VR and AR: Changing how we see real estate 

Virtual Reality Property Showcase

A buyer, if interested, will want multiple visits to their property of choice before making the decision.  For a realtor’s client, this can consume a lot of time and disrupt life during this sales period. Equally, for the buyer coming in from out of the area, travelling great distances to make viewings is impractical. Therefore, if you have a virtual reality tour of the house available, a potential buyer can walk through the rooms anywhere and anytime they desire.

With the help of a virtual reality headset, the buyer can take a three-dimensional tour of the home, which will always be well presented. There are two tour options that realtors use.

First, there is the interactive visit, which is when you move through the home by touching spots in the field of view to move on through the home. Such a VR model takes a lot of building but it is worth it to gain more viewings.

Secondly, there are guided visits. Guided visits are a more conventional promotional video that are produced in a 360-degree form, which is a type of virtual reality. Guided visits are easier to build, as you just need a panoramic camera to capture the video.

Property Staging with augmented reality

Real Estate agents will tell you that selling an empty property is harder than selling one that is furnished. The empty room feels uninspiring and it takes the imagination of the buyer to place their furniture in the room. Having vendors’ furniture in place allows the buyer to aspire to a different lifestyle, which is a crucial emotional reason to buy.

Therefore, with augmented reality, the property can be staged with the help of technology. Such staging is said to make selling a property easier, as 77% of real estate agents affirmed.

The AR technology will superimpose virtual furniture and accessories onto the blank canvas on the room. It means that the salesman is more able to close the deal.

Architectural Representation with virtual reality

If it is hard to sell an empty house, it is harder still to sell a property from the plans. Equally, if you are an architect presenting work in response to a brief to a client, it takes great artistry to help them imagine the vision. Therefore, creating a virtual reality visualisation of the plans. The model created will be to scale and help the client walk through the home they might be signing up to and so make the deal easier.

Indeed, it can be a way to reach more clients. The VR tour can be sent to potential buyers around the world and so widen the net for a sale.

AR/ VR Commerce

The ability to respond to aspirations for the property could be the defining factor when selling a property. Imagine you are showing a buyer around with virtual reality and they wonder what a property would be like if a wall was removed or if a conservatory was added. It is possible to go to a virtual store and add these to the property. Equally, you can stage the property using a virtual store. However, the exciting revolution that VR offers is that if you like what you see, then you can click buy and the furniture or other element is despatched and realised in actuality in the property.

Therefore, not only can VR be used to ease the sales process, but the imagined world created doesn’t have to stay fantastical. The realtor can help facilitate buying choices through the virtual store.

AR/ VR Apps

One of the barriers to the application of AR and VR technology has been access to the devices and the expertise needed to make use of it. Applying all the above principles is sound but doing might feel impossible. Therefore, the development of AR/ VR real estate apps is likely the one innovation that will allow these possibilities to blossom. In one app you should be able to perform all the tasks required for a real estate business. It could allow agents to completely digitalize their business.

If the product doesn’t exist that you need, it is still possible to approach a digital app company who can build this app for you to your specification.

The benefits of this tech revolution

There might be some reticence to believe that the extensive investment in such technology will offer value for money. Most realtors will likely agree that it will make selling easier but will the high cost of introducing it return in higher profits. Yet, as well as using such metrics as sales figures, an agent should also consider the amount of time saved with this technology. Investing will also put a realtor at the front of the crowd in terms of innovation, and this will be appreciated by vendors and buyers. Finally, while it is a significant investment, it is a one time cost to a real estate agent.