Raising your Web page’s rank, maintaining Twitter feeds, counting Facebook fans – the Internet revolution seems to have come up with a thousand new online tasks for real estate professionals. But are agents ready for technology to start spilling over into reality itself?
Ready or not, new augmented reality (AR) applications are the latest development on the horizon with the potential to shake up real estate. Sports fans will be familiar with one early type of AR app – the yellow first down line projected onto the field during football broadcasts.
The newer AR applications take advantage of a phone’s pre-installed camera, compass and motion sensors – simply open up the app and point the camera around you, and as the picture changes, information about what’s on the screen pops up.
The technology has particular relevance for real estate. Companies like Zip Realty and Trulia have developed apps that allow users to take out their phone, point it at a house, and find information about home values, recent sales and current listings.
For More Than Selling Houses
Trulia was first out of the gate, releasing AR applications last year in partnership with Dutch technology company Layar. Layar, an early AR leader, allows other companies to use its technology in combination with the company’s data.
The first real estate company to release its own, standalone AR application was Zip Realty, whose iPhone app was updated last month to include HomeScan, an AR feature. The company plans to release a version for Android in a few weeks. The application contains information for all 36 markets in 22 states Zip covers, and updates its data with new MLS listings three to four times a day.
“So far people love it,” said Myron Lo, vice president of innovation for Zip. “There’s a novelty there – they can talk about it at a party, take it out and start turning in a circle, and people are like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing.’ But people are using it [practically], too – say they’re out to lunch in a certain area, they can take [their] phone out and start using it and really get a good sense of what prices are like in a neighborhood.”
Though online real estate companies have been first out of the gate, other big players are taking notice. This month, Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services announced a new research effort, the Prudential Real Estate Collaborative Innovation Partnership, whose biggest project will be the creation of virtual, immersive home tours.
James Mallozzi, chairman and CEO for Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services, said he thinks the virtual tour has huge potential to link brokers with other service providers, allowing agents to diversify their offerings to homebuyers.
“Their application goes far beyond just selling houses,” Mallozzi said. “You can have applications for the rental industry, for the home design industry, for the home improvement industry.”
Future Developments
Lo said Zip has found that consumers “are using [the apps] as a Web site replacement,” preferring to use the phone interface to search for properties as they’re out and about, rather than sitting at a desk and looking them up on their computers. As a next step, the firm plans to integrate more search features into the app, paralleling the options on their site, such as restricting results to short sales.
According to a 2009 survey conducted by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, more than 50 percent of local Realtors have smart phones, and may already be able to check out these new toys for themselves. But developers are already looking to extend the technology beyond the smart phone set: Layar, Trulia’s partner, announced last month that it was partnering with one of the world’s largest handset makers to bring its technology to more traditional cell phones. In addition, most laptops and tablet PCs also come equipped with cameras able to take advantage of the technology.
There are more real estate-related applications on the way, beyond simply showing home valuations or listing information. In Europe, developers have introduced applications which layer 3-D projections of a completed building over sites in construction. The technology can also be used to conduct virtual tours, using the screen to demonstrate what a completed room may look like as a customer walks around a partially completed home.
“The question is, how to take some of this stuff and make it real and useful from a business point of view?” asked Prudential’s Mallozzi. “That’s what I’m so excited to tap into.”
