Virtual reality has opened up many opportunities for real estate businesses to market their listings innovatively, especially when selling the property during social distancing was a challenge due to the pandemic.
A typical real estate deal follows a robust workflow, including the potential buyer checking the listing, making an in-person property visit, and negotiating the price. But this process is time-consuming and at times inconvenient for both the potential buyer and the real estate agent. Virtual reality technology has come to the rescue and has been quite a game-changer ever since.
Virtual reality, commonly known as VR, is a technology that can be used in practical and commercial applications. VR technology has been around for a few years now, but in 2015 it evolved to become a powerful marketing tool for many industries. Real estate was one of the early adopters of this technology. The realtors and real estate agencies are using VR technology in innovative ways to attract potential buyers and to reduce the cost of in-person property visits.
According to a survey by Coldwell Banker Real Estate,
- 77%of buyers preferred VR tour over physical visit
- 68%preferred VR to see how the furniture looks
- 62%said they would proceed with the agent that works using VR technology.
Potential buyers see the property in-person before making the buying decision. This not only consumes a lot of time, but it can get inconvenient and expensive if the client lives far from the property.
VR technology allows people to visit properties virtually in the comfort of their own homes. The potential buyers can virtually visit dozens of properties and have an immersive, three-dimensional walkthrough experience in a matter of minutes.
It's a known fact that showing a property full of furniture has a better chance of selling than a property with little or no furniture. And we have statistics to prove it.
According to a Profile of Home Staging report by the National Association of Realtors, 77% of real estate agents agree that staging helps buyers associate a property with their future home.
But physical staging requires investment and hence an expensive proposition. Virtual reality has proved to be an effective, yet cheaper alternative to traditional staging. VR helps you to stage a property beautifully and at an affordable cost as compared to real staging.
It has always been a challenge to market a property that is not yet constructed. Generally, three-dimensional models of the property or the neighborhood are created and put near the site to help potential buyers imagine the architecture. Additionally, the real estate agents create full-scale models of the apartments to allow potential buyers to checkout the interior as well as the exterior of yet to be constructed properties. This turns out to be a huge investment.
But thanks to virtual reality, architectural visualization has become cheaper and more immersive. With the help of VR technology, you can show the interior as well as the exterior of the yet to be built properties for the clients to check out.
Communication between tenants and landlords can be a complicated task, especially when the tenants keep bothering the landlords for the simplest of things like asking how to use the thermostat.
Virtual reality technology can make communication between landlords and tenants easy. With the help of 3D virtual tours, tenants can get to know what they need to know about the property without contacting the landlord. These virtual instructions to tenants enhance the customer experience and benefit both the guests and the landlords.
Virtual reality technology is not limited to 3D home tours and staging. It also allows clients to make changes in the interiors when they are taking the virtual real estate 3D tour.
For example, if the homebuyer doesn't like a piece of furniture shown in the 3D real estate tour, they can go to the online store, pick up the piece of furniture they like and add it to their 3Dtour. With this technology, they have the freedom to style a property according to their preferences.
Moreover, if the client likes a particular piece of furniture or other items in the 3D virtual tour, they have the option to purchase it by visiting the virtual store.
Some of the biggest benefits that VR technology offers real estate agents are:
Virtual reality saves time for both realtors and potential buyers. Since the tour is virtual, it is available for viewing anytime and from anywhere. There's no need to travel from one property to another through traffic jams. Instead, clients can simply enjoy immersive three-dimensional tours in the comfort of their homes.
Creating a feature-rich 3D virtual tour may seem expensive, but when compared to the cost of staging properties, VR is a cheaper option. You save a lot of money using the power of virtual 360-degreevideos and computer graphics.
Showing a property in-person is a time-consuming activity for real estate agents. Due to the time factor, they have to work with a smaller number of clients.
But with virtual reality, everything changes. Since the tours are virtual and can be shown to even long-distance clients, you have more time to handle more clients and better reach to be more productive.
When potential buyers view the property when they want and for as long as they want establishes a sense of owner ship and personal connection. Virtual tours with many interactive add ons such as highlights of the neighborhood, mortgage calculators, and similar properties information offer a superior customer experience. Your clients are equipped with all the information they need about the property before contacting you to ask for an in-person property visit.
It's no secret that virtual reality has made a tremendous impact on how real estate is marketed in today's times. Many big real estate businesses have already adopted VR technology to improve their reach, and the time is not far off when every real estate business will incorporate VR for better productivity.
Virtual tours of real estate help the clients to visualize the property at a time that's convenient to them. The potential buyer can focus on the property's details, which they might easily overlook when they go for a traditional property visit. The real-life experience that VR technology offers engages the potential buyer to the extent that they start feeling an emotional connection to the property.
If you would like to work with an expert to build your VR strategy, Styldod can help. Contact us.
.png)
.svg)
.svg){kind=logo}
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
