Leading agency enables buyers to ‘live virtually’ in properties before offer

Leading London and South East England estate agency Arun Estates has launched a service that enables potential buyers to live in a virtual version of a property prior to making an offer.

Arun Estates, which is operating the service via its four brands Cubitt & West, Douglas Allen, Pittis and Wards, says the service will “reinvent the way people view and buy their next home”.

Called Live-in VR Technology, Arun Estates is the first agency in the world to offer the technology, which enables potential buyers to enter a Metaverse-style digital copy of a property for sale and trial living within it for up to three months.

This includes the use of VR headsets and the use of a specially-constructed facility where their ‘new home’ is created, although users will be able to pick any of the 100s of properties that the estate agency group has for sale to try-out living within after signing a detailed waiver form.

Ironed out

Arun Estates have just completed their 8-month trial and, though the trials did expose some issues, Domestic Energy Accessor, Neil Martin is confident they have now been “ironed out.”

“We struggled to re-integrate some of our test subjects back into society after many of them moved straight into a new property after their 3-month trial. The phone lines of our Central Sales Hub were filled with concerned spouses,” he says.

“We have also drastically improved the airflow system within the spaces. We hadn’t accounted for the smell of 10 or 15 people not showering for several weeks.”

Watch the promotional video

Arun Estates is not the only agency to use the Metaverse to sell properties – Fine & Country recently announced it was considering a move into the digital world.