Know how virtual reality will revolutionize home sales

Virtual reality is a three-dimensional immersive digital world that you can interact with as if you are inside it. A headset in combination with a console or even a mobile phone creates a stereoscopic 3D effect with a 3D sound system. This technology is on its way to revolutionizing home sales.  Read to know-how.

What is virtual reality?

Virtual reality has so far been mostly related to gaming but it is fast making inroads in other industries such as medical simulation, automobile design, and real estate. By 2020, the overall market size of the virtual reality market in India was $ 1.83 billion. In this, almost $ 173 million of investments are being made in virtual reality for the real estate industry.

In real estate, a three-dimensional simulation of a complete building can be created using virtual reality software and people can be walked through in an immersive environment.

Virtual reality is a computer-created environment you can digitally walkthrough. As per current technology, you need to wear a headset that transports you to a three-dimensional audiovisual experience that is completely different from the two-dimensional images and videos that you watch on your computer screen or TV.

How virtual reality can revolutionize home sales

Home sellers (builders, real estate agents, and independent property sellers) and buyers normally face two problems when selling and buying properties:

1. The property isn’t yet ready but still the sale needs to be closed so that finances can be arranged.
2. Either the buyer or the seller cannot physically visit the property due to distance or time constraints and good deals are being lost due to that.

Traditionally the builder would show a map of the property to interested buyers. If multiple apartments are involved, they sometimes also build a pilot apartment so that interested parties can visit the place and can get an idea of how the final construction will look. This is costly as well as inconvenient. Besides, during the construction, there may be many changes that neither the builder nor the buyer can envisage.

Virtual reality not just helps the builders to cut costs but also allows the interested buyers to conveniently experience the interiors of the property even when the property hasn’t yet been built.

Virtual reality, as explained above, creates an immersive environment.  Currently one needs to wear a headset to experience three-dimensional virtual reality. The technology is fast improving and soon you may be able to experience virtual reality by simply wearing digital goggles.

Virtual reality offers multi-sensation interaction in real estate

The virtual reality environment allows interested parties to digitally interact with various elements of the properties using audio, visual, and haptic sensations. People participating in the virtual tool can tap on individual items (such as opening the door to a room) and experience and visit them one by one.

When you enter the virtual reality world, things appear in three dimensions. This means the objects don’t appear flat. They have depth. They have shadows. They have backs and fronts. You can open doors. You can go behind the walls. You can climb the ladders. You can turn left and right. You can even turn around and see what’s behind. The real estate agent can completely furnish the house in the virtual world as per your taste. The color and texture of the walls can be changed. You can have your own doors and windows. You can even suggest design changes to the architect by arranging various components in real-time.

Before purchasing a property, a real estate agent may need to show multiple properties to prospective buyers. This involves lots of travel and logistic factors. Many real estate deals fall through because timely visits cannot be scheduled. This problem can be solved with virtual reality. Virtual trips, guided, interactive, or staged, can be organized within minutes for the stakeholders. Other than the physical sensation, one feels like actually roaming inside the property experiencing the various elements.

Virtually seeing the property in three dimensions makes it easier for buyers to make up their minds because now they have a visual sense of how the property is going to look.

Although virtual reality is on its way to revolutionizing the real estate industry for all stakeholders, it is still at an early stage as far as reach is concerned. Not all real estate buyers have the needed gadgets and technologies to participate in virtual tours and interactive virtual visits. But soon, the technology is going to be as common as owning a mobile phone and when that happens, there will be nothing to stop the juggernaut of virtual reality in real estate.