Estate agents are using virtual reality technology as a new way of showing people houses – WalesOnline

House hunters can now benefit from the latest hi-tech innovation from a Welsh estate agent virtual reality (VR) viewings.

The move by Jeffrey Ross means buyers dont even have to visit properties they like.

Instead, would-be property buyers can step off the street and walk into a home using VR headsets at the business, or they can explore them at the firms website.

Jeffrey Ross director, Elliot Hooper-Nash, believes this is the future of the industry.

Its a virtual walk through that can be seen with goggles on desktop, iPads, or iPhones, the Cardiff businessman said.

You can get a link from this company that gives you access to a QR code.

Then you can get on your mobile phone and it takes you to a website where you can view it on goggles.

Cheap cardboard VR goggles are available online for just a few pounds, and work by simply slotting your phone inside.

Or you can come in and view a house for sale using goggles at the office, Elliot said.

Weve had people stood at the top of virtual stairs suffering from vertigo! Its phenomenal. Seeing it is believing it with the goggles.

Their website has a JRVR page for viewers.

You can walk around, look at the skirting boards, anything, Elliot said. Its like youre there but more so. Were not trying to hide anything with trick photography.

We have had people make offers on properties they have not set foot in because they have done it on the website.

Were pushing for Right Move to have a VR button on their website.

It takes about an hour to get the pictures. They are then sent to the US so they can be turned into what is seen on the website.

One guy in Dubai offered us over the asking price on a house, Elliot said.

It was an open day and he did not want to lose it. It looks like he might be successful. It could be our first full sale without anyone walking in the house.

They launched VR sales on March 1. We were blown away by it, Elliot said.

We saw it at a trade show and we thought it was incredible. The infrastructure has changed so much here that a lot of people come from London. We thought, How can we appeal to a mass market? As soon as we saw this we thought, This will make our job so much easier. We wanted this to be a first in Wales.

It made their job easier.

Its about embracing a new technology and taking it forward and making me and my brother and staff members do fewer viewings, Elliot said.

Our time is precious. With this clients can go back hundreds of times and see things they have missed. We scanned 52 houses and there are only seven or eight of those now available.

He said both buyers and sellers liked the software.

Children can make the decisions because they can walk in a house and go, I dont want to move.

We had one woman who was excited because her daughter had fallen in love with a bedroom before they had seen the house.

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Estate agents are using virtual reality technology as a new way of showing people houses - WalesOnline