{"id":9429,"date":"2017-03-27T17:48:18","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T07:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reuncut.com.au\/?p=9429"},"modified":"2017-03-27T17:48:18","modified_gmt":"2017-03-27T07:48:18","slug":"virtual-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/channels.realty.com.au\/realtyuncut\/virtual-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual Reality – Kylie Davis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why your new reality should be virtual<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Kylie Davis<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Virtual reality has been hyped as the next big thing in real estate for many years \u2013 will the trend finally take off this year?<\/p>\n

New advances in the technology, price reductions and new consumer expectations could make 2017 the year of VR, according to experts at the INMAN New York<\/a> real estate conference.<\/p>\n

Ryan O\u2019Hara, the CEO of US web portal Realtor.com<\/a>, said now was the time for real estate agents to \u2018lean in\u2019 to the technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe time is now to invest in it and get comfortable so you are ahead of the curve,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone asks, when should I do this? When should I adopt? Do it now. Make it a differentiator when you want to win a listing. Show what you can do to stand out from other agents.\u201d<\/p>\n

One Washington agent at the Hacker Connect pre-conference, said he had won $5m in listings over the past 18 months by using VR in an area where the typical price of a home was around $300,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cI send examples to potential listings and say \u201cThis is what I will do for your home\u201d. People are impressed and I\u2019ve not lost a single listing since I started pitching with it,\u201d the agent told the conference. He used a college student to edit the video together, making the final package an inexpensive but impressive way to stand out from his competition.<\/p>\n

With video and floor plans and photos of homes in every angle, why do we need virtual reality as well?<\/p>\n

Stephanie Davis from Virtual Xperience<\/a> said the difference with VR is that users can walk around inside the space they are looking at which is much more immersive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s all about presence,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can see and feel the space you’re in. You can sense the height of the room, spatial flow, the proportion.\u00a0You get a feel of how far it is from the door to the furniture \u2013 it\u2019s very compelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

In virtual reality, buyers can exam\"banner2-3\"<\/a>ine parts of the property that particularly interest them and there can be overlays to inform visitors of vital information. These can include visual pointers such as the type of granite on the benchtops, through to warranty information about when the airconditioner was installed or key parts of the contract.<\/p>\n

VR is an ideal tool for new home and apartment builds giving buyers a much more realistic understanding of their new property in advance.<\/p>\n

“When a buyer walks out onto the balcony and sees and hears the sea, and the seagulls of the new apartment they\u2019re considering \u2013 they are completely sold,\u201d said Ms Davis.<\/p>\n

Markets that have strong foreign investment or sight unseen buyers are also prime contenders virtual reality.<\/p>\n

Will buyers need to go to an agent\u2019s office or display home site to see many different types of properties using 3D in a single showing? Or will agents make cardboard VR goggles the new fridge magnets of marketing? The jury is out.<\/p>\n

But there are several different types of virtual reality \u2013 from video walk throughs, to \u2018mobile virtual\u2019 captured on small inexpensive devices, to the full bells and whistles 3D rendering that can deliver entire suburbs and cityscapes.<\/p>\n

The \u2018vomit factor\u2019 of VR is also being addressed with new technology from Oculus Rift – making being immersed in VR now much smoother which removes the sense of car sickness.<\/p>\n

Buying your own Oculus Rift<\/a> device \u2013 and a laptop to run it \u2013 now costs about $US 2500. And you\u2019ll need to edit each VR piece you create \u2013 so add the cost of a college student or someone from Freelancer.com<\/p>\n

Alternatively, there are agencies that will deliver a VR service with costs ranging from $2 upwards of square foot of space shot and can take up to two weeks to deliver a VR render for a 1000 square foot property.<\/p>\n

Matterport,<\/a> which specialises in virtual reality for real estate, claims it is the most scalable way for agents to capture VR listings, taking just 24 hours to deliver a model in the US at a charge of 20c to 30c per square foot.<\/p>\n

Australian companies involved in VR include Virtual Reality Ventures<\/a>, Pixelcase and<\/a> RapidVR.<\/a> They follow a full service model.<\/p>\n