over when and how listings are displayed, and if listings are taken off market. If our syndication partners don't deactivate listings in time, you can get off market listing inquiries.
Dealing with off market inquiries can be annoying, yet it could also be an opportunity. We think the best way is to let you decide how you want to handle them. By default the option to discard these leads is turned off, which means you will receive the lead even when they inquire on an off market listing. If you choose to no longer receive these leads, just turn on the discard option.
This setting is account wide and can only be set by the admin or manager of the account in the Listing Syndication section on the Account Settings page.
If a leads has inquired on an off market listing, a special notification will appear under the Inquired Rentals section on the lead's details page.
Please send any feedback to feedback@yougotlistings.com. We look forward to hear from you.
Regards,
The YouGotListings Team
Zillow Syndication Stopped For Massachusetts
As you probably know, Zillow just started charging for postings in Connecticut, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada and Virginia.
If you are in the above states, your listings are no longer included in our general feed to Zillow to avoid accidental charges. You must setup your payment plan with Zillow then manually turn on the appropriate syndication setting. You can either syndicate all of your listings or only ones tagged with "ZillowFeed".
If you have setup a custom feed to Zillow independently, your custom feed is still being generated daily with no change. However, depending on your setup with Zillow, you might want to feed only "ZillowFeed" tagged listings instead of all your listings.
Any questions, please reach out to us at support@yougotlistings.com
Introducing 360 Videos - The Best Virtual Tour Medium
As the second part of our virtual tour initiative, we want to introduce you to the easiest and most cost effective virtual tour medium, 360 Video. In this post, we will provide all the info you need to get started.
And if interested and would like more info, or just have questions, do reach out to us at virtualtour@yougotlistings.com. We be happy to chat over email or phone.
360 Video Virtual Tour Examples
Keep in mind that 360-degree videos are interactive where you can pan the video to look around; you can also pause at any moment to take a longer and closer look at the surroundings.
Example 1:
Same video on Facebook.
Example 2:
Same video on Facebook.
360 Video Advantages
360-degree videos have many advantages over other types of virtual tours.
- Great Tour Experience - Comparing to normal videos and photos, it's is much more informative as viewers can look around, pause at any time and jump to any specific location. Comparing to tours such as Matterport, 360 videos give a more realistic and personal feel.
- Easy to Create - It's hard to do virtual tours unless it is dead simple, and that's what 360 videos are. Taking a 360 video is actually easier than shooting a video with your phone. Just walk around the property while holding the camera, there is no need to point the camera to cover different areas or angels since the 360 camera automatically captures the full view.
- Easy to Upload - Once a video is shot, you can directly upload it from your phone. No extra editing step is needed.
- Wide Platform Support - Like a normal video, 360 videos can be uploaded to YouTube, Facebook and many other platforms. 360 videos can also be shared to any social media.
- Great Exposure - Because of the wide platform support, 360 Video gives your virtual tours much more exposure to potential tenants and give you more marketing options.
- No Extra Cost or Third Party Dependency - Unlike other virtual tour technology such as Matterport. You don't need to use or pay any third party system to create and host your virtual tours. Youtube is free.
- Advanced Options Available - As you get more experience, you can do much more, such as creating a video trailer for the 360 video, voice-over to provide an audio guide, etc. It is truly limitless.
3 Simple Steps to Create Your Own 360 Videos
Step 1 - Get an affordable 360 camera and a selfie stick.
After much research and testing of various cameras, we recommend the Rylo 360. It is $200 and very easy to use.
(Prices as of 4/13/2020)
BestBuy - $199.99 Amazon - $197.95 Adorama - $198.49
A selfie stick is needed to hold the camera in front of you while filming. Any will do, just make sure the below mount type is included, which most do.
Here is an example selfie stick from BestBuy that would work.
Step 2 - Shoot the video and download to your phone.
Here is a short video tutorial for the Rylo 360. See how easy it is.
It is extremely important that the "360 Video" type is selected before downloading to your phone. Refer to the 2:01 minute mark in the video if unsure.
Step 3 - Upload to Youtube (or other platforms)
Once the video is downloaded to your phone, you can upload it to Youtube just like a normal video.
FREE Training, Q&A, Support
We hope you are now excited to start creating your own virtual tours. It is a great way to stand out from the crowd and conduct business online. It is a small investment that will carry you a long way.
Remember that we are here to support you through this process. Whether if that's guides, such as top tips on how to film 360 videos, or over the phone training, or questions you might have, you can reach us at:
virtualtour@yougotlistings.com
We are working on the 3rd part of our virtual tour initiative, which we will bring 360 videos online for YGL Network listings, as well as updating our Personal Site and Widget to better showcase them.
Happy filming!
- The YouGotListings Team
The Virtual Tour Initiative - Part 1
As you are all well aware, Covid-19 has hit the rental industry extremely hard. Setting up a traditional showing is extremely difficult if not impossible.
We, at YGL, have been thinking hard about how we can help our clients go through this difficult period. Hence we are exploring different solutions on how to show apartments remotely.
Currently, virtual tour technology, such as Matterport, is the next best thing to an in person showing. But unfortunately the complexity and price of entry makes it prohibitive to the majority of the people.
Today, we are announcing the first part of our virtual tour initiative, the full support of virtual tours in the YGL system. We are also looking to help landlords make virtual tours available through YGL Network.
The 2nd part of the initiative will be available soon, which we will provide how-to guides and free services so that you can easily create quality virtual tours as simple as taking a video.
Initiative Part 1 - Available Today
#1 - Uploading Virtual Tours to a Listing
You can add multiple virtual tours (by url) to a listing through its photos upload page. YouTube videos can be added here as well. If you are a landlord, the virtual tours you upload will be automatically be available to your brokers on the YGL Network.
#2 - Search For Listings with Virtual Tours
The rental listings search interface is updated to easily search for listings with virtual tours.
#3 Virtual Tour Preview Under Rental Details
The Photos section on the Rental Details page is renamed to Media with virtual tours added. The first tour can be directly accessed, while the remaining tours can be accessed by URL.
#4 Shared Virtual Tours by Landlord
Landlords can share virtual tours of units with brokers through the YGL Network. Brokers will see them in the now renamed Media page. We are working with landlords to bring online more and more virtual tours. If you are a landlord that needs help, please reach out to us.
#5 Virtual Tour on Dashboard Activities
When a virtual tour is uploaded to a listing either by you, your agent or a landlord, you'll get notified on the Dashboard Activities.
#6 Personal Site / Widget Support
Personal site and widget support, so you can display tours on your website or email to clients. (Coming soon)
Please stay tuned for Part 2. And if you have any suggestions as to how we can better improve virtual tours support, or help in general in this current environment, please don't hesitate to reach out at feedback@yougotlistings.com.
Hope everyone is well and staying safe!
- The YouGotListings Team
PennyPosting - Posting to Facebook Rentals Marketplace Now Available
We are excited to announce that you can now use PennyPosting to post to Facebook. Their rentals market place is free to post and has good traffic.
Of note, photos are not auto uploaded because of technical limitations with Facebook. Once forms are auto filled on the posting page, you will be presented with the option to download the listing's photos and upload them manually.
Tip: If you download a single photo, once it finishes, you can drag the photo on the bottom of the browser directly into the Facebook photo upload box to have it uploaded.
Welcome your feedback. Please send to feedback@yougotlistings.com.
Best Regards,
The YouGotListings Team