Visits to real estate with man or machine?
A question that interested parties as well as marketers of residential and commercial real estate have to ask themselves nowadays. The need to view an object regardless of location is clearly given, but are the advantages sufficient to make the physical inspection obsolete? We believe that a wide variety of factors have to be weighed up in order to be able to use man and machine profitably.
As mentioned in our last article, a variety of virtual viewing solutions offer a welcome alternative to physical on-site appointments, especially in times of pandemic. These range from static 3D tours, video tours and virtually realistic representations, which users can put themselves into with the help of VR glasses (virtual reality), to live broadcasts that are available at all times. We want to take a closer look at the latter in this article.
In the case of live broadcasts , the objects to be viewed are displayed in real time compared to static videos, photos or 360 ° recordings. The greatest advantage of this is that, apart from a viewing appointment, there are no pre- or Post-processing is required. A fully autonomous, 24/7 available variant is the tour with a robot stationed in the property to be visited . This specially developed machine can be conveniently controlled through the object from anywhere in the world, including from home, using a standard Internet browser with the arrow keys on the keyboard. The visit can take place at your own discretion and regardless of the tours and perspectives that have been created. An integrated video conference solution also offers the opportunity to establish a dialogue between the parties during the tour.
Another variant does not completely do without on-site personnel . While one party (marketer, landlord, owner, facility manager, etc.) is on site and ensures the live transmission via a mobile device (e.g. smartphone, tablet), interested parties can participate in the tour via web browser and with the Interact with the person on site. Due to the high degree of personalization, the automatic documentation of the transmission as well as the possible data exchange, this solution offers far more application possibilities than pure property inspections.
Even with the current state of the art, digital viewing solutions offer a useful alternative to physical appointments on site. In some points, such as higher efficiency, lower costs and lower environmental impact, the advantages over physical tours even outweigh the advantages. Nevertheless, the solutions presented here do not “yet” succeed in transferring the sensation of a physical encounter with people in digital space. Accordingly, we come to the conclusion that there are valid arguments for tours with man and machine that need to be weighed up according to the situation. In our next article you can read how startups are working on virtual reality to make the aforementioned lack of sensation tangible in the digital world.
Overview of visualization solutions at: https://proptechmarket.net/visualisierung
The following table compares the advantages and disadvantages of the two survey approaches described.
