How Virtual Builder Design Will Change the Homebuying Experience
Apr 6, 2021
How Virtual Builder Design Will Change the Homebuying Experience
Pinterest began a revolution in the homebuying space by creating an online platform for people to craft personalized inspiration boards to save their favorite kitchen countertops or envision what their dream bathroom would look like. Visualization is key for potential new homebuyers because they want to imagine as closely as possible what their future home will look like the day they walk through the door.
Today’s homebuying industry is taking virtual design even further. As online technology continues to advance, the homebuying industry has seen some amazing product innovations designed to help home builders streamline sales and help homebuyers feel more confident in their purchase. Virtual design software is a product innovation that we believe will make a permanent mark in the homebuying experience. High-quality online visualization allows shoppers and buyers to visualize their home anytime, anywhere with engaging digital features.
But how did the real estate industry evolve into this new digital wave of experiences for buyers and what benefit is this giving homebuilders? Let’s dive deep to answer some of these questions!
How the Real Estate/Home Building Industry Got Here
Virtual homebuying programs and design tools were adapted years ago as way to embrace the digital transformation occurring in society. And until recently the real estate industry still relied heavily on traditional methods such as in-person tours and appointments to reach potential buyers and sell homes. In 2020, COVID-19 served as an impetus for homebuilders to accelerate the shift to virtual marketing and selling tactics to reach this new type of distanced homebuyer.
Not only did COVID-19 cause people to quarantine in their homes, but it also caused a lot of uncertainty in the world. With unforeseen layoffs and economic impacts, it’s likely that many people were rethinking large purchases and wondering whether a home was a smart investment during this time period. In fact, according to reports from Redfin there was a 148% year-over-year increase in homes being delisted during the week ending March 29. Those that were shopping during this time were primarily doing it online.
To adapt to all these changes, homebuilders had to find quick solutions to reach new homebuyers and instill confidence in current buyers to move forward with buying their future homes. Out of COVID-19 came a burst of online features and products such as virtual appointments, virtual buying programs, and virtual design tools as a means to safely interact with customers, without them ever having to leave their homes.
At Shea Homes, we’ve introduced a new virtual program for our customers to help them with their home search, understand financing options, personalize their home, and more. We also offer guided virtual tours in which potential buyers can meet with one of our community representatives on-site at the community to virtually tour customers through our model homes, showcasing available quick move-in homes and available homesites, letting the customer see all of the details that are important to them, from the comfort of their couch.
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How Virtual Home Building Benefits Homebuyers
Modern consumers want convenient solutions that give them flexible access to information or tools. Virtual design technology, which is available only from builders that have embraced visualization technology, allows homebuyers to have instant access to personalized, realistic views of their future home.
At Shea Homes, we have partnered with Roomored to offer buyers access to a first of its kind, realistic 3D visualization design platform that will allow buyers to visualize their future home. What makes the Roomored solution different is that buyers will make these selections while viewing the actual home plan they’ve purchased. For example, rather than seeing how the selected design finishes look in a photo of a generic kitchen, home buyers will see how those design finishes look in the actual kitchen that will be in their new home.
How Virtual Home Building Benefits Home Builders
Today’s homebuilders need to be adaptive, innovative, and competitive to survive in this ever-changing homebuying landscape. Virtual design technology allows homebuilders to overcome challenges created by social distancing and limited interaction while meeting the needs of customers who prefer digital solutions and appointments that allow them greater flexibility.
Virtual tools will also help homebuilders streamline aspects of the homebuying process, potentially leading to more satisfied homebuyers. With solutions like Roomored, it helps take the guess work out of visualizing the design of the home for shoppers and buyers by allowing them to view design options that are often hard to visualize, such as flooring, countertops, tile, cabinets and more.
What is the Best Software/Tool to Use?
There are a lot of online design tools on the market for homebuilders, which can make it difficult to understand which one is worth the investment. At Shea Homes, we wanted to find a way to make our Design Studio process as easy and streamlined as possible, so that home buyers can get an accurate visual representation of their exact floor plan with available design options such as cabinets, countertops, and flooring.
Unlike other home design solutions that rely on photo composting to visualize colors and finishes on items such as cabinets and countertops, Roomored uses first of its kind proprietary 3D modeling technology to more accurately represent the design finishes in your new home. We are excited to give our homebuyers the opportunity to truly visualize their future home. If you are eager to learn more about Roomored’s capabilities, read our other blog “Roomored: Virtual Design Technology” and start your home search with Shea now!
*Roomored will be rolling out to select Shea Homes communities
