Case Study: Commercial Real Estate Virtual Tours in 3D
THE SERVICE REQUEST
The commercial real estate team at the newly established Belle Property Retail in Brisbane required Marketing Drawings for a recently vacated restaurant in the city which needed to be leased. While our Marketing Drawings can provide a very precise view of a property in 2D there are now new ways to visualise a commercial site.
A real estate virtual tour in 3D can be created to compliment a Marketing Drawing, Lettable Area Survey and other plans to help prospective tenants make a decision quickly.
Realserve has the latest Matterport 3D Cameras that can create a 360-degree virtual tour in 3D of a site. This can be viewed on a desktop computer, tablet or phone. It means the real estate agent can provide a virtual tour to prospective clients anywhere in the world which saves time & can bring the property to life.
You quite literally click your mouse or press the screen to move through each space, a little bit like a live video game. It is a virtual tour that lets you see every wall, corner, door or window in a property. This means instead of relying on beautiful still photos that can sometimes distort the real situation, you can see it in real time.
A SAMPLE OF A VIRTUAL TOUR IN 3D
OUR APPROACH TO CREATING A VIRTUAL TOUR FOR A COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
This 3-level retail tenancy was a long, narrow, building comprising of;
- 2 x restaurants.
- A shared kitchen
- Shared amenities
This made the site rather complex although with our 20 years’ experience we knew how to approach it effectively. Even though the tenancy had been vacated for some time, there was work being done to remove stock from the premises. We moved around this to complete the job in a timely manner, minimising disruption. There were up to 100 setup locations required to capture everything accurately which we managed to do in a single day.
To create a virtual tour the Matterport 3D camera takes HDR panoramic images which are then processed to create a 360-degree digital view of the physical space. Every little detail is captured so you can virtually walk through and view every little corner of the property.
We then ensure the tour is available to be shared by any potential tenants interested in viewing the space. This can broaden the potential reach of the real estate agent to reach interstate clients potentially who couldn’t reasonably visit the property physically.
THE RESULTS
A virtual tour – an incredible 3D virtual tour of the property available online 24/7 around the world.
Immersion – You can feel like you are physically in the tenancy, able to see and feel what the property looks like in high definition quality.
Speed – The whole process only took 2 days to complete. This meant the landlord and real estate agent could show prospective tenants the site quickly. It also created a view of the space prior to it being fully vacated.
Options – Capturing and documenting a property this way can create accurate historical evidence to help with things like insurance claims, inspections etc.
WHAT ELSE COULD HAVE BEEN DONE
The client could have also chosen to use some of our other services depending on the situation, for example;
- A Reflected Ceiling Plan would show ceiling service locations, ceiling heights, bulkheads, etc. This type of plan would help with the creation of a new fit-out allowing the designer to incorporate existing services into their new ideas.
- If any new layout is created the Fire Evacuation Diagrams would need to be updated to meet local safety requirements.
- Once a tenant has confirmed the area they wish to occupy a Lease Plan would then need to be prepared, this would mean another site visit to confirm areas as well as connect the tenancy into the property boundary.
- Existing Conditions: the new tenant could have us return to capture the property after they are settled which could be used for their designers to refurbish or plan out operations for their new enterprise.
COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT REAL ESTATE VIRTUAL TOURS
- What is the purpose of a virtual tour?
Creating a virtual tour is a relatively new way of capturing images of a property to create a visual representation of it that can be viewed online. It is like you are walking through it yourself and you can look up, down and around in each room captured. Instead of trying to figure out static, flat photos taken with a wide-angle lens, you can move about and understand the room better.
- Are virtual tours worth it?
If you are a property manager or real estate agent looking for a competitive edge to rent your commercial property then getting a virtual tour will put you one step ahead of the competition.Most properties are rented using simple photos and maybe a few viewings which takes time and sometimes doesn’t live up to expectations.
A virtual tour can enable you to view the space as it is from practically any angle from any device around the world.
- How do you shoot a real estate virtual tour?
We use the latest Matterport 3D camera to create our virtual tours. Uniquely our expertise extends across many different areas of surveying and property measurement. This means we can incorporate your information into our other services to help make the management of your property more efficient, accurate & timely.
- What is a 3d virtual tour?
It is a virtual representation of a space that is captured in high-resolution 3D images that enables you to experience it virtually on a computer, tablet or smartphone.
- Are virtual tours useful?
A virtual tour can be useful in many ways. Apart from making it easy to attract prospective tenants you can use the tours as a record for the property for insurance purposes, as a marketing tool for your brand or even as way to attract people from other states or countries.
