We interviewed Eszter Radnóczy, the lead designer of 'este'r partners,' to inquire about the expected interior design trends in 2024.
How VR Will Be Used In Home Sales
At Home Network, 2018. 06. 26.
How VR Will Be Used In Home Sales
Always be ready to show your property
One of the main tips involved in selling a home is to always be ready to show. If your home is on the market, you never know when your real estate agent may call with news that someone wants to take a look, and it’s on you to be ready to show off your property! But what if you could always be ready to show off your property at its nicest and cleanest, and you didn’t have to lift a finger? In person this is a difficult place to get to, and requires discipline, organization, and consistency. But it might not always be in-person visits that you have to worry about; very soon this might be happening through virtual reality.
Most of us think of VR experiences as full video games that might cost €100 - €150. But the reality is that much simpler, cheaper, and more accessible experiences are also capable of simulating environments. The clearest example is the arrival of online casino games to the genre. Gonzo’s Quest, perhaps the most popular game in the industry, led the way and now these games - as simple and bare bones at they are from a gameplay perspective - are presenting players with immersive 3D environments just for the sake of background. And they’re accessible at low prices and online and via mobile devices.
Given games like these it’s quite clear that true virtual reality experience doesn’t have to cost €150 and it doesn’t have to require high-end equipment like the Oculus Rift, or a powerful PC through which you can run a headset. It can all be simpler, and still achieve the effects of virtual reality. But how does this factor specifically into real estate?
What's in VR for the seller and buyer parties?
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For one thing, it allows prospective buyers to explore an area or neighborhood before zeroing in on a house. Continuing with the Gonzo’s Quest example, the background area of the game is effectively a lush jungle complete with ancient indigenous monuments. It’s not a real place, but it still shows how an environments can be experienced and explored virtually. Now, imagine that that same environment is your own neighborhood instead. This has become possible thanks to the integration of programs like Google Earth with VR. |
Now, at very low prices, people looking to buy homes can use affordable VR devices coupled with smartphones to explore any areas they might be interested in. This is out of your control as a seller, but it nevertheless improves the real estate process in general.
From a seller’s perspective though, the use of VR in specific real estate practices is arguably even more exciting. VR can be used in numerous ways, including providing architectural walkthroughs, guided tours, and most importantly, virtual property showcases.
Getting back to the idea that you always need to be ready to show, you can be if you take the time to get your home set up with one of numerous emerging VR real estate platforms. Chances are, serious buyers will still want to take a look in person. but you can make it such that many more people get to “tour” your home than otherwise would, even if they’re doing so through their smartphones in VR.
It’s really quite a development, and something that should over time change what it’s like to sell, search for, or decide upon a new home.
For more on possible virtual showcases please contact us as an owner or catch up with us via one of our brokers directly!