4 Ways VR is Affecting The Real Estate Industry
Virtual reality has been on the horizon of the tech industry for the last decade, but hasn’t made as fast of an impact as many of us predicted. As Moore’s law continues to progress and we become more comfortable interacting in a digital world, the transition into VR is closer than we think. In some industries it is already there. Goldman Sachs recently predicted that VR will be an $80 billion industry by 2025, with $2.6 coming directly from real estate.
VR will first impact industries that it serves a practical purpose in, and an industry ripe for a virtual disruption is the real estate market. This article outlines four ways VR will and currently is changing the real estate landscape. From developers to brokers, to contractors and architects, everyone must be aware of what is to come.
1.) Buying Sights Unseen
Real estate is a location-intensive industry. Sometimes it can take a whole day to view two or three properties, and historically, families have had to dedicate entire weekends to looking at houses. Things are changing, and the great convenience of technology is that it saves us time. More and more people are buying sights unseen, including 41% of Millennials.
With VR, touring and viewing homes will never be the same. Potential buyers can now see many properties in a fraction of the time it took them to travel to one!
2.) Flipping Fixer Uppers
Imagining an end product before it is built is quite difficult. Investors often struggle to communicate their vision with the contractor or architect working on the property and developers constantly struggle to share what they have in mind with their clients .
VR allows investors and developers to have an immersive experience of their space, and intimate awareness of the furniture, layout, and design before construction even begins. This gives them the option to make changes before it has been built or purchased, allowing investors to be imaginative when buying a fixer upper and truly know what the transformation will look like. It saves time and money, ultimately leaving all parties in a better place once the end product is complete.
3.) Marketing Properties
Homes with nice photographs have higher perceived values. When homes have an impeccable 3-D immersive experience, the value goes through the roof. Innovative Brokers, including The Agency in Los Angeles are using virtual reality in their marketing strategy to help sell properties, sometimes before a space is even built. It is not easy to market a product that doesn’t yet exist. It’s even harder to sell something that’s under construction and looks like a complicated mess. VR is fixing this issue by giving potential buyers a realistic experience of what the end product will look and feel like. It’s a great marketing tool and can enhance the buyers experience and emotional connection with the space.
4.) Communicating With Tenants
A picture is worth a thousand words, and an immersive VR experience is countless when it comes to advising tenants on navigating a space.
With the rise of products like AirBnB and Sonder, more tenants are finding themselves in stranger’s homes, not knowing where certain amenities and tools are. It can be very frustrating to have to communicate where things are located over the phone or even through video applications such as Facetime. VR can give someone an immersive visual representation of where to go and what to look for. It is like screen sharing with the real world
AVR Studio is at the forefront of VR and Real Estate!
