SARASOTA, FLORIDA, September 18, 2017 – Virtual reality (VR) tours of unbuilt model homes are now part of the marketing tools of the PulteGroup and its subsidiaries in the Sarasota real estate market.
The VR system that this homebuilding conglomerate is now using for our region requires no headset or goggles. Users of its system can use either a PC or an android phone to view and interact on a particular model posted on online links that Pulte provides.
Prospective buyers of Sarasota homes for sale can view the VR features of the Empire model from the DiVosta subsidiary Pulte which offers this design in Shoreview at the new development Lakewood Ranch Waterside and in Mallory Park at Lakewood Ranch. This two-story home design has a floor area of about 3,900 square feet featuring four to five bedrooms and asking prices in the $400s–$600s range.
Virtual model home tours are likewise accessible for DiVosta’s Crestview design at the IslandWalk at the West Villages in Venice and DelWebb at Lakewood Ranch. This model is a single-story residence with a floor plan of about 1,600 square feet designed with two to four bedrooms and up to three baths plus a half bath and a private suite. Its price starts from around the mid-$200s.
For a virtual tour of the Crestview, the link to visit is trick3d.com/clients/Pulte/Crestview/, while the Empire model could be accessed through trick3d.com/clients/Pulte/Empire. Prospective buyers visiting these links can have an in-depth look at these two designs even as an actual model has not been built.
Currently, some existing homes also have “virtual tours” as part of their marketing package. These, however, are largely slide shows of various photos meticulously assembled to allow various perspectives of the residences’ exteriors and interiors.
Pulte’s VR presentations are more techie, allowing the users a complete walk-through of the entire residence just like in some state-of-the-art video games. The PulteGroup and a few national builders have adopted this new home presentation mainly for economics, as it is vastly cheaper to produce a VR tour than building an actual home model for buyers’ viewing.
In one estimate, a VR home tour costs under $20,000 while that of a model construction could carry a tag price of around $350,000 or more depending on their designs. For aspiring buyers, one advantage is being able to make quick decisions and jump start the sale process to the benefit of the builder.
Pulte started using VR home tours just last year, employing the technology in pre-selling condos in a New York City building where there wasn’t any model yet. The virtual tour helped sell one-third of the condominium’s units. Notably, it is Pulte’s first time to use the VR tool in marketing its single family homes.
It is unlikely that homebuilders will completely forego constructing model homes in favor of VRs. Buyers, after all, would want to touch and actually see in person what they’re buying. What’s more likely to happen is for builders like Pulte to cut on construction of their design showcases and instead use virtual reality to present other home styles in their portfolio of market offerings.
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