Virtual Tours do just exactly what they claim to do: They give a person surfing the internet the feeling of standing in the center of a room and being able to see everything in that room. People who view them can get a feel of the layout of a house. They can see with more detail than a simple digital photo what kind of carpet, paint, fixtures or cabinets a specific house may have. They can see just about all the details of a home, and in this regard they are very useful.

Their downside is ironically the same as their upside. People can see just about all the details of a home. Most people surf the internet not to find a new home but to gather all of the homes for sale into one great big pile and then eliminate them one by one until they are left with just a few, which they will visit and from which they will choose their next home. Virtual Tours may give too many details about a home. They may give too many reasons to eliminate a home from “visit pile”, because the one thing Virtual Tours lack is perspective. You really can never get a good feel for a house until you can see the details in person and in context.