Technology has transformed many industries, and the real estate space and is no exception. In the last five years, there have been a host of digital innovations that have changed the way people buy and sell homes. This week, we’re looking into how home sales, tours, and searches have been transformed by new technology.
Virtual Home Searches
Today, 9 in 10 homebuyers begin their home search online. One of the biggest reasons sites like Zillow have exploded in popularity is comfort; people are thrilled to browse properties from the comfort of their homes. However, while real estate sites that make property surfing easy are very convenient, buyers should beware of some of the pitfalls of using Zillow. Zillow is notorious for misvaluing homes, so much so that they had to cancel their I-buyer program last year after basing their prices on their incorrect home valuations. Unlike licensed realtors, Zillow is not responsible for holding themselves to a code of standards and often uses outdated numbers from properties listed on the MLS. So while it’s fun to browse Zillow, their lack of real estate ethics and incorrect prices makes them unreliable.
Virtual Home Tours
The virtual tour is a feature used in many recent listings. If someone is looking to buy a house five hours away from their current location, virtual tours are a great tool to get a realistic home feel. Many people have predicted that virtual tours will likely go one step further, and soon, it will be possible to feel like you’re walking through the house or apartment using virtual reality. VR-enabled property tours offer a 360° view of a home and are the most realistic and immersive way to experience properties online. VR is a valuable innovation because it can save real estate agents time and helps to engage more efficiently than 2D photos can.
Virtual Home Sales
Ever since Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook was changing its name to Meta to focus on the Metaverse, people have been buying up plots of digital land. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the latest hot real estate market isn’t on the scenic coasts or balmy Sunbelt cities but the Metaverse. Several investment firms are buying digital land in worlds such as Sandbox and Decentraland. For example, the Tokens.com corporation recently paid $2.5 million for land in the Decentraland fashion district. Andrew Kiguelsaid, the site’s chief executive, equated the purchase to buying land in Manhattan 250 years ago. Republic realm also recently purchased virtual real estate for $4.3 million, now the biggest real estate sale to date. So there is a movement going on with digital real estate, and there are going to be certain “worlds” that become popular within the Metaverse. There’s no doubt that people will spend a lot of time and money in the Metaverse in the future, so it makes sense that people are purchasing land there. However, there’s a lot of volatility in Cryptocurrency, and it remains to be seen how digital real estate will develop in the coming years.
Conclusion
Technological innovations have quickly evolved what real estate transactions look like in 2022 and show no signs of stopping. Are you curious about virtual home searches, tours, or sales? Give us a call today and we would be happy to answer any questions!