With an industry worth over $12.1 billion, it shouldn't come as a surprise that virtual reality is a technology that will become even more important in the future. After all, there are many reasons to use VR software. From entertainment to interactive work meetings, these technologies allow for a remote, immersive experience.
One of the most important applications is home builder virtual reality. In a world that's moving toward remote learning and touring, VR allows people to have an immersive experience no matter where they are viewing your homes from. Here, we're going to discuss how a virtual reality real estate tour can help you sell homes. So read on to have your most pressing questions answered.
Virtual reality is one of the most effective tools for selling homes in 2020. There are approximately 82 million VR headsets in use right now. Additionally, since 90% of these headsets are mobile-based, and the vast majority of people have smartphones, the technology is accessible to most Americans.
If you're unsure about the merits of VR technology, it's important to understand that 77% of buyers cite home staging and tours as a critical factor when selecting a home to purchase. Because VR is a tool that lets people see a home through an interactive 3D digital tour, it is a wonderful alternative for those that cannot have in-person tours for any reason.
As a home builder, if you don't use virtual reality services, you are definitely missing out on engaging with many potential buyers. And as the technology progresses both in adoption and availability, this will be increasingly true.
15% of moves within the US are those moving to a new state. For these individuals, it's difficult (or downright impossible) to travel to their destination for the purpose of touring. As a result, you'll miss out on some portion of that 15% if you can't provide high-fidelity, remote touring.
Even for those moving within their own states, VR is an appealing and interesting technology for home buyers. They will likely view your brand as a more legitimate real estate company since you are able to invest in these technologies. And because many people want to try VR technologies, you will get more people signing up for tours this way.
With VR, buyers can also explore the properties at any time they wish. If they want to go back later and check on something that they saw on the tour, they can do this without disturbing the seller. Buyers will have unlimited access to viewings and therefore be able to make more informed purchases.
If you're especially ambitious and experienced, you can create your own VR platform. This is an expensive endeavor (costing a minimum of $25,840) and requires a lot of experience to be effective. This isn't something that smaller home builders can afford, especially with the costs of hiring an expert programmer. For larger businesses, it still may not be worth it.
Fortunately, pre-programmed VR reality is much more accessible. You can purchase these services from any number of major retailers including Best Buy, Amazon, Staples, and Target. All of these retailers sell VR headsets that you can connect to your devices for home staging.
The final step would be to create your own VR-friendly content. Already, many established video and content agencies are offering exactly that. And now and towards the future, many more vendors will offer VR-ready tours for lower and lower rates.
Unsurprisingly, it seems the application of virtual reality for home buying is obvious to the industry's creators. First-movers and early adopters stand to carve out quite the large differentiator.
There are many ways that VR will affect your business. First, it will allow you to expand into areas that you otherwise would be unable to. As we brushed on before, you can take your real estate business out of state to get more buyers making long-distance moves.
Using virtual reality will also allow for more social engagement with clients (assuming that you use the technologies appropriately). 77% of current VR users believe these platforms should be more social and want to see headsets that connect them to others via social media. You can have these users connect with your agents directly from their headsets so that they can ask you any questions they have about properties in real-time.
VR will also bring more traffic to your website. Today, people find builders online more than ever before. Instead of forming an impression with an office visit, you'll need to pack a punch using graphics, video marketing, blog posts, and CTA sections of your webpages.
To prepare for this, you'll want to have an updated website. More people than ever will be visiting your page, so you need to make an impression. Additionally, since your business will be more reliant on technology, it's important that you keep up with current trends to stay ahead of the competition.
When you have a well-designed website, potential clients will think of your brand as more professional and legitimate. They also will be engaged enough to remain on your webpage beyond the few seconds you have to make an impact before they click away.
You also will want to reassess your budget and figure out how much money you should be investing in online marketing services and other digital attractions. It's important that you increase the amount you are spending on these services so that you have enough money to remain competitive in an increasingly online world.
We've talked about the fact that VR is interesting to most consumers. But why is this the case?
First, it's new and exciting. People are naturally drawn to fresh new technologies that they haven't seen before. They want to try them out.
Because of this curiosity, buyers will likely be drawn to your website over your competitors that don't use VR. This will give you a chance to engage with them and make an impression.
Additionally, VR will likely allow for full sensory immersion in the future. While it currently is only a visual technology, developers foresee that they will eventually be able to cater to other senses as well. You will therefore soon be able to hear and even smell things in locations far away from you, which is something that most buyers find fascinating.
Now that you know how home builder virtual reality can help you sell homes, it's time to get started. Contact us with any lingering questions you may have about building your brand, using VR for marketing your real estate business, and marketing to potential buyers. We look forward to helping you market and sell the properties that you most want to show to buyers!