Realtors tap virtual tours to attract home buyers

The industry, realtors reckon, has essentially turned over a new leaf — and quite possibly for the better — despite initial reservations that technology would take over duties traditionally ascribed to different stakeholders in the industry including real estate agents.

New concepts including augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality are now all the rage in the industry.

And the tech gurus assure that rather than take over the jobs traditionally associated with the real estate agents, technology only complements them. It is more of a tool to help these realtors to market better and showcase their property more efficiently.

Brian Afande, co-founder and managing director of BlackRhino VR, an Extended Reality (XR) Agency based in Nairobi, says XR, which is the umbrella term for augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality, is most probably the best way to go in marketing not just for real estate, but other products as well.

The concept, he says, creates a new experience for the user.

It immerses the consumer into the virtual surroundings, putting them in control of what they want to achieve as an end product of what they are buying into.

“When Covid-19 happened, tourism and travel were essentially cut. This necessitated technology since businesses were somewhat transferred to the virtual space,” says Mr Afande.

Augmented reality tech has strong visualisation tools capable of taking the user right to the product they want to buy without them actually leaving their physical location.

One can also make alterations to these products right within the virtual space.

For instance, when taking the virtual stroll in a house that you want to buy, one may choose a different colour for the walls and be able to change it then view the results before it is altered.

The VR tools help real-estate agents grow their business, get more clients, and deliver top-level services, says Kiigen Koech, managing director at 360 Imaging Ltd, a multimedia firm specialised in digital marketing.

Virtual reality tours, he reckons, are among the most persuasive and reliable methods of encouraging clients to make a final decision as the quality of the final work often has an accuracy of 99 per cent, serving as a digital rendition of the property.

Mr Koech says VR is more than just a walkthrough. Its interactivity includes details of walls, flooring, fabrics, counters, and even furniture models and layout.

“It gives your prospects the rewarding hands-on experience of making a home their own and allows customisation. Picture being able to change fabrics and finishes in real-time simply by viewing the space through a tablet,” he says.

Mr Koech adds these technologies have a global reach and do not require the clients to travel to the show house since they can view it on their smartphones.

Situma Siepete, operations director at Hotlist Group Ltd, which specialises in virtual reality and tours development says the concepts present a perfect blend for digital marketing for real estate and hotels, among other properties.

Virtual reality, he says, is perhaps the most used compared to the other two due to its cost and versatility.

“Imagine a scenario where before a property developer break ground, you can walk into the completed project designed using 3D renderers, make any minor tweaks, liaise with quantity surveyors to refine cost, structural engineers can test the integrity of the buildings and buyers can buy the property when still in the off-plan phase. That’s the beauty of these concepts,” says Mr Siepete.