Ways VR is Making the RE Industry Better
With the improvement of virtual reality technology, many industries are able to offer their goods and services in simpler and more varied ways than ever before. According to Alex Doubet, the CEO of Door Homes, VR Real Estate is a game changer. “Real estate investors will have better information with which to price homes, move quickly, and win great deals.” But how is the industry taking advantage of the benefits provided by virtual reality technology?
VR Real Estate is a relative newcomer to the scene, but the real estate industry has applied a heavy focus on using this technology to make leaps and bounds in customer experience and ease of access. There are many points at which the traditional home buying experience causes, which virtual reality solves with minimal adaptation. From buying or renting sight unseen, to touring, even to envisioning renovations, virtual reality is offering new insights into a game that has remained unchanged for the better part of a century. Welcome to the future!
Tours and walkthroughs with VR Real Estate
The largest impact virtual reality has had on real estate has to be the ease and simplicity of walkthroughs with potential buyers and renters. Sophisticated software companies have the capability to stitch together photos and videos taken with special equipment to render an interactive, 360-degree video tour of a space. Rather than taking a whole day to go see five properties, real estate investors can now view 30 properties before they go out to lunch.
Real estate professionals looking to sell or rent properties have many good things to say about this technology. Oksana Tunikova from Rentberry elaborates: “Previously, potential buyers had to travel to visit a property. Now, this step can be skipped thanks to VR. There’s no limit on the number of people who can view the same property at one time, and potential buyers can see dozens of properties in a fraction of the time.”
Due to the increased selling efficiency, many innovative and savvy real estate brokers are factoring VR into their marketing strategies. The limits of this technology are bound only by the users’ imagination.
Buying sight-unseen
Many real estate investors have purchased properties sight-unseen in recent years. As a matter of fact, one recent studydiscovered that one-third of homebuyers have made offers on properties without seeing the property beforehand. This is even more true for buyers and sellers who may be located overseas, at great distances from their property location.
Andreas Johansson of Berkovitz Development Group states, “For a company like ours that sells properties thousands of miles away, it means we no longer have to wait for customers to travel to visit the site. Instead, we can show it to them in the comfort of their own homes.”
And in the case of purchasing a home or other property sight-unseen, that may be the only option with new builds. Developers may have a couple model homes on site, but they will not be upfront with all of their layouts and options. VR can help fill in the gaps of prospective buyers. Virtual Xperience is a leader in this type of marketing, and has developed solutions for builders to generate visualizations of unbuilt environments in virtual reality. Johansson says, “VR will be a game-changer for all developers; you no longer have to rely on basic renderings to showcase your project, clients can now see through VR what they’re buying, and developers can get deals done quicker.”
Fixes and Flips on the Next Level
Using VR in real estate renovation projects has allowed investors to instruct their renovation contractors on exactly what the end result of a project should look like, and even at every stage in between start and finish. Paul Lisanti, a real estate sales representative, notes that by “using VR to superimpose improvements (new furniture, paint, décor, etc.), investors can get a better idea of what proposed renovations will look like, and ultimately cost.” The other benefit is that many investors work in joint venture partnerships; VR is a fantastic way to show other investors, not just buyers, the progress of a renovation project.
In many aspects, VR is changing the way we do business and interact with others in our lives. The real estate industry seems to be adapting to this new mode of business with skill and foresight. Let’s see where things go from here with VR Real Estate!
Contact WeBuyHousesTacoma.com for more info!