Looking for ways to gain a competitive advantage in real estate? Using virtual reality in real estate could help you grab the attention of potential buyers by more conveniently showcasing properties virtually.
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The Canada residential real estate market is expected to grow to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 10% between 2023-2028. In this context, there could be a possibility of rising competition among realtors. Therefore, you should potentially leverage the advantages of innovation to gain a competitive edge in the market.
Virtual reality (VR) is one such technology that can help you gain more clients and grow your business by allowing customers to view apartments, houses, and land in a new and more convenient way.
By integrating virtual reality tools with property management software, you can ideally create a virtual store where consumers can pick properties and immerse themselves into a 360-degree view of the property. incorporate them into landscaping.
Let’s look at some of the uses of virtual reality in the real estate industry.
1. Can help realtors showcase properties in a new way
It has been possible to take high-resolution photos and even videos with drones for quite some time now. However, there is more to it than just the convenience of viewing a property remotely without having to drive there using virtual reality tools. As a realtor, you can make it possible for home buyers to inspect the house, property, or apartment at their leisure, get a reasonably authentic impression in advance, and scrutinize even the smallest details, such as whether the kitchen floor is made of real wood.
They can also look at buildings from the outside the same way as the rest of the property. With a virtual reality tour of the exterior of a house, you can ideally allow your customers to pay attention to every small detail that is important to them, such as outdoor lighting or patio flooring.
Previously, people could usually only find out about such seemingly minor details during an on-site inspection. However, it can now be possible to learn much about a property without ever seeing it. In this way, you can save your customers time by not having them visit properties physically.
2. Could allow buyers to visit properties before they are built
Are you considering taking your client on a tour of a new building still under construction? This might sound unreal, but it can ideally be viable with the help of virtual reality software solutions.
When virtual reality tools didn't exist, you might have had to wait to pitch the property to a customer until a building was finished. But today, using virtual reality tools in real estate, companies can potentially create a 3-D virtual experience for your clients, giving them an idea of what it will look like. This may allow you to let your clients imagine their future apartments much better and have a clearer idea of what they will have to look forward to.
Virtual reality as an aid in construction
Companies that build and sell homes can also benefit from VR tools in many ways. They may no longer have to work from blueprints and computer images as they can virtually walk through the buildings using VR platforms before construction is complete. This can ideally give them a more accurate picture of the project and may even allow them to progress faster.
3. Can help realtors engage with buyers
Promoting a real estate property before it is built could seem difficult for realtors. However, using VR tools in real estate could assist them in marketing a property that is under construction. 3-D models of homes and commercial buildings delivered by VR technology can allow real estate developers to set up marketing campaigns and exhibit the property with fully visualized architecture.
According to one of our surveys, 20% of surveyed home buyers only needed virtual tours before buying a property, indicating that this method of property surveying is gaining some traction.
Adding virtual tours to your marketing portfolio can ideally help you reduce marketing efforts in other areas —newspaper ads, postcards, flyers, webinars, and local advertisements may no longer be necessary if you can offer an attractive VR tour of your properties. You can typically save additional time and money and create a more effective marketing strategy.
4. Could help realtors enable virtual commerce
Virtual commerce (V-commerce) can be defined as sales that enable customers to buy goods with the help of virtual reality. For example, a buyer is taking a virtual tour of the property and they wish to make a few changes to the interior of the house. V-commerce may allow them to do so by making it possible for them to select new elements from the virtual store and add them to their virtual tour.
To make this happen, you may collaborate with the sellers of home decor items and create a virtual store. In this way, you can give more flexibility to your customers by enabling them to experiment with the interiors of a property.
Takeaway
Whether you're marketing apartments in a small town or own a large real estate company that develops dozens of properties: implementing VR tools in real estate can potentially enhance your customers' experience and transform your day-to-day business in the future. And as with all exciting innovations, it pays to jump on the bandwagon before your competitors do.
