How Virtual Reality Could Change the Real Estate Industry
How Virtual Reality Could Change the Real Estate Industry
Almost anyone can pop out a smartphone and take a few 360-degree views of the inside of a home for sale. However, making the home feel like the viewer is actually inside is an entirely different experience. Even a detailed home video available on an MLS listing is not quite like being able to stop and examine the details on a particularly interesting piece of architecture outside a home’s exterior. This is where virtual reality home tours are changing the world of real estate–by allowing sellers of average homes to provide a detailed look inside for buyers, before they ever set foot inside the door.
How Do Virtual Reality Home Tours Work?
Although the concept of virtual reality still feels a bit like it belongs in science fiction, VR tools are becoming increasingly mainstream. An agent purchases the devices, and may hire a company to scan the inside of a particular home. The agent downloads the tour and provides VR goggles to interested buyers. With high-quality, detailed views of every aspect of the home’s interior, buyers have the ability to use the goggles to look through many homes more quickly. Although there is a short learning curve to figure out how to use the viewers properly, many people pick it up quickly and find that these tours are quite engaging and informative.
Is VR Technology Accessible to the Average Home Buyer?
The required purchase of equipment, and paying to have a company to scan a home, could seem like an expense that would be far beyond the budget of anyone not selling a luxury home. And while this might have been true several years ago, prices are dropping as the VR technology becomes less expensive and easier for a larger group to leverage. The scan itself may cost a few hundred dollars when done by another professional. Alternatively, agents can choose to invest a thousand dollars or two into the purchase of VR headsets that buyers can use to view the tours, as well as the time it takes to learn how to build the tour.
How Can Agents Take Advantage of VR Tools to Sell Homes?
Home sellers often expect to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to make their homes appealing for an online search. At this price point, sellers might just consider VR home tours to be another viable way to help buyers fall in love with the property, without having to entertain quite so many visitors. Real estate agents who become familiar with the making and showing of VR home tours could streamline their selling. With a series of home tours available in an agent’s office, buyers can limit their physical visits to properties, which saves time and money for all parties.
Virtual reality may well be the next step of real estate marketing, for engaged sellers who want to further impress selective buyers. With an investment into an understanding of VR home tours and the equipment to make it possible, agents can offer a service that will keep them on the cutting edge of real estate marketing trends.
Source:
Gary Ashton REALTOR®
The Ashton Real Estate Group of RE/MAX Advantage
210 12th Ave South, Suite 201
Nashville, TN, 37203
nashvillesmls.com
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