Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Tarque.
Kevin, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’m half Mexican and half Argentinean, and when my dad’s side of the family (Argentinean side) immigrated here to California, they chose to become real estate agents and get familiar with the industry. My dad (Daniel Tarque) became a Realtor in Orange County for over a decade and a half as did his brothers.
Growing up I went to many of his meetings, listing appointments, showings, open houses, and naturally when I graduated from High School, I decided I wanted to become a real estate agent myself since I was so familiar with the industry myself.
After getting my real estate license at 19 years old, I started doing interior/exterior photography and drone photos for the homes I was listing. After doing that for some time, I started to get asked by other agents within my brokerage if I could do photos for their listings, so I started doing it as a favor for them.
After a while, I started getting asked by other agents from outside of my brokerage to do photos for their listings and at that point, I figured “You know what, I can make a full-blown business out of this.” which is exactly what I did. I invested a hefty amount of money into upgrading the equipment I already had (cameras, drone, tripod) and buying new equipment like a virtual tour camera, a gimbal, lighting, etc. as well as incorporating this business, known as SoCal Virtual Tours.
I started marketing and offering my services of virtual tours, listing photography, aerial images & video, property webpages, and even walkthrough videos.
At the time of starting this business my older brother, Matias Tarque, was also in the real estate media industry working under a company that created 3d photorealistic renderings and animations for residential, commercial, and industrial spaces. When I finally was able to get this company rolling and stable, we decided to merge our talents and skills. He left his company and brought his own team of talented 3D artists and now we offer incredible renderings and animations for many large companies.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Thankfully me and my brother being in the real estate industry previously has helped us ease into many brokerages, investment, and development firms which has given us the opportunity to talk with different teams to offer our services. Being in Southern California our entire lives has also really helped us have a vast knowledge of the area which our clients love to see.
Our biggest struggle has been explaining our services to clients that are used to the antiquated technology in the real estate industry. Many times we physically have to meet with our client in person to show them a new service or explain how something works since it is very difficult to convey it through a call or email. We hope to see the technology in our industry expand and become more digital to allow for the current and future generations to become more technologically advanced.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about SoCal Virtual Tours?
Incorporated in 2020, we differ from other companies by:
1. Actually being familiar with the industry in other ways than most of our competition. Since my brother (Matias Tarque) and I were both in the real estate industry as Realtors, we understand our client’s needs and wants. It’s nice to know when companies you’re working with can relate to your problems. Most of our competitors do not understand the position of their clients because they haven’t been in their shoes before, while we have.
2. We personally connect more with our clients. Typically, real estate media companies will spend money or mass advertising their services via email, cold calls, flyers, etc. We spend our “marketing” budget on lunch presentations with our clients in their offices so we can directly and personally connect with them. This helps build a friendship with our clients so they feel more comfortable communicating to us when there is a project, have problems or have any questions.
We have a fantastic connection with most, if not all, of our clients and create a very comfortable and friendly culture for us at SoCal Virtual Tours. This is something we are very proud. When you’re a client, we treat you professionally but want our clients to feel like they’re working with a company that they can trust and be friendly with.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Although we have a wide array of services, we have had other real estate media companies reach out to us to help them provide additional services to their clients.
For example, a common situation that we have faced is a real estate photographer that only offers interior and exterior photos has a client that is requesting a virtual tour which they do not offer. That photographer will reach out to us to provide a virtual tour for their client while they take care go the photos. We love helping out fellow real estate media companies!
Another way for others to help and support us is to just follow us on our brand new Instagram account which is @socalvirtualtours
Pricing:
- 3D Renderings range from $800-$1500
- Aerial Images range from $80 as an add-on to $320 stand alone images
- Virtual tours can start at $99 as an add on to $500 for stand alone (depending on size)
- Photo packages range from $320 from smaller spaces and increase based on square footage
Contact Info:
- Website: socalvirtualtour.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socalvirtualtours/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoCalVirtualTours
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/ktarque/?hl=en
Image Credits
Photos and Renderings say SoCal Virtual Tours
