Answer:

9. Why doesn't MyGoldsboroAgent.com currently use larger pictures and moving-panoramic virtual tours to showcase homes?

Actually, I would love to put big, beautiful photos of seller's homes and fancy panoramas on our website! Unfortunately, the reality is only about 30% of the North American population has a broadband connection as of the end of 2007 (237,168,545 Total Internet Users & 72,313,133 Broadband Connections). The panoramic virtual tours you may see on other REALTOR's websites do look great, but if if a homebuyer is using dial-up, these tours are virtually useless or it may take the potential buyer several nights just to look at a few homes online. There are still areas of Wayne County where broadband is not even offered!

Many studies have been done regarding internet users and webpage loading times. To simplify and make this short, basically, if a potential homebuyer has to wait too long to see a virtual tour, he will "surf" to someone else's real estate webpage that takes less time to load. For example, if you are a home seller with a virtual tour that is too large, your home's virtual tour may not be viewed but a buyer views your neighbor's home up the street because the virtual tour downloads quickly, and that homebuyer falls in love and purchases it, not even looking at your home. This is a scenario that we are avoiding by keeping our home pics and virtual tours at a reasonable size.

As the web technician for MyGoldsboroAgent.com I am walking the virtual tour quality/size vs. download time tight-rope to allow our homes to have the most exposure possible. I am always monitoring website usage and will continue to increase the quality/size of our virtual tours as internet technology increases for the average homebuyer and/or web surfer. The last thing MyGoldsboroAgent.com wants to do is eliminate 70% of the potential homebuyers (refer to statistics above) due to a slow loading website.

Weldon Williford, REALTOR
Broker-In-Charge

MyGoldsboroAgent.com