Floor plans for real estate marketing are critically undervalued by many real estate agents. These marketing tools not only sell homes faster, but they also impress sellers. The NAR’s Real Estate in a Digital Age 2018 Report found that behind photos and property information, floor plans were the most helpful and important marketing feature to buyers shopping for a home online. They beat out even pricier listing features like virtual tours!

With 50% of buyers finding their homes online and a sea of online listings, floor plans stand out to buyers. Additionally, they close faster and impress sellers, too! The #1 thing sellers look for in an agent is a great marketing plan, and floor plans are an important piece of that plan.

What Counts as a Floor Plan? 

With so many marketing real estate tools online, the lines between products and services are constantly getting blurred. Is it a virtual tour, a 2-D drawing, a 3-D rendering or something else, entirely?

Most simply: a real estate floor plan is a 2-D blueprint of a home. It is usually a black-and-white .j-peg image featuring a home’s dimensions and visual spacing.

Floor Plans Beat Out Popular Real Estate Listing Tools 

These simple, black and white .jpeg images are beating out fancy tech across the board. It is surprising to many real estate agents, but the effectiveness and helpfulness of floor plans beat out:

• Virtual Tours
• Drone Photography
• Drone Video
• And even Realtor Contact Info

Many agents are spending hundreds a month on virtual tour software and drone services, but floorplans are actually way more helpful for finding a buyer.

Why Floorplans Matter to Sellers 

Sellers are usually buyers, too. They have been spending countless hours scouring the internet to find their next home. During that time, many sellers have come to form their own opinions on what makes a good listing. The NAR data that applies to buyers applies to sellers also, since they are most often buying another home, too.

But floor plans are rarely ever featured during the marketing portion of listing presentations. This is a missed opportunity for agents to win listings. As we have covered in the past, data shows that the most effective online real estate marketing features stunning photographs, strong property descriptions, and helpful floor plans.

Creating Floor Plans Easily Online 

The good news is, there are tons of easy, cost-effective ways to create floor plans for real estate marketing online. Below, we have gathered the best options at various price points.

SmartDraw  

SmartDraw is the easiest and most cost-effective option. For only 9.99/mo real estate agents can create beautiful 2-D floor plans and even add virtual staging. Smart Draw’s integration with G-Suite and Microsoft Office make it perfectly tailored to fit real estate life.

RoomSketcher 

RoomSketcher creates beautiful 2-D renderings of properties for $49/yr. This floor plan maker is a hidden gem because they offer creation services for agents. Their team will create 2-D floor plans, 3-D floor plans, and virtual tours all-in-one, for agents. It is a huge timesaver.

SketchUp 

SketchUp is by far one of the easiest floor plan tools to learn. It also allows for simple 2D floor plans and for 3D floor plans, too. It’s price point of $399/yr may be off-putting to some agents, but for agents looking for a floor plan tool that is insanely easy to use, this is one to use.

Showcasing Floor Plans Online 

After creating floor plans for real estate marketing, agents can easily show them off with the rest of their marketing materials. Single Property Sites are one of the best ways to showcase floor plans during a listing presentation.

Floor Plans for Real Estate Marketing 

Floor plans are often overlooked as real estate marketing tools. But the data shows that floor plans are actually one of the most effective and helpful features of an online listing. There are plenty of tools available to easily creating floor plans as well as tools for winning listings with them, too.