Oculus Rift

We recently had a wonderful opportunity to sit down with The Guardian to explain the ArXperience and how virtual reality is revolutionizing the real estate industry.

Our COO and Co-founder Gonzalo Navarro sat down with The Guardian’s technology reporter Olga Oksman to explain more about the technology behind the virtual reality tools that are growing in popularity among real estate professionals.

Oksman opens up her article with a walkthrough of the ArXperience using the Oculus Rift:

“I am sitting in a Starbucks with an architect. He hands me an Oculus virtual reality headset with a Samsung phone slipped into the goggle area. In his hands is an iPad. I put the headset over my eyes and the cafe disappears. Suddenly I am in Miami, inside a sleek luxury apartment. I can see white condo towers and water views from the vast windows.

“I move out to the pool, a must for any luxury condo in Miami, and a menu appears offering me the chance to change the time of day simply by looking at the choice. I select sunset, the water in the pool moves with the breeze and I feel myself start to relax when the architect’s voice, seemingly coming from space, startles me”, describes Oksman in the piece published in the August 21 Sunday edition of the prestigious publication that you can read here .

Watching the reporter, or any other person who tries our ArXperience, fully immerse in the virtual space that we have created for the first time is one of the most rewarding moments we can have.

“In fact, he is still sitting across from me at the cafe, and I am now clutching the edge of the table to give myself a sense of where my body is in space. My eyes are telling me that I have just walked into a generously sized kitchen where different countertop marble color choices are now floating in front of me. My body says I am sitting down in a loud cafe and if I keep moving my head backwards and turning to look behind me, I am going to fall out of my chair”, details Oksman.

“Instead of spending the money to build a model apartment and furnish it, real estate companies can have virtual versions created that can go where the agent does. While virtual mockups are not cheap, they cost a fraction of the $1m or so that a furnished and decorated model luxury apartment would cost”, tells Navarro to the reporter.

“The entire process of creating an oversized condo, with tastefully bland furniture in neutral tones, out of thin air takes only about a month and a half. A bathroom can be generated in just a week. The paintings on the walls, fancy light fixtures and furniture are all based on real items. Views are stitched in from actual photos taken at the height of the future condo”.

This is said easily, but the truth is that to give our clients this quick and precise results we have put together a team of many nationalities, that works from three different continents, and which has the best artists and developers that we have recruited to make you feel and experience the most beautiful spaces you have ever imagined.

Thank you The Guardian for featuring our work!

We recently presented in New York our newest product: ArXperience 3D.

It was really exciting to see the great acceptance that it had among the specialized press and some of our clients that came to experience it.

We received our guests in New York City’s Paramount Hotel so they could experience this new technology that we are sure will revolutionize the way real estate is sold.

With the Oculus Rift our clients will be able to take their prospects on a virtual tour to the home of their dreams even before it exists.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to try our new ArXperience 3D!

What the press is saying:

“As technology begins to revolutionize residential sales, luxury new development is gradually diminishing its traditional disadvantage over existing properties: the inability to visualize. For New York’s developers, the implications could be tremendous.”.- Konrad Putzier, Real Estate Weekly

“The ArXperience 3D solution is best presented on a double screen 4K curved TV and is compatible with Oculus Rift for a total immersion experience. This is the first time the virtual reality headset is being used as an instrument to market real estate, using the device’s tracking technology, the depth, scale and wide field of view to create an extraordinarily realistic experience”.- Maria Lanao, Wired.

“Bolstered by nearly two decades in the architectural visualization industry, the Miami-based firm has long established itself as an innovator, helping to push the boundaries of 3D technology.”.- James McClister, Miami Agent Magazine

“It’s exhilarating. As it happens, extreme levels of conspicuous consumption—even in virtual reality—feel really, really good. Moreover, it feels like the cloud of sharp, pheromone-tinged musk the Paramount Hotel sprayed in its lobby is beginning to go to my head. I turn to the couches, which are a dusty shade of ecru”.- Sydney Brownstone, Co.Exist

“Viewers use a video game controller to stroll in and out of rooms. If there’s a prototype of the virtual reality goggles Oculus Rift handy, as there was when I toured a model, then you can throw that on and feel like you actually are in the space”.– Teke Wiggin, Inman

“Its newest product, aptly called ArXperience 3D, will leverage the budding popularity of virtual reality into a unique and immerse experience, allowing users to visualize and interact with environments ‘in the most realistic quality ever before seen on the market.'”.– James McClister, Miami Agent Magazine

“ArX Solutions, the program’s designer, has recently begun marketing the program to developers and brokers of luxury condos in New York City and across the world.”.- Konrad Putzier, Real Estate Weekly

“Virtual tours have the potential to replace the open house. Imagine being to browse and walk through dozens of potential homes for sale in your neighbourhood or city, without having to leave the comfort of your own home, or the realtor’s office?”.- Agent Accelerate.