Future shop

Virtual tech lets homebuyers see models before they are done.

When potential homebuyers at one of the newest developments in west Boca Raton want to tour bedrooms, peer down hallways or open closet doors, they don’t have to be in a house to do it.

PulteGroup is embracing virtual technology to give buyers a full view of homes that haven’t been built yet without spending valuable time and money on elaborate models and floor plans.

The company is using the technology for the first time at a Florida sales center to give wouldbe buyers the illusion they are walking room-to-room in a model home.

“It could be a game-changer,” said Blake Lapinsky, director of sales for Pulte’s Southeast Florida Market. Members of the younger generation, most of whom are accustomed to buying online and are the most adept with a joystick, will be the ones who buy homes next. Virtual technology tours could supplant the need for model homes which are often expensive to build and decorate.

So far, Pulte said it has sold seven of the houses pre-construction after employing virtual technology for its gated Boca Flores development.

The Atlanta-based builder paid $8.3 million for 40 acres off Lyons Road and south of Glades Road. The 130-home development — to be built on a former golf course inside Boca Lago Country Club — is aimed at buyers 55 years old and older.

It includes one- and two-story units ranging from 1,542 to 2,510 square feet. Elevators will be a standard feature for the two-story homes. Prices start in the high $300,000s.

There are a few limitations to the virtual technology. Buyers can’t open windows or open the kitchen drawers. But they can get close enough to see the hardware on the door handles (brushed

nickel) and open the back door to see the grass in the backyard.

Still, it’s enough of an “emotional connection” to get the buyer excited, Lapinsky said. Once they’re hooked, he then gets them in a golf cart to drive to the site so they can pick a lot. Buyers are “emotionally investing themselves in this” when they can “see” the homes, he said.

Virtual reality has been used elsewhere, often with goggles that can transport customers everywhere from up close with their favorite sports team to a 360-degree experience onboard a cruise ship to see staterooms and popular international ports of call.

The goggles didn’t work well with PulteGroup customers during its testing stages; they complained they were getting dizzy. But the joystick creates the same experience of giving buyers the chance to roam the rooms.

Also using the technology are sales people catering to the uberwealthy. In Sunny Isles in MiamiDade County, home builders are also using virtual technology to sell million-dollar homes to prospective buyers.

Sandra Arguello, spokeswoman for Turnberry Associates, is selling units at Turnberry Ocean Club Residences, a 54-story glass skyscraper expected to be completed next year.

The condos, which range from three to six bedrooms, begin in the upper $3 millions. There is still an old-fashioned model on site. But the amenities are listed on a screen.

Buyers can “walk through the amenities and experience it firsthand,” she said.

That includes three stories of amenities including an indoor and outdoor gym, nail and blow dry salon, social lounge, two pools (sunrise and sunset) and the view to the beach. There will be a yoga and pilates studio, dining areas and a spa.

“It helps them visualize what they'll be experiencing as a homeowner,” Arguello said.

Eric Abbruzzese, spokesman for ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm said virtual technology is gaining in popularity in areas such as home sales, as well as travel agencies and furniture stores.

Even virtual reality allows buyer to scan their garage using their environment and get a simulated Porsche “to see what the car looks like in your garage.”

Virtual reality, he said, “is certainly not going away. More and more companies are getting on board. I think retail is the next big growth target, allowing people to see in high detail models of whatever product they are looking to buy and having any kind of interactive experience.”

Patricia Anglero, the president of the Broward Council of the Miami Association of Realtors, sold a penthouse apartment along Fort Lauderdale’s beach earlier this year for $5.2 million. The clients used 3-D goggles in her office to see the home before making the trip to the unit.

“Being in that virtual world, it’s like they were in a game,” she said.

As a Realtor, she expects the trend in South Florida to become more prevalent.

For millennials, “that experience of a virtual reality, they understand it,” she said. “It’s just become the best way to capture the attention of a potential buyer.”