A family-owned brokerage becomes a national leader
As a family-operated brokerage firm, BeMi works intimately with customers across Slovakia. Delivering personalised customer service gives the firm a clearer view of what customers want—and in a world where people can order everything from groceries to used cars online, they want convenience. Often, prospective buyers and renters no longer want to spend entire afternoons going from house to house, hoping to find the home of their dreams.
The firm’s search for a way to streamline the home viewing process that was easily adoptable for customers and its over 100 brokers led to Matterport. BeMi leadership embraced the idea of using dimensionally accurate Matterport digital twins to create immersive virtual walkthroughs.
In 2019, BeMi became one of the first real estate organisations in Slovakia to offer prospective buyers and renters digital walkthroughs of a home before viewing it in person.
“Adopting Matterport gives us a competitive advantage over almost every other brokerage in Slovakia,” says Lucia Bystrická, Senior Broker at BeMi. “With Matterport, we give our customers the option to visit a space on their own time and convenience, and to make smart decisions about the right home for them.”
BeMi equipped its brokerage offices with 3D cameras so that brokers could easily capture digital twins of properties. The brokerage used Matterport digital twins to quickly create virtual tours of roughly 80 percent of its properties. Bolstered by an overwhelmingly positive customer response, BeMi also moved to share the tours on the most popular realty websites in the country: topreality.sk, nehnutelnosti.sk, bazos.sk, and reality.sk.
Opening doors to new homes
BeMi was able to launch virtual tours of most of its properties within a year because Matterport makes it easy for individual brokers to capture digital twins.
Initially, the company used several Matterport Pro 2 cameras to scan properties. BeMi also wanted to further expand its capacity, so it purchased Insta360 digital cameras for each branch office. Through integrations between Matterport for iPhone and the small, affordable Insta360 digital camera, BeMi has simplified the process for brokers to capture digital twins and quickly produce immersive 3D tours that replicate every aspect of a home.
On a walk-through of a Matterport digital twin, buyers and renters can zoom into an area for a granular view of details, from the overall layout of a space to ceiling heights, to sizes of doors and windows as well as much smaller details, like outlet locations.
“With Matterport, we can do so much more than simply take photographs, we can create the full experience of touring any home without ever turning a key,” says Bystrická.
Using Matterport to reimagine the home listing and viewing process empowers our brokers to do their jobs more effectively because they can devote their attention to what buyers and renters care about instead of spending time scheduling home staging and in-person tours.”
Matterport also drives faster, more efficient home sales. Brokers have increased the total number of web listings by 12 percent, and listings that feature virtual tours receive 17 percent more leads than those that do not. These increases are translating into 20 percent more inquiries per property.
Giving buyers and renters in-depth property views
To enhance customer convenience, BeMi emailed buyers and renters with links to virtual tours of homes that matched their preferences. This practice became standard during the pandemic to support public health measures. Since January 2020, BeMi has seen a 22 percent jump in traffic for virtual walkthroughs.
Before turning to Matterport, brokers would spend a long time on-site at each seller’s property, taking measurements and notes to share with prospects, who often requested complete floor plans. However, using Matterport for iPhone and Insta360 cameras, brokers only need to briefly visit a seller’s home once to capture digital twins, and the Matterport platform autogenerates floor plans. BeMi estimates that brokers spend about 20 percent less time on a property when they capture a digital twin, compared to using only on-site visits. With virtual tours in place, sellers don’t have to host open houses or incur extra cost and time having their floor plans drawn up for sharing. They also know that the buyers and renters approaching them after taking virtual tours of their home are more serious about the property.
Posting floor plans and immersive virtual tours with each listing gives buyers and renters the information they need to make decisions about properties to view in person or even bid on remotely, much faster. With the Measurement Mode feature, buyers and renters can understand the dimensions of any room, whether they’re looking to replace the window coverings or debating the perfect place for a favourite sofa.
With the freedom to take repeated virtual tours and review the floor plans whenever they’d like, buyers and renters can selectively schedule in-person visits only for homes that most interest them. Although, they might not want to take too much additional time to bid on their favourite: Homes that BeMi lists with virtual tours stay on the market for 12 percent less time than homes without them.
“The accuracy of the Matterport digital twins builds trust among our customers because after taking a virtual walkthrough, they know every detail in a space,” says Bystrická. “Matterport makes the sales process faster and safer while giving buyers and renters the freedom to immersively experience their next home remotely.”
Building a stronger foundation for customer service
As early adopters of Matterport, BeMi kept home sales moving even during the uncertainty of the pandemic when in-person tours weren’t possible due to health and safety concerns. Now, giving customers the ability to find their next home with a few clicks has kept BeMi at the forefront of Slovakia’s booming housing market as new waves of buyers and renters embrace the convenience of virtual tours.
“As a leading adopter of Matterport in Slovakia, we’re proud of the innovation we’ve brought to our real estate market,” says Bystrická. “Matterport allows us to give our buyers and sellers a deeper range of quality services that make buying and selling homes much faster, easier, and more enjoyable than ever.”
ABOUT BEMI
BeMi is a family-operated brokerage firm with over 100 self-employed real estate brokers handling sales and leases for residential properties in Slovakia. The firm’s services also include valuation, real estate financial consultancy, legal services for transfers, as well as promoting properties. https://www.realitybemi.sk/
HEADQUARTERS
Nitra, Slovakia
INDUSTRY
Residential Real Estate
EMPLOYEES
124 self-employed brokers
CHALLENGE
Allow clients to view homes more easily and conveniently
PRODUCTS
Matterport Pro 2, Matterport for iPhone, Insta360
SOLUTION
BeMi creates highly accurate Matterport digital twins and shares engaging virtual tours, driving faster sales cycles and reducing the time properties are on the market.
Results
- Increased applications for home purchases and rentals by 20 percent
- Reduced time on the market by 12 percent on average
- Generated 17 percent more leads per property using virtual walkthroughs
- Expanded the total number of web listings by 12 percent
- Brokers spend 20% less time on properties with digital twins
https://nginx.production.matterport.us2.amazee.io/en-gb/industries/case-studies/bemi-sees-double-digit-growth-leads-home-sales-and-rentals-and-reduces-time