With people across the United States staying home as much as possible due to COVID-19, those who want to sell their homes face a challenge. Due to fears of contracting the virus, prospective buyers don’t want to enter the homes of strangers, and sellers don’t want to have people come to their homes. Fortunately, technology makes it possible for sellers to show their homes virtually.
How Virtual Reality can be Used in Real Estate
Virtual reality has been used in video games and other forms of entertainment, but it also has practical applications in the real estate industry. Virtual tours fall into two categories.
A guided tour is a 360-degree video that takes a customer through a house and lets the person look around. Those types of videos are relatively easy and inexpensive to produce.
An interactive tour lets customers view a house at their own pace and focus on specific areas of interest. In some cases, customers can ask the agent questions as they tour a house virtually. Producing an interactive virtual tour is more complex than creating a guided tour, but it can be a more effective marketing tool.
A virtual tour can also include a “walk” through the surrounding area. That can allow customers to see other homes, schools, parks, restaurants and stores, and figure out if the neighborhood would fit their lifestyle.
How Virtual Reality can Help Agents, Buyers and Sellers
Many real estate agents use virtual reality because it saves time for the agent and buyers. Since most people who are interested in buying a home start out by looking online, offering virtual tours makes it easy for customers to view several properties and decide which ones they want to visit in person.
Virtual reality can be especially helpful if a potential buyer wants to view a house but lives far away. Instead of spending time and money to travel to see a house in person, a customer can take a virtual tour without leaving home.
With a virtual reality tour, buyers can view a house whenever they want and spend as much time as they want. When people don’t feel rushed, they often notice little details that they might have otherwise missed.
Virtual reality is an immersive experience. A virtual reality tour can cause customers to feel a much stronger emotional connection to a house than photos can.
Using virtual reality is more convenient for sellers. They can be made available to prospective buyers so sellers won’t have to deal with the stress and inconvenience of keeping their home clean and ready to be shown at any time.
Discuss Using Technology to Sell Your Home
The spread of the coronavirus has caused a lot of uncertainty and has put many aspects of normal life on hold. If you want to sell your home, you may still be able to show it to potential buyers now using virtual reality. Talk to your real estate agent.
