Selling a home to millennials is hard and selling a home that doesn’t yet exist is even harder. Working to enhance the overall buying experience on terms millennials are familiar with, PulteGroup, Inc., Atlanta (NYSE:PHM) is using virtual reality to better connect with one of the fastest growing consumer groups in housing.
“Effectively visualizing a home just by looking at a 2-dimensional floor plan is really challenging for most potential home buyers,” says Manish Shrivastava, chief marketing officer for PulteGroup. “Virtual reality is an engaging way to interact with a new home design. It’s better than a static video tour and really helps the buyer to see and experience a home.”
Early in 2017, PulteGroup consumer tested different virtual reality platforms, including full virtual reality immersion to better understand consumers’ comfort level with the technology, their ability to perform tasks, and their preferred method of interacting with home designs.
Building on its successes, PulteGroup has recently deployed a virtual sales center at one of its communities in Atlanta, Parkside at Mason Mill, a 341 urban infill development near Decatur with a blend of luxury single-family homes, townhomes and condos. This community operates under the Pulte Homes brand.
According to Brent Landry, vice president of operations for the Georgia Division, “Many of us have become familiar with virtual reality on HGTV and other home improvement shows. This technology has come a long way in recent years and can help our customers visualize their new Pulte home like never before. There is also a coolness factor that helps to drive traffic and create excitement, plus the power of the technology itself has led to sales at a number of communities throughout the country.”
Upon visiting the sales center at Parkside, consumers can take themselves through a self-guided tour using a gaming controller to view the floor plan on a large screen TV. The virtual reality imaging gives the home buyer a lifelike feel for the flow of the house and how the individual spaces work together within a plan. Sales people are always on hand to assist the buyers in using the technology and to answer any questions they may have. See a demonstration here.
While Parkside buyers have only seen the virtual home designs or the renderings, the community has already sold more than 20 homes in the initial pre-selling efforts.
