If something can create the illusion of being in an interesting world, then it is Virtual Reality or VR. It is a novel communication platform that makes you feel present in that environment, regardless of where you are in the world. Taking advantage of this wonderful feature of Virtual Reality, real estate has embraced this technology and now it is bringing revolution in this sector.
1. Virtual Reality is Bringing Revolution
Real estate has always been a rewarding form of investment and has attracted the investors for more and more investment. This has created great competition among the realtors and the developers. They need to adapt different methods to keep their boat sailing in the ocean of real estate. They need to convince the buyers that their ventures are the best and these are exactly what the homebuyers are looking for. Just words cannot convince them. In such a situation, Virtual Reality comes to the rescue of the realtors. It helps them in promoting their projects and keeps them ahead in the competition. It is bringing a revolution in the real estate sector. Virtual Reality is now serving as the latest technological advancement because a virtual tour arranged by this technology can help a person or the homebuyer experience the new to be home as well as the neighbourhood remotely, even without stepping out from their place. It is true that Virtual Reality is bringing revolution in real estate sector.
2. Know About a Virtual Tour
This term became more popular during the pandemic and its popularity kept on rising even after the pandemic. A virtual tour is created by joining a series of panoramic images, videos or still images and once a virtual tour is created, then the viewer can feel and imagine himself being present in that situation. Real estate sector has utilised this technology in promoting their ventures and the present homebuyer can see and visualise the house he is going to invest, much before its foundation. Some other elements of multimedia are also added such as sound effects, music, narration, and text. These elements make the virtual tour more effective and it lets you move around or explore any place or location, without even visiting it. You can visualise your would be home or the property where you are planning to invest. This virtual tour can be viewed online, from the comfort of your place and get a semi-realistic experience.
Virtual tours are used in real estate to hook the buyers when you are selling a property. It is also used when you rent out your property. Instead of taking them to the original place again and again, a virtual tour is used to give the initial site visit, virtually. It gives the experience of the realistic view of the property and also helps in taking a decision.
There are different types of Virtual tours but only a few are mentioned here. Guided Video Tours is no longer considered as a Virtual Tour. Here, a sequence of videos is stitched to create a guided video tour which gives the experience of a tour of a location. This was used early where it functions as just a tour and as a viewer; one has no control over the movement. One only watches what is shown in the tour.
2.1. 360 Virtual Tours
This type of Virtual Tour goes with the name. This gives a complete virtual 360-degree view of the environment where you can view the place or the location from the centre having more control over the navigation. This is the modern virtual tour of today that is being used widely in the business including the realty sector. One can easily turn in a circle or 360 degrees in any direction, within the virtual environment. 360 virtual tours are affordable too.
From this, emerged the Virtual 360 Video Tours where one can navigate while the video is being played. With high quality digital cameras, this type of tour is a bit expensive and not commonly used as the 360 Virtual Tour.
2.2. Visual 3D Dollhouse
This is the most advanced form of Virtual Tour which is very close to a real walking tour. In the beginning of the tour, one gets to see a 3D model of the house. Later you enter the house for the virtual tour and click to move here and there inside the house. One can take different positions inside the room rather than staying at the centre of the room. This is known as the Dollhouse Virtual Tour where one is free to navigate inside the house. This type of tour is being used to bring more online attraction in the realty sector.
3. Virtual Reality Trends in Real Estate
Virtual Reality is bringing revolution in real estate in a number of ways. To keep pace with the world, it is necessary to embrace technology and one such technology is virtual reality. Photorealistic Virtual Tours are becoming the new normal as the buyers can virtually visit multiple locations within a short duration, thus saving money and time.
It can also aid in customization and virtual commerce. Realtors and developers can offer a cost-effective and personalised buying and building experience to their customers with the help of detailed 3D modelling and real-time visualisation techniques. Virtual Reality also helps to create better designs and also significant value in terms of cost and time savings.
4. Use of Virtual Reality in Real Estate
It is highly used in the marketing sector of real estate. It is helping in growing the business and getting more clients by providing attractive services. The sale of under-construction projects was difficult before as the developers used to find it hard to convince the buyers. With the entry of Virtual Reality, the 3D models, Virtual Tours and the walkthroughs have made the marketing easy.
VirtualReality creates three dimensional images which can be used in modifying the designs of the project. The virtual tours and virtual staging are becoming popular, especially the walkthroughs. It is also popular in the construction sector of real estate. The tools of VirtualReality help to edit, reduce, enlarge, and experience the changes in the 3D model of the project. Hence we can say that VirtualReality is bringingrevolution in the real estate sector.