Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋), Taiwan’s largest property broker by number of offices, on Thursday opened a “smart” store in downtown Taipei that allows visitors to look for homes with the assistance of virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) technologies.
The new store, called the i-Plus Innovative Experience Hall, marks the first attempt by a Taiwanese broker to take advantage of VR and MR technologies to serve customers and boost business.
“The store attests to the company’s constant efforts to innovate and stay abreast with latest technologies,” Evertrust chairman Sun Ching-yu (孫慶餘) told a news conference in Taipei.
The company said it has turned its founding office on Taipei’s Xinyi Road Sec 4 into a “smart” space where visitors can wear VR and MR headsets to experience the neighborhood and the interior of houses they are interested in purchasing.
Owning a home is the biggest dream and transaction in a lifetime for most Taiwanese and the introduction of VR and MR technologies aims to make it a more transparent and interesting experience, Sun said.
MR headgear allows users to gain three-dimensional views of the neighborhood in which they plan to live, while VR headsets allow customers to virtually wander around the houses they intend to check out.
Evertrust hopes the new store will enhance its brokers’ efficiency and save prospective homebuyers time, Sun said.
The company spent a lot of money designing and decorating the store, which people are also invited to visit for speeches and lectures related to real estate, he said.
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