As a resident of Playa Vista, CA (aka Silicon Beach), I received an invitation from the real estate agents, Fineman & Suarez, which stood out from the crowd of my daily emails: It offered to come check the two Open Houses, close to each other, and offered lunch, dessert AND A VR DEMO! Class! Obviously with my interest in both RE and VR I got curious to see how they position the VR in real estate, talk to the techies and also to see people’s reaction.
Fineman-Suarez open House ad with Transported VR
From a pure real estate marketing standpoint, this was an outstanding event; very well organized, with an upscale standard for running open houses (great but not unusual) but also with live music inside the properties, VR demos and initiation for newbies, In n Out and dessert food trucks, valet parking, etc.
The use of Virtual Reality by Real estate marketers was a win win approach; Tech providers got access to consumers and could test their reactions and gather market intelligence while the realtors contributed to building a sophisticated high end brand for their real estate company, stood out of the crowd and attracted more people (like me).
The VR system was from TRANSPORTED VR, a Silicon Beach startup focused on Virtual Reality for the real estate market. Founders Matt and Patrick were showing their app with 2 of the platforms that they support as of now: Samsung GR (mobile based) and Oculus Rift (PC based). I tried the Oculus Rift and had a great experience of virtual navigation through the immersive environment of the virtual house with clickable screen menus available for direct shortcuts as well as house features pop ups when you looked at them. (for example kitchen appliances details). An immersive experience which is far more valuable than flat pictures.
The multi billion $ question is: when, how and by who is the RE/VR market going to be cracked?
In our VR Market Report published recently, we provide guidelines to qualify the future of VR applications out of the obvious gaming market, under “VR for Work” which also includes real estate. There are clearly great opportunities but also quite some challenges there. Among other reflections :
- – The problem VR for real estate is solving
- – Measuring the weight of the “added value” and compare it to the “effort”. How to increase the earlier and to decrease the latter
- – How to cross the chasm from the excitement to regular use
- – Which platforms are more adapted for VR for Work or specifically in Real Estate
- – Market outlook for both “VR for fun” and “VR for Work”
If you are involved in VR as an entrepreneur, as an investor or as an executive make sure you get your copy and feel free to contact us for any question.
Darius Lahoutifard