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New advances in technology could provide greater ease and functionality to the housing industry. Startups in addition to new applications for computers and smartphones are changing the traditional ways real estate agents advertise and showcase their listings.
The booming field of technology has encouraged people to create new ways to simplify and enhance real estate processes. For example, Reology held its annual competition for real estate startups earlier this week. Reology’s “FWD” pitch competition had 15 startups compete for a grand prize of $25,000.
Matterport, the winner of the competition, is based in Silicon Valley and uses 3-D cameras to take detailed panoramas and videos of a home. Matterport’s cameras can revolutionize the way real estate agents present homes to prospective buyers. Imagine having the ability to not only easily take sophisticated images of a home’s interior but have the ability to change the appliances, switch paint colors, and create instant renovations. This is what a user can do with a Matterport camera.
Another recent trending application within the housing industry is Tour Builder. Tour Builder uses Google Earth to create a 3-D view of a home and pinpoint nearby points of interest for the potential buyer. Now, prospective buyers can gain a visual understanding of a neighborhood with pinpointed images that show key places such as restaurants, schools, and shopping malls in close proximity. When an agent marks a location, images can be added along with videos and text to gain a better understanding. Each location can be thought of as a ‘dot’ on the map. When finished marking points of interest, the locations are strung together to form a tour.
To take a tour, a prospective buyer can simply click through the pinpointed locations on the neighborhood map and go through each marked location, seeing images, text, and video along the way.
Tour Builder and Matterport are just some of the many applications and innovations sweeping through the housing industry. With such a thriving technology industry, the upcoming months could reveal countless more startups and applications that can transform real estate.