The trend of multiple viewers partaking in virtual and 3D home tours and open houses continues with this U.K.-based Matterport embed, Openhouse Live by Boost3d.
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Openhouse Live is software that allows multiple parties to interact during Matterport tours.
Platforms: Browser, mobile-responsive
Ideal For: Any agent or brokerage that uses Matterport to create 3D tours
Top selling points:
- Uses Matterport Model ID to import tours
- Any user can control tour
- In-tour text chat
- Metatags for property features
- Optional automated audio tours
Top concerns:
Only uses Matterport as base tour platform.
What you should know
In Connect Now’s Tech Connect thread, Robin Daniels, chief marketing officer at Matterport, revealed that the company is in the midst of encouraging as many partnership integrations as it can, saying, “Whatever you want to do with our company, go for it.”
Boost3d, located in London, has already taken up Daniels on his offer. The company’s tour product Openhouse Live is a Matterport bolt-on that enables up to four people to interact via chat and video conference while strolling around an immersive 3D tour.
On the backend, Openhouse Live users need only to plug in the Matterport Model ID to activate the tour software.
The scheduling mechanism makes it a solid option for promoting virtual open houses. Each tour event is saved in your portfolio for later viewings or for later use as an audio tour.
Openhouse Live’s audio tours are quite cool. The voice-track is based on the tour’s hotspots. As a buyer navigates to each, the description kicks in to explain highlights, basic features and the like.
It seems “old-school,” but it’s a type of use you wouldn’t think is useful until you experience it. You can also activate audio descriptions by clicking on a room in the menu. The tour teleports to that room and activates the description.
And, like EyeSpy360, Openhouse Live leverages tour metadata for identifying unique parts of the homes, such as high-end appliances and finishes. Adding a layer of interactivity to aid in tour engagement, metatags also help the buyer get a better feel for the property from a distance.
Group-based virtual tours are becoming common, with options such as app HomeRover, EyeSpy360 and Nodalview already on the market.
As Charlie Ashby of VIP Realtors in Florida said about his Nodalview-backed offering, such technology turns virtual tours “into virtual visits.”
Understand that Matterport is somewhat pricier than other options out there, but you’re no longer obligated to use its large proprietary camera. The company has released a streamlined iPhone version of its 3D tour software.
Openhouse Live is in talks to release a version of its product in the U.S. that could handle as many as 50 viewers, making it the most capable yet of handling a full-scale virtual open house. And because the software detects the dominant microphone (the tour host), other speakers are muted automatically when the host begins talking.
The company will likely have its retail pricing model in order by the time you’re reading this. If not, they’re still using resellers.
Openhouse Live costs $99 a month per user, which comes with 10,000 video minutes. That’s a lot of time to tour, even virtually.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
Craig C. Rowe started in commercial real estate at the dawn of the dot-com boom, helping an array of commercial real estate companies fortify their online presence and analyze internal software decisions. He now helps agents with technology decisions and marketing through reviewing software and tech for Inman.
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