Virtual Reality (VR) live streaming has helped one Melbourne-based property management company to achieve zero vacancy rates since switching to the technology over a year.
Neesh Property managing director Michael Sanz describe the change as phenomenal for his business and wants to teach other agents on how to use the technology and achieve the same results.
“Twelve months I bought a virtual 360-degree camera for $600 in the UK. Before that, we were doing videos to try to show people more properties. We understand people are time sensitive and time poor, so this was a solution,” Sanz told Elite Agent in a recent interview.
“We’ve seen a massive change in how our business operates. Massive. As of today, we’ve got zero percent vacancy, which is phenomenal. We haven’t got any properties that are empty. We’re renting properties through our use of virtual reality.”
Sanz said prospective tenants preferred using their smartphones to walk through room by room at their leisure before deciding if they would want to rent the place.
“We’ve got virtual reality goggles so they can come into our office. We don’t have a rent list anymore, if people come into our office we say “What are you after?” They go “3 bedrooms” if it’s available we’ll put the goggles on, put the smartphone in it and they can walk around the property virtually.
“What I’ve noticed is that we do about eight open-for-inspections for a property that doesn’t have video or virtual reality. With a property that has VR, we’re doing about one inspection, so we’re saving on average over 12 hours of just travel and open time just on a property that has virtual reality.
He said the switch to VR had helped his company to save a minimum of about $150,000 in a year just on time and leasing fees.
Sanz noted VR live streaming was appealing to his overseas clientele who were moving to Australia.
“We have case-studies of people relocating from interstate and overseas, that have used our virtual reality and secured properties. For them, too, it saves them the process of engaging a relocation agent where they pay a month’s rent to them anyway. This way they’re able to see the properties we have and make a decision on their own if the property is suitable or not.
Going forward, Sanz said he plans to conduct training and courses to teach other agents on how to include VR live streaming in their businesses.
Image credit: Neesh Property
