Great Property Marketing Idea, But Is It The Most Cost Effective?

In today's NY Times there is a story about property developers that are building out full-scale apartments as an exact replica of what a buyer is going to get after the property is built.

“To ask buyers to make the biggest investment of their life off just blueprints is too much,” said Dean Geibel of Metro Homes in Hoboken N.J.

While sales seem to benefitting from this approach, I cannot help but wonder why a detailed 3D Walkthrough, Interactive Floor Plan or 3D Floor Rendering would not preclude this expensive option. A sales office featuring a full-size unit can cost six times one with just select details. It can also be costly to build a space to house it, says Jason Schlesinger of the developer Ceebraid-Signal.

3Dwalkthroughs.com believes the use of 3D assets to promote new property developments will continue to explode as the number of 3D Walkthrough companies increases. We also believe there will be a steady decrease in the price of 3D assets and this will make it more affordable even for smaller property developers. Some of these factors include: A rise in the number of 3D animation studios and an increase in "Do It Yourself" 3D modelling tools.

It would be interesting to have a discussion with the property developers that are builing out full replica's of their apartments to understand their reasons for selecting this expensive marketing strategy.