The Benefits Of Virtual Reality (VR) In Real Estate

You're likely no stranger to the words "virtual reality" in our tech-laden world. Real estate has also experienced the phenomenon – you can hop on just about any real estate website to see evidence of virtual reality from furniture staging to virtual tours.

But what is virtual reality, specifically virtual reality real estate (VR real estate)? Win this article, we'll look at how virtual reality technology works and several ways the real estate industry uses it.

How Has Virtual Reality Impacted The Real Estate Market?

Virtual reality has changed the real estate industry for real estate agents, REALTORS^®, anyone buying a house or selling a house. Take a look at how it has impacted various individuals:

• Real estate agents or REALTORS^®: Virtual reality allows real estate agents or REALTORS^® to market a home globally, simplifying their workflow and even reducing costs, including making fewer trips to physical locations. Buyers who look at homes virtually may have an earlier sense of perceived ownership, possibly fostering quicker sales.
• Buyers: As you can imagine, virtual reality technology can benefit buyers through walkthroughs and tours. Potential buyers can virtually tour or visualize a home before it's constructed, connecting them emotionally before they even step inside. Real estate agents can create 360-degree walkthroughs so anyone can get a sense of a space that photos can't achieve. Buyers may also look at listings from their current location without traveling, a benefit if you live a long way away or cannot view the house in person.
• Sellers: Virtual reality means you can open your house to prospective buyers worldwide, not just in your local area.

Virtual reality opportunities can include virtual property presentations, staging of a property that doesn't yet exist and add-on features (furniture, lighting, color and other interior design products).

Types Of VR Real Estate Technology

VR real estate technology can include more than just virtual reality. It can also include augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR):

• Virtual reality (VR): It is a 3D computer-generated experience that shows a real or imaginary world, including sounds and imagery. Anyone using VR might use interactive devices, such as a VR headset, helmets and gloves.
• Augmented reality (AR): Augmented reality (AR), or the blending of applications that interact with the real world, may also come into play. AR allows users to distinguish between virtual reality and real life, but VR makes it so that users cannot distinguish between what is real and what is not.
• Mixed reality (MR): Mixed reality is just like it sounds – when virtual and physical worlds meet to create a mix of AR and VR. For example, it might mean creating a 3D virtual hologram of a room to see how a builder might lay it out.

5 Ways Virtual Reality Is Used In The Real Estate Industry

Look at a few ways you can use virtual reality in the real estate industry, depending on your role in real estate.

1. VR Real Estate Tours

Digital real estate tours offer natural benefits for most buyers, sellers and agents. Potential buyers from anywhere in the world can see a home's layout and interior design through virtual tours, including 360-degree views of the interior and exterior of a home. It's a simple, convenient way for a home to gain attention and stand out in a potentially overcrowded market.

2. Virtual Staging

Virtual home staging can make selling and buying a home easier. Virtual staging uses editing software to help potential buyers see what a home might look like with new furniture or a different color scheme, particularly in an empty room. Staging can help buyers "see" themselves cooking in the kitchen, sitting on the living room furniture or enjoying the patio. Virtual staging could involve digitally erasing out-of-date furniture or changing antiquated decor.

3. New Construction Visualization

New construction visualization can help when building a new home. Better than simply looking at blueprints and photos, VR visualization can help you see exactly what a home will look like before construction starts. You can also use it to make decisions, such as upgrades or variations on your original home design.

4. Buying And Selling Virtual Real Estate

Buying and selling virtual real estate means purchasing real estate or digital land in the metaverse, a virtual world, instead of the physical one.

You can purchase with a digital wallet to hold assets like cryptocurrencies or NFTs. Your wallet must be compatible with the metaverse platform you plan to use. Highly speculative and risky, virtual real estate is still in its infancy but has much potential. 

5. V-Commerce

V-commerce includes property staging, where real estate agents can help buyers personalize spaces according to their preferences. For example, a real estate agent might "switch out" an existing light fixture on a v-commerce platform (not in real-time) to help a buyer visualize their preferred customizations. V-commerce gives everyone involved in real estate major potential for purchasing homes virtually or providing interior design elements for virtual staging.

Benefits Of Virtual Reality For Real Estate

The benefits of virtual reality in real estate include:

• Reaching buyers globally: Buyers can tour homes from anywhere without traveling, benefiting them financially and if they physically cannot travel.
• Saving time and money: Virtual reality can help home buyers and sellers save time and money on traveling and viewing homes. Both local and buyers from out of the country don't have to waste gas driving to and from homes and can also look at many more homes. Even if buyers vet homes before seeing them in person, they can cut down on the amount of time they spend traveling. Buyers and agents can also save time because VR can showcase a home in the best light – for less.
• Generating more views: Virtual reality can also help sellers generate more views on their listings, which can especially help in hot buyers' markets. A seller can accommodate many viewings that in-person showings cannot logistically manage.
• Visualizing homes: Virtual reality can help someone building a new home visualize the structure and layout before and after a build. It's a great option if you have trouble visualizing your future home. VR/AR staging can showcase a home's potential, even with pre-built homes.
• Viewing areas with tough visibility: It may not be easy to see every area of a home. Virtual reality allows potential buyers to see hard-to-reach areas of a home, such as the roof or crawl spaces. Therefore, you get a more complete, transparent view of a home you plan to buy.
• Maintaining safety standards: VR tours allow people to maintain social distancing and view homes without leaving the safety of their homes. It also ensures the real estate agent and seller's safety.

The Bottom Line

The real estate market has benefited from virtual reality. As the VR/AR world continually changes, home buyers, sellers, real estate agents, REALTORS^® and others can benefit by saving time and money, generating more sales, maintaining safety standards and offering more visual potential to consumers.

Considering buying real estate? Start the approval process with Rocket Mortgage^®.