virtual reality

If you have sold a property in the past, it means you know the process involved in real estate. The first step is when the real estate agent shows a list of properties to the prospective client. Then there would be a series of negotiations, explanation, and the actual visit to the property’s location. This has been the case for decades already, yet it remains to be inconvenient and time-consuming for the agents themselves.

This is now changing since a revolutionary game changer came into the picture. It transforms the way the real estate industry works. This is virtual reality or VR. This technology enables real estate agents to grow their business, acquire more clients, and provide the highest quality service to their clients. According to the National Association of Realtors, 95 percent use the net when looking for properties. Before they decide to visit the actual property, they check on the most basic information online first. The following are the most common uses of VR in the real estate industry:

1. Virtual Staging

You can show the property with all its furnishings and interior design that would make it more appealing to your targeted buyers. According to the National Association of Realtors, 77 percent of real estate agents, virtual staging helps their customers to associate the property they are selling with their future home. It used to require a lot of monetary investments when staging a property, but this all changed with virtual reality. Agents can now stage the properties with minimal expenses.

2. Virtual Commerce

It’s difficult to separate e-commerce from virtual reality. Imagine if the clients can do changes to the property they see virtually. If they are looking at a virtual tour for instance and they want to redecorate the space, they can simply go to an online store, pick new furniture, and put it on the virtual tour. Doing this enables them to redecorate the property according to their preferences. It may also be that they are interested to buy any of the items showcased in the virtual tour. They just have to go to the virtual store and buy the items.

3. Visualizing the Architecture

It has always been a challenge for real estate agents to market a property that hasn’t been developed yet. Three-dimensional models are often used to showcase the neighborhood or the entire development. When it comes to the interior of the property, often full-scale models are used. All these require a huge amount of money. Virtual reality has resolved these concerns. It has made architectural visualization cheaper and more immersive. Even if the property is not yet built, real estate agents can showcase the interior and exterior of a property using virtual reality.

4. Virtual Property Showcases

Clients tend to check on multiple properties before they decide on a particular one. This can be time-consuming and it costs a lot as well. But this has been changed by virtual reality. Buyers can now visit properties without having to leave their homes. All they need to do is use a VR headset and they can walk through a 3D virtual tour of the property. In just minutes, buyers can visit a couple of properties. There are two types of virtual tours: the guided ones and those that are interactive. Guided visits are like the usual promotional video but are entirely virtual or using 360-degree videos. The interactive visits allow users to choose where they prefer to stay within the property by simply checking on the hotspots in their field of view.

5. Virtual Instructions and Improved Communication with Tenants

Real estate agents and property owners have to communicate with their tenants a lot. Virtual technology can help them communicate more conveniently and effectively with their clients. The tenants simply have to do in the VR headsets and immerse in the virtual tour. These 3D virtual tours also help tenants to understand how the utilities in a certain property work to avoid difficulties and to make it unnecessary for them to contact the landlords.

If you want to prosper in your real estate business, It’s best for you to create virtual tours for your property sites.

There are several innovations in technology such as wireless technology, ultra-high resolutions, and eye tracking features that can greatly influence the performance of VR headsets. Think when Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon make use of these in an integrated system. It can certainly bring in millions of users and consumers when all these are integrated with a reduced cost. This can make your company virtual tour more powerful. This is the greatest thing to happen to VR users in the years to come, particularly this year.

Detailed Eye Tracking

The frontal sight can catch the most detail which is the contrast of the peripheral vision. This can be remedied with the help of VR’s eye tracking capability. It renders what is known as “foveate rendering” enabling more details to be sent before your eyes and less on the periphery. This is only made possible once the headset knows where your eyes are directed. That’s how eye tracking makes it a major factor for a VR headset. It is also eye tracking that makes the whole VR experience more socially interactive.

Low Cost

Reduced cost is not exactly a VR feature, but it is the most looked forward advancement in this particular technology. With VR technology, people value the freedom of their hands and to be able to have a fully interactive experience. These features are all part of the Oculus Santa Cruz prototype. The camera placement of the camera on the headset made it possible to reach for an object behind you. Facebook may be able to come up with a consumer version of this VR technology with reduced cost. The ultimate innovation is that of a standalone VR headset complete with battery, graphics, display, tracking, and full freedom controllers but at a reduced cost.

Wireless

There are different ways to enhance the wireless capacity of a VR headset. The first one involves the use of a high-powered processing box just like a PC. It also includes a radio that broadcasts and also receives a huge volume of data to and from a BR headset nearby. Another approach is through a standalone system. This comes with a battery and the processing box which can be found in the headset itself or a wired pack which can be attached to your clothing. The advancements in mobile technology may also bring in a new approach to wireless VR technology that enables higher resolutions and great hand controllers.

Higher Resolution

Most people complain about the “screen door effect” of present-day VR headsets which enables you to see the individual pixels. When it comes to high-resolution manufacturers have become reliant on Samsung which earns the best performance in terms of OLED displays. Other companies are working hard to contribute to this area of VR headset technology. Samsung Odyssey or the upcoming Vive Pro. It has a 1440 x 1600 per eye display that reduces that sense of being in a virtual world as seen from the squares of a screen door. This feature has to be developed alongside the eye tracking feature.

Inside-Out Tracking Feature

The leading company in this feature is Microsoft. Inside-out tracking is a feature that enhances the appeal of the VR headset technology due to convenience. With Santa Cruz, Facebook is showing the speed of its inside-out tracking version. Google is giving the Lenovo headset more power while Qualcomm is now offering core tracking technology that it can share with other manufacturers such as HTC.

All these features are seen as a possible direction this 2019 in terms of technological innovations involving VR headsets. For you to learn more about the different VR headsets that are available in the market today, you can use this guide here.