Engel & Völkers North America Makes Virtual a Reality for Its Entire Network
Engel & Völkers North America has announced the launch of a network-wide initiative to integrate virtual reality technology, capabilities, and support into each of its real estate shops, a first in North America to make this technology standard. During its national conference, Exchange, Engel & Völkers North America unveiled that it will provide each of its brokerages with an immoviewer virtual reality camera, Google cardboard glasses, as well as informational webinars, marketing tools, and support.
“We realize that virtual reality is not simply a trend, and we are committed to integrating new technologies into our network that help improve the home buying and selling experience,” said Anthony Hitt, CEO, Engel & Völkers North America. “This not only supports our domestic business, but adds great value as a truly global real estate network. International buyers can experience 3D listings on a much broader scale, saving time and targeting their focus as they look to purchase homes in North America.”
Engel & Völkers North America is partnering with German-based virtual reality company immoviewer to distribute their virtual reality cameras to each office. immoviewer currently works with more than 2,000 brokerages worldwide to deliver stunning listings in 3D. Executives from immoviewer will be working with Engel & Völkers North America to develop educational content that will be available exclusively to members of the Engel & Völkers North America network.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Engel & Völkers North America to deliver virtual reality technology to its license partners and advisors,” said Ralf von Grafenstein, CEO of immoviewer. “We have seen incredible results for real estate professionals, including quicker turnaround times during the home buying process, a decrease in the amount of time sellers need to vacate their properties and more flexibility for homebuyers to view multiple homes. Virtual reality is quickly becoming an industry standard in real estate and companies that don’t embrace this technology will quickly fall behind the pack.”
Homebuyers and sellers have the expectation that their agents will offer new technology that enhances the customer experience. According to the most recent Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers from the National Association of REALTORS®, more than three-quarters of homebuyers found virtual tours useful and 70 percent of agents said that consumers expect virtual tours to be available.
“We have recently integrated immoviewer-powered virtual reality listings to enhance our client offerings,” said Paul Benson, license partner at Engel & Völkers Park City. “The camera itself is compact and can be used with or without a professional videographer because of its ease-of-use, and we love the unique ability to give guided 3D tours to clients anywhere in the world. It’s this type of support we receive from Engel & Völkers that keeps us at the forefront in our markets.”
Matte PR is the Public Relations Agency of Record for Engel & Völkers Canada. Follow Engel & Völkers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
