Virtual Tours deal set to skyrocket qualified buyers for RE/MAX

For immediate release

Qualified buyers and renters are set to skyrocket for RE/MAX agents with the national franchise signing a partnership agreement with Australia’s fastest-growing virtual tours company.

The deal will see the franchise – which has more than 900 members and associates across Australasia – partner with Virtual Tours Australia (VTA) to provide 3D virtual open homes on properties for sale or lease.

Under the partnership, RE/MAX agents and property managers will deliver 24/7 virtual open homes and inspections to their customers, driving more qualified leads, with agents already reporting soaring buyer and renter interest in listings.

VTA CEO Josh Callaghan said the deal cemented the changing ways that buyers and renters are engaging with real estate online.

“We both have a clear purpose in the market to deliver innovation for customers and this agreement will ensure our continued commitment to the evolution of real estate,” Mr Callaghan said.

“In the past nine months, property consumer behaviour has changed significantly with the ability to provide unrestricted access to view and experience a property now more important than ever.

“Our virtual open homes enable our partners to gain unique insights into their buyers as well as attract more vendors who are keen to take advantage of this cutting-edge technology.”

RE/MAX Australia Finance Director Chris Chapman said the partnership was an essential part of the franchise’s ongoing digital transformation.

“It will complement our already successful online presentation, livestream, 3D floorplan, virtual staging, and other innovations,” Mr Chapman said.

“VTA brings a one-click property scan booking solution to RE/MAX agents, increasing efficiency and reaching more buyers and renters more quickly.”

Under the agreement, RE/MAX will also benefit from VTA’s proprietary customer data insights, enabling them to better serve their clients across all of their digital channels.

Plus, RE/MAX agents are already seeing the benefits of using virtual tours on their sales and rental listings.

“By using strong and professional marketing tools such as 3D virtual tours and quality photography, I have increased interest in my properties by up to 70 per cent,” RE/MAX Results Property Manager Faith Williams said.

The same robust results are happening for sales agents, too, with hundreds of potential buyers from across the nation virtually inspecting a property in Cairns recently.

“The number of views and extra time buyers are spending in our listing, along with the incredibly affordable price, just makes it a clear choice to use in as many listings as possible,” David Murphy of RE/MAX Cairns said.

“It sold to a local Cairns buyer but there was plenty of interest from interstate buyers. A number of potential buyers even flew up to Cairns for the auction after seeing the tour and feeling confident in bidding.

“We wouldn’t have secured the price without the interest from southern buyers.”

VTA statistics for the Cairns property saw 519 unique groups virtually inspect the property, with a combined inspection time of 31.5 hours.

ENDS

For more information or to organise an interview with Virtual Tours Australia CEO Josh Callaghan, please contact:

Bricks & Mortar Media | media@bricksandmortarmedia.com.au | 0405 801 979

Digitises spaces through 3D scanning

When COVID-19 hit, Brisbane entrepreneur Josh Kindred (owner of Kindred Group, a diversified group of entities) knew that the people employed in one of his business chains – Grind Coffee Bars – were about to be significantly impacted.

However, he also saw an opportunity on the horizon. An opportunity not only to retain his staff, but to offer other industries affected by the pandemic support by developing virtual tours. Over the initial months of the pandemic, rather than laying off staff, he offered them the opportunity to retrain and support industries that needed them most – the property, retail and events industries.

This catalyst and foresight has led to what is now known as Little Hinges, a rapidly growing startup that digitises spaces through 3D scanning to provide a digital replica of a property, founded on the basis of keeping Queenslanders employed and keeping other industries afloat.

“Josh [Kindred] knew that the Grind businesses were going to be affected and therefore, the people that worked within them would also be impacted,” co-founder Josh Callaghan says.

“This was the catalyst for quickly expanding the idea of Little Hinges, which he had been toying with and testing for some time. As a result, Josh [Kindred] was able to commit to none of his staff losing their jobs as a result of COVID-19 by retraining them as 3D scanning technicians.

“This move also no doubt helped other industries during the pandemic, allowing consumers virtual access to spaces, like virtual open homes for real estate agents, vendors and buyers.”

Kindred’s investment into the business and ability to attract some great talent, combined with the need for virtual tours in the real estate industry enabled Little Hinges to experience quick growth.

“It’s been a magic formula and we’ve gotten some really great clients on board super quickly. We’ve been able to bootstrap our growth, which is seeing our revenue more than double each month,” Callaghan says.

Little Hinges has brought so much added value to the real estate landscape. It has been a ‘quiet achiever’ during COVID-19, having gone from a company of zero people up to 25 and has quietly been knocking down big contracts across real estate, tourism, art galleries and many other industries.

“We’ve been able to ease the friction (time, cost and inconvenience) that exists by requiring people to turn up to a property physically,” Callaghan says.

“And we were able to come in at a time that this kind of technology was needed more than ever.”

For this startup the highlights have been great and the challenges have come as expected with any new venture.

“Every bit of repeat business we celebrate as a success. Some of these clients include GOMA, Stockland, Ray White, Place, LJ Hooker and many more,” Callaghan says.

“Our biggest challenge has just been educating our various clients on how the technology works to support their businesses. There is often a point during the conversation where the possibilities of the technology clicks for them and they suddenly start seeing its potential. It just can be hard to get enough of their attention to get them to that point.”

The team’s strategy has been key in the growth and success of the business.

“Our primary go-to-market strategy has been to engage directly with real estate agency owners and through education, build a demand for the product from the ground up,” Callaghan says.

“As we’ve further developed our product into the market leader, we had to pivot from this ‘grassroots’ strategy in order to gain efficiencies in scaling the business. We are still on the ground, but are now also focused on integrating our product with national distribution networks to provide a national offering, while we quickly build the network of technicians to support that business.

“From day one the team has had a commitment to building for scale, which is paying off as we grow.”

The future is looking bright for Little Hinges.

“We continue to grow rapidly and are quickly building out a national network of technicians to service the high demand for our product around Australia,” Callaghan says.

“We have signed a national distribution deal with Commercial Ready, a fast-growing commercial real estate portal that already has over 5,000 listings nationally. We are also working on gaining a number of other partners in the next few months.

“In early 2021 we will be launching a direct-to-consumer product that enables our technology to be leveraged by consumers to help with their renovations.”

Source: https://www.chiefentrepreneur.qld.gov.au/stories/little-hinges