Do real estate agents still want Matterport 3D tours?

Fewer than the ads suggest. Abidur in Riverside County offers 3D, drone and floor plans, and most of his agents buy photos only. Buyers scroll photos, and agents pay for what buyers scroll.

Should I buy a drone or a 360 camera first for real estate photography?

Whichever one is missing from the last 20 listings in your zip. If nobody does aerials, buy the drone. If every listing has a 3D tour, that's a crowded shelf, not a gap.

What do I say when an agent asks for a 3D tour I can't shoot?

Never say no to a gig. Partner with a Matterport owner for a cut and keep the agent.

Answers › Bold takes

Ask the agent

Do I need Matterport or a 360 camera to compete?

Everybody in Houston advertises 3D tours. Do I need a Matterport before I start, or a drone first?Asked by a photographer on Quincy, Houston (a strategy call)

No. A Matterport is real money plus a subscription, bought to match an ad every competitor already runs. 360 is dying, and the agents know it. You buy gear by the gap in your market, not by what the other guys advertise. A 20-listing check tonight tells you what that is.

360 is dying, and the agents know it

Abidur in Riverside County offers 3D, drone, floor plans, everything on the menu. Most of his agents buy photos only. That is the data point. Not a thread, not an ad. What agents order when every option is in front of them.

The reason is simple. Buyers scroll photos. Agents pay for what buyers scroll. A 3D tour is a box she checks on the listing and never opens again. Her buyer opens the gallery, flips through the photos, and books a showing or doesn’t.

Everybody in Houston advertising 3D tours doesn’t mean everybody in Houston is selling them. It means everybody bought the camera. A camera plus a subscription, to match an ad that was already everywhere.

She pays for the package and the promise

If the tour isn’t what she pays for, what is? It isn’t gear at all. Our $390 package is photos, aerials, twilight and a floor plan, by 9 a.m. next morning or it’s free. Nothing on that sheet says what it was shot on.

The promise sells more than any line item. The 9 a.m. is printed larger than the price. She’s buying a listing that goes live on time, not a file format. Her seller is asking when it goes live. Nobody is asking about the tour.

In ten years as an agent I never opened a 3D tour of my own listing. I looked at the photos, every time.

And the upsell that’s everything in 2026 is vertical video. It shoots on a phone. The gear question keeps pointing at the wrong purchase.

Buy the gap, not the trend

So what do you buy first? Only the thing nobody in your zip has. Nobody does drone? The first thing you buy is a drone. Everyone advertises 3D? That’s a crowded shelf, not a gap. You’d be one more name on a list that’s already full.

Here is the check. Pull the last 20 listings in your zip. Aerials missing? That’s your purchase. 3D on every one? Skip it.

And when a 3D request comes in anyway, never say no to a gig. Partner with a Matterport owner for a cut. You keep the agent, he gets a job, and you didn’t buy a camera to match an ad.

360 is dying. If nobody in your zip does drone, buy the gap, not the trend.

The big lesson

Gear that matches the ads makes you one of them. Gear that fills the gap makes you the call.

Do this

Tonight: check the last 20 listings in your zip and write down what’s missing. That’s the only thing you buy this month.

Where you actually are

Five questions, sixty seconds, and your roadmap loads on the next screen.

Get my roadmap

Straight answers

Do real estate agents still want Matterport 3D tours?: Fewer than the ads suggest. Abidur in Riverside County offers 3D, drone and floor plans, and most of his agents buy photos only. Buyers scroll photos, and agents pay for what buyers scroll.
Should I buy a drone or a 360 camera first for real estate photography?: Whichever one is missing from the last 20 listings in your zip. If nobody does aerials, buy the drone. If every listing has a 3D tour, that’s a crowded shelf, not a gap.
What do I say when an agent asks for a 3D tour I can’t shoot?: Never say no to a gig. Partner with a Matterport owner for a cut and keep the agent.