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Why the Future of Pre-built Home Marketing is Interactive 3D Show Homes

By PureWeb02.04.20
Why the future of pre-built home marketing is real-time 3D virtual show homes

Are you thinking about adding interactive 3D walkthroughs to your pre-construction project marketing? Here are a few reasons why it may be a good idea.

If you want to sell a house, you’ve got to make it a home

Selling a house as a home is straightforward in the resale home market. All that’s needed are a few renovations, design changes, and a thorough deep clean.

For pre-construction home sellers, this isn’t so simple. There’s no tangible home to showcase. Oftentimes, the most tangible material are high-resolution renderings.

For most purchases, glossy marketing materials suffice. But when you’re asking a buyer to make the most expensive purchase of their life based off a picture, you’re looking at a tough sell. A virtual show home provides an interactive experience for home buyers to tour and configure their desired finishes, appliances, and more.

Virtual homes are more cost-effective than physical show homes

For years, show homes have been the go-to solution, but they’re also an expensive solution. Show homes are built to be habitable. They are hooked up to water, electricity, and heat. This means that builders incur all these expenses. And since this home’s purpose is meant to drum up sales, it’s outfitted with all the bells and whistles, raising the overall cost.

This presents a catch-22 for developers. On the one hand, cash flow is essential, so it’s important to save money where possible, and show homes are a huge upfront expense. On the other hand, developers often need up to 70 percent of their proposed units sold before they can secure financing, making a show home necessary.

So, how can builders provide an immersive, realistic rendering of their units without incurring the enormous costs of building and maintaining a show home?

By streaming photorealistic 3D renderings of their show homes through the cloud. They can reach the sales quota required to secure financing without jeopardizing their cash flow.

Virtual homes provide more customization options than physical homes

Virtual homes are not a step down from show homes. On the contrary, they’re an enhanced alternative that helps developers keep up with evolving consumer trends.

For instance, today’s consumers have a growing appetite for personalized experiences, and that appetite’s being fed by the retail world. It’s only natural that customers would want that same experience for a purchase as big and as personal as a home.

Related Read: 6 main challenges with interactive 3D (and how your company can solve them)

Real-time 3D streaming offers this customization and personalization through the cloud. Consider the following scenario with a customer.

  1. Sales representative provides prospect with a hyper-realistic walk through of their model home by streaming it into a meeting room space
  2. Prospect shares a link to this model so family and friends can provide feedback and suggestions
  3. Contractors and designers present potential upgrades to the prospect by adding photorealistic 3D renderings of hardware flooring, bathroom tile work, and more in real time

This simple scenario leads to several tangible benefits:

  • Property builders only pay for cloud usage they need rather than carrying the cost of a show home
  • Sales representatives can engage with a greater number of prospects per day by offering interactive home walkthroughs remotely
  • Prospects can solicit feedback from friends and family by sharing a zero footprint link (no downloads or installations) with family and friends
  • Property developers can up-sell more products by providing customers a photorealistic rendering of enhanced features that highlight elements like texture, shading, and lighting

Interactive 3D cloud streaming is a natural fit for pre-built home sellers in particular, and the real-estate / AEC industries in general.

Want to learn more about interactive 3D home demos? Download our latest white paper, Interactive 3D streaming in real-estate: How virtual show homes help buyers play house to learn more.