A new survey conducted by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC seems to suggest that prospective homeowners want more technology embedded in the home buying process. More specifically, Coldwell says that VR leads that current trend by a large margin. In fact, at least 77-percent of the 3,000 individuals surveyed agreeing that they would want to see VR-based virtual tours of properties they might be interested in before ever considering driving to check out a property in person. Meanwhile, 68-percent of those polled would like to see VR used to help them see how their own furniture might fit into the layout of a property. That’s only slightly more than the 62-percent would be more likely to choose a real estate agent based on whether or not they offered those kinds of VR experiences.
Beyond the obvious implication that Americans are beginning to embrace technology more readily, those figures also seem to hint at a largely untapped use case for VR itself. The number of prospective homeowners who would rather see a property first via a virtual visit is nearly as many as those who would be satisfied by a more traditional video tour – with the latter number coming in at 84-percent. Virtual Reality tech has already been on the rise over the past year or so, with much more innovation expected over the course of 2018. So, it’s going to be interesting to see how the real estate industry responds to Coldwell Banker’s newly reported results.
In the meantime, VR is not the only area where homeowners and prospective homeowners are embracing cutting-edge advancements, either. As many as 32-percent of Americans reported having smart home devices and products in their household and would want their agent to inform them about homes that had such products already pre-installed. That’s already a promising number for company’s in the IoT industry, but the numbers Coldwell reports reveal a more prominent desire for those products than that 32-percent reveals. In fact, more than 70-percent would want smart thermostats, fire detectors, and carbon monoxide detectors pre-installed. On the other hand, more than 63-percent would like to see smart cameras, locks, and lighting already installed when they purchase their new home. Smart connected home devices and IoT products aren’t necessarily important to the majority of consumers, but this survey does seem to showcase that it’s shifting that way.