The appeal of virtual reality is its ability to enable potential homebuyers located in other areas to tour houses without leaving their homes. Realtor Gary Ashton believes VR to be the next frontier in the Nashville real estate market. Ashton believes that he is one of the first in Nashville to use virtual reality technology. The realtor recently bought a 3D camera and an Oculus Rift.
Real estate websites most usually provide video tours of their listings. Around this time last year, 3D photography enabled 360-degree views of each room right on the screen of a computer. When a virtual reality headset is used to view those 3D images, HouseLens founder and CEO Andrew Crefeld noted that it is like you are really there.
Kathryn Roster, an executive at HouseLens explains that viewing 3D images is like moving through the house but with a headset, it will be like actually being in that house. However, Crefeld cautioned that using VR might be disorienting because it will feel like walking through the house when the user is actually sitting, according to a feature by BDC magazine.
Parks Marketing Director Dania Demirci said that she has not yet used the VR personally but she expects agents to use it for marketing houses. VR technology will be more useful to busy or far clients who might not have the time to personally visit a listing.
Benchmark Realty Managing Broker Lisa Wurth said that realtors and homebuyers alike are using the technology to somehow cope with current competitive market. These days, it's not uncommon for a house to be sold after a few hours of being listed.
Today, homebuyers who cannot afford to go out personally to tour a house are taking live and interactive video tours via Skype or FaceTime. The realtor walks through the house while using their mobile device to stream the feed in real time to the client.
Crowding will not be an issue anymore and a property can be viewed a thousand times in just one day. Wurth revealed that there have been numerous deals made during a video tour. Ashton firmly believes that the next step to this is virtual reality.
Photographers has even taking it a step further, by putting virtual furnitures in empty homes, according to a feature by Domain.
