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April 1, 2019

Virtual Reality in The Real Estate Market

The world evolves digitally very quickly and the acceptance of technology became natural. We are living in the era when to see the property experience we are able to visualize the property in Virtual Reality. Immersive experience becoming more efficient through innovations and technology. The possibility to visualize the real world without actually being in it becoming very popular in the real estate industry. Potential buyers can see many properties in a fraction of the time it took them to travel to one.

What is Virtual Reality? The definition is HERE.

360 ° VR-video, walks in VR helmets, augmented reality — there is a lot of hype around these technologies and gadgets: pilots are launched, advertising is going on, people are walking through virtual reality. But until now, the real estate market has not heard a single high-profile case about turning this hype into a tool for a measurable increase in sales — before and after the introduction of technology. Does this mean that 3D content is useless? Or can it still be sold? Let’s try to figure it out with those who have already tried it.

According to Goldman Sachs 1.4 million registered real estate agents using VR for prospective clients leading to an aggregated real estate commissions market of $107 billion. The same report also indicated “the value proposition of a VR home listing ad can significantly outweigh that of an online ad.”

VR in the European market is a young marketing tool that has not become a common practice yet. Companies that choose VR don’t just use technology. In conditions where everyone wants working schemes, they became innovators who believed in the new approach and introduced this mechanism into established business processes.

3D content is a tool for communication, the visual answers to questions, and not a “silver bullet” for increasing sales. The question: is the ceiling low in an apartment? – can be answered by the manager with a picture or with experience. In VR glasses, you can simply raise your head and assess its height.

VR in action — an entertainment or a work tool?

Despite the fact that VR-technologies offer developers a lot of opportunities, companies differently integrate them into their marketing and sales.

Some companies already use VR opportunities for sale properties. But we can also imagine that branded 3D headsets, for example, Oculus, will be presented as a gift to every potential buyer! It also offers to make an online walk around the apartment.

We advise to select the layout together with the client , and then to offer to look at it in 3D headset. You can mainly show the area so that a person appreciates whether it is big or small. You will demonstrate the capabilities of the apartment. In the drawing, it might seem small, but in fact, it is quite comfortable for the potential buyer. Clients really like the very feeling of being in their apartment. They walk, comment, they plan right in the office what they put in the living room. According to our experience, people often say: “ Let us make the same design!”. That’s why it is so important to offer to your potential buyers not only a beautiful picture but also to provide them a very good design and the possibility to buy all the furniture and accomplish works according to the design. In this case, this sale’s tool is even more valuable.

50 square meters is how much?

3D renders are often used by developers to show general plans during the construction phase. But renders are just a picture that often has little to do with the end result.

But the main thing is that the renders will not give the client the answer to the question “What exactly will my future apartment look like?” at the necessary stage of the sale. And here the prudent developer should take 3D headset from the shelf.

Planning and the number of square meters — the first thing that gives a person a visual representation of the future apartment. However, abstract thinking and the “sense of meter” are not equally well developed by everyone. You need a special talent to imagine yourself in the planning of the apartment, seeing only the general plan. But everyone can to be inside the future apartment, wearing virtual reality glasses. When you sell apartments, you tell the client that there is an apartment of 50 square meters or a room of 10 square meters. And he always has questions: how much is this? What could fit in there?

According to a VRARA survey 40.4% of apartment buyers confirmed that panoramic tours play an important role in making purchasing decisions. 72.7% of clients whose developers offered panoramic tours, positively evaluate this tool.

VR tours allow building an emotional connection and the instant sense of ownership through the immersive experience. Visiting an empty living space or viewing pictures with old furniture and tasteless atmosphere doesn’t help to choose your perfect home. How many people have a good imagination and know exactly what the property will look like one being renovated or refurbished? What about new properties? Imaging an end product before it is built is quite difficult.

64.4% of apartment buyers confirm that 3D- and VR-content helps to “feel” the real size and volume of rooms of purchased housing.

The tour does not replace the sales manager. This is not a conversion tool that guarantees an increase in profits by itself. It is necessary not only to show the 3D tour at the right time but also to continue the sale process after, withdrawing the client to close the deal. By itself, a walk around the apartment in virtual reality is not a tool for direct sales. It does not answer the most important questions that interest the client: the price, the grounds for the conclusion of the transaction, the contractual relationship, the rights of the company to the land plot. There is a huge block of technical and legal issues that cannot be excluded from the process. VR demonstration can not 100% influence the choice. But it can help make it in your favor.

In general, today’s customers are quite conservative, but at the same time, conventional layouts are no longer enough, customers want to see their purchase in volume. So, we realized that VR should be introduced gradually, and the technologies themselves should be twisted. As soon as a person can wear headsets and really feel like being in an apartment, interest will increase significantly.

BNP Paribas Real Estate, in partnership with Mimesys, was the first company to experiment with a form of virtual reality known as holoportation using the only a virtual reality headset and 3D cameras.

Conclusion

3D tours and VR headsets have the character of communication tools. They do not sell on their own, but technologies are of interest to customers.

Goldman Sachs predicts that the VR and AR markets in real estate will reach $80 billion by 2025.

You can not expect that the client will put on his glasses and immediately say: “I buy this apartment!”. There are a lot of factors affecting the final decision. However, virtual reality has various demonstration capabilities. On one of them dwell in more detail.

One of the key features of VR in real estate is the creation of a kind of conveyor for the demonstration of apartments with a high load of managers. At exhibitions, this tool significantly helps buyers to compare the offers of different companies.

Although, this is not a sales process. But the method of the first visual acquaintance with the apartment or residential complex is valuable for the client.

Spacefeeling, the secret ingredient to your perfect sale

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