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How Virtual Reality and Future Tech is Helping Real Estate Investors

Virtual reality continues to be one of the most exciting frontiers in tech, commerce, and real estate. If current trends continue, more real estate buyers, sellers, and investors could find it a necessity in navigating the market, and getting what they want.

The Rise of VR

Virtual reality (VR) technology has been in development for years. It really began gaining traction with the media coverage of Google’s glasses. Then QR codes morphed into augmented reality apps which enable people to interact with virtual items in the real world, via their phones.

Then came virtual reality headsets which are now available in numerous stores, and pretty inexpensively. More recently, leaders like charity: water, and top NYC commercial real estate firms have begun using VR to create new experiences and ways to engage with far off, or future places.

One VR company alone has created over half a million real estate related virtual tours in the last few years.

Uses of VR in Real Estate

VR tours can be used to view homes and rentals online and from a distance. VR goggles are one of the most immersive ways to engage with this material. Though consumers can also often view this material in regular video format through real estate websites and YouTube on their phones as well.

Exploring New Destinations

We may be more mobile, have more location freedom, and need to move or invest in new areas today, but most don’t want to take the time out and spend the money on flights unless they are really sold on the location and product already. VR is the best way to experience somewhere new from a distance so far. It can be used to explore new neighborhoods, views from a property, and local attractions.

 

The Challenges

Like with any new tech, one of the major challenges today is the limited number of users. Not everyone has compatible devices for the best experience. You can spend a lot to produce and deliver this content. Yet, may not be able to connect with enough of the right leads, yet. The solutions are to make sure there is alignment between your product and those already actively using VR. For a few hundred dollars you can get to Best Buy and get your own 360 degree filming equipment and record your own video to save on costs at the beginning.

What are your thoughts on VR for real estate? 

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Jacob Blackett

Originally from Reno, Nevada, Jacob began his real estate career in 2010 as a sophomore at the University of Nevada, Reno, when he bought and sold his first two residential “fix and flip” properties in Southern California.

In 2014 Jacob founded Holdfolio and by the end of 2019, Holdfolio had amassed a rental portfolio of 141 single-family homes and 412 apartment units. At this time Holdfolio was fully vertically integrated, meaning they were operating every aspect of the investment cycle which included acquisitions, procuring bank loans, raising capital from investors, running a full-service property management company, a licensed construction company, and performing their own asset management.

Fueled by low interest rates and strong rent growth, real estate values increased steadily and dramatically between 2010 and 2020, and by early 2020 Holdfolio could not pay as much as other firms on new acquisitions. Jacob took this as an opportunity to sell all of Holdfolio’s holdings and pivot the business model to see more deal flow and invest with much larger and more experienced firms, which is how Holdfolio operates today.

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Ready to invest in real estate?

We make real estate investing simpler, more transparent, and accessible to individual investors.