Augmented Reality Real Estate Apps Changing the Landscape with Virtual Tours and More
Augmented Reality in real estate is connecting buyers to properties easier and saving agencies thousands of dollars while giving them a new way to market themselves and the homes and commercial buildings they represent.
It’s not just the realtors who can benefit from the development of AR. Homeowners can also use AR to create floor plans, measure their property and flip through several interior concepts to see how they will appear inside a building.
What is AR
A simple explanation is that AR is computer generated graphics overlaid onto the real world when viewed through a screen like a phone or tablet. For example, if you had an empty room, you could use AR to see that room full of furniture using your phone. Wherever you point your phone, it uses the camera and screen to display computer generated graphics of housewares, appliances, etc. inside the room.
Marker-based AR
Sometimes GPS coordinates can act as markers, too.
Markerless AR
Augmented reality vs virtual reality
Virtual reality also has myriad uses in real estate, most notably allowing clients to take a virtual tour when they cannot physically be at a location.
How AR in real estate is changing the game
There’s no doubt that every industry can benefit from offering clients an AR experience, but a Goldman Sachs report has identified realty as one of the main markets that augmented reality is capable of disrupting and estimates that by 2025, the AR and VR realty market could reach over $2.6 billion.
Property buyers appear to be on board with AR, too. In a recent Bank of America survey that queried 2,000 consumers, 36% of them said they would be willing to attend an open house via AR or VR.
Using AR can lead to cost savings for brokers, as it will allow them to stage houses with computer generated models of furniture instead of having to physically stage them and it will let buyers envision different interiors before they commit to one.
There is even the potential to utilize AR to make purchases. For example, if a homebuyer is using AR to see what a certain shade of paint will look like on the walls, they will be able to purchase that shade of paint right from the AR software they are using.
Benefits of using augmented reality apps for a real estate business
Augmented reality saves realtors time and money
AR technology gives realtors global reach
AR helps facilitate emotional connections
As a realtor takes guests through a house, they can weave a story into the augmented reality tour that comes to life better thanks to the ability to show people the potential a home has.
AR is a one-time investment
AR will give early adopter realtors a competitive advantage
AR allows for interactive catalogs and advertisements
AR provides you with valuable analytics
Augmented Reality uses in real estate
Virtual property tours
Sotheby’s International Realty has been using VR for conducting virtual tours for some time now, with many of their clients buying homes in other countries and not always able to make an in-person visit.
They are now also using augmented reality to add a computer generated element to their in-person tours by letting customers swipe through a selection of curated interiors for a room they are viewing. For example, they can see a more traditional interior for the room, a more modern setup and a couple of other interiors put together by a professional decorator.
If customers are interested, they can also purchase the furniture and accessories they see while viewing the room if they want to recreate the aesthetic for real.
Viewing unfinished or future projects
The Realar Places app transforms a 2D floor plan into a life-sized augmented reality walkthrough of any building. It’s the ultimate for helping customers visualize how a blueprint will look for real, giving them more insight than any amount of photos or video could.
Find property information
HomeSpotter has an app that uses AR to give users the ability to instantly view information on available properties nearby. They simply aim their phone or tablet camera at a house or condo building and the app overlays available properties’ information onto the screen.
Similarly, Realtor.com’s Street Peek works in much the same way. As you walk around a neighborhood, you can point your phone or tablet at homes for sale and learn the sale or rental price, its recently sold price, the home’s estimated value and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms in the home.
Create a virtual floor plan
Virtual room staging
As mentioned previously, many of the AR software solutions that give users the ability to see furniture in their homes also give them the ability to purchase that furniture so they can make what they see virtually a reality.
Find out information about your own property
Homesnap’s Walk the Property Lines allows you to use your phone or tablet to get a physical, real-time view of the boundaries of your property. The app will display your property lines on the real-time view you capture with your camera.
This technology can be incredibly helpful with projects like fences and the placement of sheds and other out buildings.
Other AR technologies are being used to teach new homeowners about the various systems in their houses, like teaching them how to work a digital thermostat or troubleshoot a problem with the hot water heater, for example.
From augmented reality virtual tours to the virtual staging of homes, AR is a boon to any real estate business that will only continue to grow. With its ability to turn blueprints into 3D renderings and help you get exact measurements of a room or property, AR is an incredibly helpful tool to both real estate agents and homeowners alike.