Realtor.com has recently made it a lot more lucrative and attractive for virtual tour companies to post agents' virtual tours on the site, but there's still a cost gap for agents who prefer to do their own tours.

Homestore can do tours for tour providers through its full service hometour360º program or "PicturePath" program. Basically, the difference between the two programs is that Homestore acts as vendor on the hometour360º program, and PicturePath enables other tour providers to post a variety of virtual tour products. The cost for PicturePath participation dropped from $5000 a year to $500, and the fee to post the tour from nearly $80 to a fourth of that depending on the tour provider's market.

Meanwhile, costs to post virtual tours has gone higher for individual agents like Massachusetts broker Jay Burnham, who says Realtor.com's new deal isn't such a great deal for agents like him.

"Up until November, we were able to buy "keys" from HomeStore for $49.00 (4 virtual image keys). There was no cost to then upload them to Realtor.com through PicturePath," says Burnham. "Now, although they are trying to make it appear as though they have lowered their fee from $5,000 to $500, they are essentially increasing the costs to individual agents from $0.00 (or $49...for the keys) to $500 plus the cost of the keys that we now need to purchase from IPIX, plus $24.95 per tour. No deal there."

According to Realtor.com, the self-service agent who produces his own virtual tours instead of seeking out a provider, represents a small percentage of customers. "While these customers are obviously important to Realtor.com, they represent only a small percentage of customers that we were trying to service with our virtual tour program," says a spokesperson. "We recognized this audience, and throughout the transition, we thoroughly communicated with self-service agents, explained the position we were in, and offered numerous suggestions and solutions. (One such communication piece is posted on our web site) We also offered an extended transition period. From the time we made the announcement, agents had two months to buy a bulk of keys, and they have until the end of this year to use their keys."

The spokesperson explains how it currently works for self-service agents:

• "If an agent has enough volume, they can pay the implementation fee ($500) and create virtual tours for $24.95. If they do 20 tours a year they will break even on the previous price point of $49.95. However, they get the additional benefit of a 12-scene tour (rather than four), and flexible technology choices. (NOTE: The $500 fee is only for the first year. Each year after is $250.)

• "Agents may also use the host@ipix.com service that allows them to continue buying IPIX keys from IPIX. They would then host, create, and distribute to Realtor.com® through IPIX's PicturePath relationship for roughly the same price they paid previously.

• The barrier to entry to the PicturePath program has all but been eliminated, so agents can now use basically any virtual tour company. Many self-service style virtual tour providers are members of PicturePath, including VisualTour, TourFactory, IPIX, RealBiz, iLookAbout, andRealEstateShows.com. These providers are very cost effective for agents.

• Agents may also use a local hometour360º provider. The cost would more than likely go up for full service, but some providers are willing to take images shot by self-service agents and create the tour for a discounted fee. We did not stress this, but it is a viable option."

Published: March 15, 2005

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.