The Applications of VR in Real Estate

For the majority of real estate companies, realty agencies, and realtors, conveying information about listings via texts and 2D images has been the standard practice. If you were looking to buy a piece of real estate or sell your existing property, you got in touch with a real estate agent. Your realtor provided you with a list of features or potential buyers following which they’d arrange an open house or schedule visits by prospective clients.

However, with the introduction of VR real estate tours, the industry is witnessing a virtual across-the-board transformation. VR technology is proving to be incredibly useful in enabling everybody connected with real estate, directly or indirectly, to prosper. For instance, real estate agencies and firms are getting more customers and earning higher revenues by providing excellent services.

Alternatively, customers can save on time and effort by viewing listed properties online in the comfort of their homes. That real estate virtual tours have the potential of bringing about a paradigm shift in how the realty business functions are reinforced by a NAR (National Association of Realtors) survey.  As per the study carried out by NAR, nearly 44% of customers do research on the internet when looking for properties. 

Most of us have the impression that VR continues to be used extensively in the gaming and entertainment industries. However, with time, numerous other sectors are gradually adopting VR, including but not limited to automotive, retail, healthcare, and tourism. The real estate sector, as one of the critical infrastructural components of the economy, has adopted VR in a big way.

A virtual reality real estate tour now lets you explore a property inside out without having to step out of your home. You can take a virtual walking tour of the properties listed by your realtor and then visit the ones you like in-person at your convenience. VR technology comes in perfectly handy, especially when you want to visit a property of your choice but unable to because of its remote location.

You have to wear a VR headset (the Google Cardboard will suffice) for experiencing an immersive 3D tour of a property. You can opt for a guided virtual visit with a panoramic camera that records 360° video offering a 360° walkthrough. On the other hand, you can choose an interactive tour where you view specific areas and simulate your conceptualizations in the form of VR hotspots.

To be specific, VR Hotspots are a kind of AR (augmented reality) that can boost your VR experience. One significant aspect of VR Hotspots is VR staging, which entails uploading an image of a room and altering it virtually with furnishings and household items. The virtual stage of a property may significantly influence the experience of realtors, buyers, and investors.  

The increasing implementation of VR technology in real estate has benefits for almost all stakeholders involved in the industry.

Real-estate virtual tours along with mortgage calculators can vastly improve the customer experience. A virtual reality real estate tour allows you to visit a property whenever you want to and as long as you want to. Furthermore, it also offers you detailed information about the property.

Real estate firms may have to spend quite a sum for creating 3D videos, but still, the expenses will be much less than what you’d spend on conventional marketing.

Clients can access virtual tours all throughout the world.

This is the most obvious benefit of a real estate virtual tour. You can view a property as many times as you like in the comfort of your home.    

Virtual reality is making fast progress in the real estate industry, and the technology is proving to be disruptive. From mutually reciprocal virtual hotspots to real estate virtual tours, VR can go a long way in bettering customer experience in both commercial or residential real estate. In the foreseeable future, we may see a world where most of us search for new homes from comfort of our own home using VR as a handy tool.