More Luxe Developers Using Virtual Reality to Woo Buyers

Virtual reality is gaining ground in the real estate business, the Miami Herald reports. Developers are turning to devices like Samsung’s Gear VR to show off pre-construction units, especially with international buyers. Fortune International Group, the developer behind the Jade Signature condominium in Sunny Isles Beach, Miami, hired DBOX, a property marketing company, to create a virtual reality tour. From the comfort of their armchair on the other side of the globe, potential buyers can don the goggles and walk through a finished, furnished apartment. The villas will cost around $14 million and won’t be completed until 2017. “We really are selling a dream, and this is just another tool that solidifies that reality,” Sandra Chartouni, director of sales at Jade Signature’s Sunny Isles center, told the Herald. “It’s the first step to getting someone on a plane over here.” Elsewhere, Turnberry Associates, another developer, employs “Real Time” technology, which uses a joystick controller rather than goggles. They’re showcasing Turnberry Ocean Club preconstruction units, also in Sunny Isles Beach. Real Time technology starts at $40,000, and can quickly climb to seven figures. Still, developers consider virtual reality a “cost-cutting opportunity,” the Herald said.