Virtual Reality and Real Estate: The Future of Decision Making
The internet has not left any industry untouched and real estate is no exception. The industry has been transformed in the digital age with a growing number of buyers finding their dream home online. Virtual reality real estate is expected to change this.
Real estate companies, like any other, have been embracing new tools and technologies to improve the customer experience and give themselves an edge over their competition.
One of these new technologies that’s being adopted and is expected to change the market is VR real estate (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality). VR and AR will improve the way all parties in the industry interact.
Here’s how VR will play a big role to make it a virtual real estate industry.
1. Time Savings for Buyer and Agent
Both real estate agents and prospective buyers dread the home showing process. They have to go to a string of houses and hope that one of them is the right one (that both parties can agree upon).
The process is tedious and time-consuming and doesn’t always provide returns for either party. As an agent, you might find yourself losing your entire day just showing homes to prospective buyers.
As a buyer, you always have to leave your whole day open for viewing homes. This would all change with the introduction of VR and AR.
AR can allow a real estate agent to show a prospective buyer an almost real-life replica of the house. VR, on the other hand, will allow the buyer to experience the house and get a feel of what it’d be like living in the house. It’ll be like a virtual reality real estate. This will allow buyers to quickly filter homes, saving time for both parties.
2. Easier Workflow for Contractors/Developers
The construction industry faces many challenges. Contractors/developers tend to have quite a bit of bottleneck in their operations. Potential buyers need to justify the amount of money that they are about to spend on a property. This is difficult, especially when they can’t visualize the end product.
For the contractor, this might translate to delay in funding and longer sales times. VR and AR would change all this. Prospective buyers would not only see the end product, but they could also experience it.
The benefit does resonate for both parties as the contractor can also demonstrate construction plans clearly to the customer before the project begins. What this allows for is more accurate estimations in terms of cost and time for the project.
3. More Value Addition
Real estate companies need to get ahead of their competition in the market. One way to do this is by offering value addition to its customers. VR and AR will be the solution for this in the future.
For instance, it’s customary that furniture, fittings and interiors are planned after the purchase of a home, but what if this changed?
What if a real estate company could provide customers with the ability to plan their interior and furniture before they purchase a home? This would build quite the rapport for the company. With VR, this will be possible. The technology allows for almost like simulations for its user.
The buyer (by using this technology) can go through their home, open doors, adjust the interior look, add furniture to their liking and more. All this added value will only stand to be a benefit for the company that uses VR.
4. More Data for Real Estate Companies
The internet, in combination with other tools such as VR and AR as well as the Internet of Things (IoT), is going to change the way real estate companies interact with prospective buyers. This will be done through data.
Data is what’s going to separate the best from the rest. The company that not only gathers the data but also analyzes, will be able to provide a better experience for its customers. The extra information generated can be used for both the business side of things as well as the consumer side of things.
For the business side, through the use of data, key metrics will be established quicker and improved upon faster as well. The decision makers can use this data to get better insights based on business reports and make decisions that have a more positive impact on the business. Real estate industry experts focus on trusted essay writers service for their business reports, data evaluation and white papers done.
5. Open New Markets
It’s well known that China has a middle class that’s growing (faster) than anywhere else in the world. China’s middle class is hungry to invest and so there has been an increase in property acquisition internationally by Chinese citizens.
VR is only expected to open the market up further for not only the Chinese but other rich Asians and Africans as well. It will allow for prospective buyers not close to the property or even the country to have a home viewing.
With this in mind, it’s expected that the purchase of the real estate by wealthy individuals will depend on their immersive viewing experience. As VR becomes widely adopted, people would want to “view” their homes before buying them. This will be more so the case for prospective buyers looking to purchase internationally.
Conclusion
Virtual reality in the real estate industry is going to have quite the impact. The technology will change the way the market operates as a whole. It’s going to open up markets to international buyers as people will be able to view property no matter where they’re from. The real estate experience is going to change as technology becomes more widespread in the local and global market.
Real estate companies that choose to adopt this technology moving forward are expected to thrive. VR and AR when fully adopted in the industry, will cause a huge shift. Through the use of data, a better experience can be formulated and better decisions can be made. VR is a technology that will change the way real estate agents, developers and buyers interact (hopefully for the better).
About the Author
Bryan Davis is a finance and trading expert who shares his knowledge with people through his far-reaching blogs and podcasts. He’s an expert in real estate and construction sector and has helped many US and Gulf companies to make a deep analysis of the market. When not working, he spends his time near the ocean doing yoga and capturing the nature with his camera.