Are Fantasy Open Houses the Next “Trend” in Real Estate?

June 27th, 2008 categories: Real Estate Buying, Real Estate News, Real Estate Selling

How would you like to pick and choose the rooms to your dream home on the internet?

Julia, the author of the delightful Hooked On Houses blog, is currently running a “fantasy house” contest featuring this year’s Homearama homes. Everyday she features a different home and readers can vote for their favorite one.

Piggybacking on her idea, I’m thinking how neat it would be for buyers to surf through homes clicking on their favorite rooms and build/design their “virtual dream home”. Then hit the “submit” button and somebody would find the combination of rooms that meets your needs and notifies you when you visit the property. Pretty cool?

Or if you are tired of schlepping around Sunday Open Houses- you could click on the open house(s) of your choice and using a mini-cam and the realtor (or homeowner) could take you on a tour of the property- answering your questions along the way. Like what you see- then make an appointment to walk through the property. You don’t like it- move on the the next virtual open house.

In a perfect world, the virtual tours and/or selection process should limit the actual properties buyers have to walk through to 2 or 3.

However, sometimes when fantasy meets reality and buyers tour the properties….and….you guessed it…..the great-room isn’t as large as it appeared on the internet. Oh and the pet odor in home #2- the buyers had no clue about the two “mini horse size” dogs currently in residing in the house. And home #3-well even though it is exactly what you designed- seeing in real life is a sort of a nightmare.

Let’s face it- sometimes things do look better on a computer screen than they do in person.

Don’t give up! We are still doing business the way it has been done for a long time, making appointments and walking buyers through multiple properties. But I think the time is coming when more homes will have virtual tours available- not the predrecorded tour - but the type with a real person using a live video camera walking through the home while communicating with you. Maybe the tour would start with a drive around the community so you could see if you like the neighborhood. Let you mind wonder and you begin to understand that fantasy open houses and tours are only the beginning of the real estate experience that can be tailored to each individuals needs.

Personally, I think the fantasy tours will become a normal everyday occurrence in real estate and wouldn’t that be a buyer’s dream come true.

But until then -if you need some old fashioned real estate help- call, twitter, email or have your people contact my people….I’ll help you find your “dream home”.