Q&A: Matt McLarand’s Virtual Realty Viewpoint

By Dennis Kaiser

MVE recently launched a Virtual Reality (VR) experience for a number of CRE projects, and is leading the conversation about how developers can use VR to better market their properties. Here’s a few points MVE’s Matt McLarand shared with Connect Media about how to use VR to market and brand properties.

Q: What is the market doing and why is VR useful?

A: The entire real estate community is intrigued by VR because it really brings a “wow factor” to any project. But no one is really using it to its full potential yet. We’ve witnessed it in the tech and gaming industries: VR has emerged as one of the most sharable tools, and therefore can greatly impact the way developers/owners market their properties to communities, city councils, potential renters, and more. The viralability of VR is what makes it effective across a large number of audiences – it works harder than any other traditional form of marketing materials that the industry is using today.

Q: How does it work for developers?

A: The way VR works for property marketing is that it can deliver a sense of place and really represent the brand of a property in a way that goes beyond the capabilities of renderings, a brochure or lifestyle video. The immersive experience provides the viewer with vivid sensations that cannot be achieved with any other visual tool – THIS is what brings the vision to life in a near-real experience.

Take for example the Residences at Pacific City. This is a one-of-a-kind project in Southern California that was designed for the ocean enthusiast, working professional. Instead of explaining the story behind our designs and vision, VR enables us to show people what the property will look and feel like. Viewers can click on a link and transform any office or living room into the pool area at Pacific City, see the amenity buildings in the shape of a barreling wave, and experience the community as if we flash-forwarded to next year and teleported there. It’s unbelievable and extremely impactful.

Q: Why is this valuable for the CRE industry?

A: Liked I mentioned above, with VR, you don’t have to wait for a completed structure to “show” people the space. Now you can offer a true sense of space months or even years before the property is completed. CRE pros have been in search of a way to “take a property to an audience” that couldn’t travel to its location. Now they can. It can also be used as a custom decorating tool in for-sale condos – a tool that MVE has already used in Orange County. All of these benefits can stimulate support leasing, sales and more well in advance of previous timelines.

Currently, MVE is using VR on projects such as Blue Bay in Irvine, The Residences at Pacific City in Huntington Beach, 8th and Spring in DTLA, and its sister tower 732 Spring Street.

Subscribe to Connect Daily California

For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Dennis Kaiser