Real estate is changing. How we view homes and buy them is changing as well. The traditional approach, where we hire a real estate agent and look at pictures or renderings is simply not enough anymore. New technologies are letting more people see homes from around the world, and that means real estate marketers and developers need to be smarter an more impactful with what they offer to people.
At Invent Dev, we believe cutting-edge renderings and virtual tours are simply not enough. Customers today want to walk through a development and get a feel for a space’s form and function. It’s why we created the Virtual Model Home: an alternative to the traditional physical model home that’s cheaper, takes far less time, and speeds up sales by giving prospective buyers options and choice.
The virtual model home is speeding up the sales process for developments in North America and around the world. Here’s why.
1. Engage the Modern Buyer
Modern buyers use the internet, not their cars, to explore and research their major purchases, including homes. Google has extensive studies that prove people start almost every purchase these days with online research. This is true for everything from their next book to their next home or investment property, and real estate has been slow to adopt technologies that connect with online buyers in a significant way.
The truth is that 61% of people actively read online reviews and consider them part of the buying process. Increasingly, this online activity has shifted from desktop to mobile. Smartphone and tablet searches account for 59% of searches that aren’t during business hours, and that number is only rising.
Virtual model homes offer the chance to fully explore a development from anywhere with wifi. So someone halfway around the world can see your home and make an informed decision on whether to buy, all from their couch. The same is true for someone living down the block.
2. Give Them a Stand Out Experience
Virtual reality is a fun and immersive technology, but at its heart it’s a communication tool, one that’s shown to change people’s behaviour. It does more than show, it gives people a chance to interact and to create inside a completely virtual environment. So those vaulted ceilings in your latest development can be experienced in all of their glory. Buyers can even switch the lighting and time of day to see how the natural light will affect a room. And, since every virtual model home is accurate to the millimetre, you can be confident that everything looks perfect.
In education, the concept is called “active learning,” that people retain more information with interactive, hands-on experiences over passive experiences, like lectures or videos. Much of online real estate marketing today is videos and pictures, which does not take advantage of virtual reality’s more memorable experience.
Rather than telling them through pictures and passive videos, virtual model suites give people a chance to experience living in your development long before you’ve broken ground. Virtual reality reinforces people’s memories of your development. In a world where thousands of listings are at every buyer’s fingertips, being memorable means to better sales and stronger lead generation.
3. Customization to Increase Upgrade Purchases
Physical model homes offer one version of one suite. Besides their lack of mobility, this is their most significant drawback, especially as options and upgrades become more integral to the condo buying experience.
More than that, customization gives potential buyers a chance to create inside of your development, matching upgrades and floor plans to develop their ideal version of your space. So when they do come through the doors of your sales centre, they already have their dream home in mind.
Invent Dev’s virtual model homes can let buyers compare and contrast every upgrade and floor plan at their leisure. Seeing these options not only gives them a chance to build their dream home, it also leads to a 30% increase in upgrade purchases for many of our projects.
4. Get a Model Suite Faster and For Less
Physical model homes are tied to the concept of the car when today’s marketing is all about the online experience. Back in the day, you would have to drive to see a model home, which itself was an approximation of one of the many suites offered in a pre-construction home.
They take a lot of time and resources to build as well. Every project is different, but it is not uncommon for model homes to reach well over six figures before they’re finished, and they can take months or even years to construct. Every permit, every rainstorm can delay the home longer and longer, costing money and cutting into valuable sales time.
Virtual model homes, by contrast, cost a fraction of the price and require zero permits. Our “builders” (talented coders and artists) can create a model suite in a matter of weeks, and the final bill is a fraction of the traditional model suites.
Invent Dev’s projects with Vanke also help save money on sales centres, which can now house multiple developments instead of being focused on one building. Our virtual model homes let Vanke show off all of their pre-construction developments at a series of pop-up sales centres located throughout Guangzhou. The result: more people were able to see more developments closer to where they were, leading to more convenient sales experiences.
5. Kickstart Your Sales
With more options, more comprehensive listings, more memorable marketing experiences and faster model suite construction, Invent Dev’s marketing approach boils down to one important thing: selling units faster and sooner than with traditional real estate marketing.
For example, the St. Leslieville Church Loft development sold zero units between June 2015 and August 2016. After a relaunch with Invent Dev’s virtual model suites and marketing materials, 6 of 14 units were sold in less than 2 months, 10 of 14 units were sold in 4 months, and the units were sold completely inside of 9 months.
Today’s technologies can make real estate sales experiences more engaging, more memorable and more profitable. With Invent Dev’s virtual model home, your next development can be part of the new way to sell pre-construction homes.
