When Chad McCloud and Sheridan Hodson opened the Epic Realty showroom last fall, they set out to change the way real estate is bought and sold by leveraging virtual reality technology. I stopped by the showroom last month to see what they’ve been up to over the past year and I was floored by the progress they have made in this space. From just four people they have grown to a robust agency with eight offices including a new showroom at the Boise Airport (more about that in a bit) and three developers working on their suite of VR offerings.
Skyview Tour
So what has fueled this success? Hodson says it is their focus on giving their agents the best advantages in the market and working with agents who are very serious in their business. (Only one non experienced agent is accepted per month.) They have expanded their suite of products with virtual staging and now their Skyview Tours product. Ensuring that these products are cost effective for agents is important to Epic. Epic is also able to drive costs down by producing and editing all the media services in-house so agents pay approximately 25% of market value! The feedback from both agents and clients has been exceptional, so much so that they are now starting to license their Skyview Tour product to other US markets.
If you haven’t seen a Skyview Tour, it is a very comprehensive way to view both a home and the community in which it is located. Tours include photos, a 3D/VR tour of the space, community videos, and the ability to drill down to lot views. Agents get text to tour and agent notification capabilities. Plus, lenders are taking note of the product and are sponsoring tours to offset part of the cost to the agents and get their brand in front of interested buyers. Win/Win! If you’re a builder, you’ll be interested to know that they shoot for builders for free and the tours can be used on your site! At the same time they are curating tours from various builders on their site so that prospective buyers are able to go to one location and view a number of home options.
Back to the Boise Airport showroom that I mentioned… They now have a twenty by twenty foot showroom at the airport located on the ground level across from the baggage claim area. Home listings are displayed on LED monitors with agents on staff. They are installing a forty three inch touch-screen monitor for airport visitors to use during off-peak hours and are currently working through the logistics of providing VR tours in the space. So far the feedback has been very positive from people arriving in the Treasure Valley as well as their agents.
Epic Realty has come a long way in just a little over a year and we can’t wait to see where they go this year taking their products to other markets!
If you’re interested in connecting with Epic Realty their showroom is located at 3525 E Longwing Ln, Ste 110, Meridian, ID 83646 in The Village at Meridian. You can also connect with Sheridan Hodson at (208) 861-8052 or Chad McCloud at (208) 901-5380.
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