Weeks of painting, cleaning, re-arranging, disconnecting, reconnecting and unclogging, are rewarded with instructions to leave home.

The sight of your family using the finally functioning facilities is considered a disincentive to prospective homeowners.

It's just as well. The sight of buyers running in panic from your door, after viewing no more than the inside of your front hall closet, demands the forbearance of professionals.

One day your real estate agent will gently take you aside to explain that homes decorated to the personal tastes of a professional mud wrestlers do not appeal to all, and perhaps knocking fifty large off the asking price will help.

In the meantime, would you please consider removing from the dining room the antique brass figurine given you by Aunt Melba because it reminded her of the flashes from Grandad's gold tooth when he ate corn-on-the-cob?

iPIX and bamboo.com have technologies that link still photographs or videos into full, 360-degree images.

Downloaded and manipulated on the screen they give viewers the sensation of actually standing in the seller's home.

The Internet has provided many advantages to the real estate industry even without 360-degree photographs.

Online listings are more timely than weekly print catalogues which were often out of date before coming off the press.

Multiple listing services such as www.MLS.ca and www.Realtor.com cast a wider net at a lower cost, and let buyers start their search at home instead of fingering through pages of photocopies in their realtors' offices.

"Most buyers still rely on a good agent for researching properties in their price range, determining market value and negotiating offers. The Internet provides the buyer with a catalogue from which they may begin their own homework."

Virtual tours help buyers narrow their selections even further.

Bamboo.com's service begins with pictures taken by professional videographers licensed by the company in thousands of North American communities.

For $99.50 per home, a standard tour provides up to four scenes hosted on the bamboo.com site and made available for linking to the listing realtors' site. iPIX offers hardware and software for agents to provide pictures themselves. Hosting on their site begins at $50 per house tour.

Both companies offer upgrades and additional options, and both, recently merged, can be reached through www.bamboo.com.

It was fun to spin around inside the homes of strangers. I caught them at their best, and they didn't even notice the intrusion.

It was a bit like being in a bubble, a fact noted by iPIX in their promotional literature. Lens distortion gives most interiors an arched ceiling, and the feeling can be a bit claustrophobic.

It took twenty to thirty seconds to download the viewing software on my 56K modem (which was not always automatic, possibly because I screen cookie downloads) and about the same again to download each scene.

That probably only helps to further weed out casual visitors. Transition through iPIX visuals was not as smooth as bamboo.com's, but they offered views that displayed more floor and ceiling and the opportunity to zoom in on specific room features.

Does this technology sell houses? "We have had sales as a result!" the Hobbs, who use bamboo.com, enthuse. "And the feedback from our vendors has been positive. They want their homes marketed to a worldwide audience, and expect realtors to be up-to-date in their marketing technology."

The Toronto Real Estate Board, among others, has encouraged usage for their members.

Virtual tour packages have been developed for residential, commercial and rental real estate companies, and for the tourism and hospitality industries as well.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a 360-degree picture of their huddle online, and the University of Illinois has one of their campus. The application could add value anywhere a business might benefit by displaying its environment (restaurants, interior design, nurseries etc.)

But be forewarned. Bamboo also offers an e-mail package to help families share news. That means enhanced visuals from those relatives who send annual letters about their children's academic achievements, while our kids still freeze their sinuses snorkeling Slurpees at the Seven Eleven.