Mike Millar from Mike Greer Homes Central Otago partners with an easy-to-use augmented reality App that helps clients visualise exactly what their new home could look like at the Wooing Tree Estate.
3D and walk-through modelling is nothing new in the world of home design and real estate, but homear is different. What this new technology does is take real-time visualisation to the next level by dropping an exact 3D render of a home onto a specific site. Using any smartphone, you can then size and orient the model into the landscape, then walk around the site and view the house from every angle, near and far. It can also be viewed from above, taking off the roof and exploring the floor plan in 3D.
But the technology doesn’t end here. Once you have placed the 3D render of the house onto the bare site, you can then walk up to and through the front door and into the house, wandering into each room and taking in the views from all the windows.
This whole experience can be recorded and viewed later, either on your hand-held device, or from the comfort of a desktop computer, and no personal information is taken during the process.
“I’ve watched people’s reaction when they use the homear App for the first time and it blows their minds – especially those who have a technical background. It’s quite a surreal experience,” says Mike Millar. “And it’s a great tool for visualising a new house on a section– as is the case at Wooing Tree.”
“With Steve and Thea Farquharson, [owners of Wooing Tree] coming from a ‘tech’ background, they were particularly interested in the experience HomeAR could offer – especially in the case of Wooing Tree, where the technology can allow someone to drop a home design onto an empty site and actually see the stunning views of the mountains around Cromwell from every room in the house, inside and out. That’s powerful.”
The homear App is free to download and can be launched via a unique QR code, which can be found at all three of the Mike Greer Homes sites at Wooing Tree – Lots 14, 32, 33. Anyone can now visit the Wooing Tree site, download the App, scan the code, and download one, or all three of the house designs onto your phone. It’s a quantum leap from standing on a bare site, trying to imagine what it looks like.
Mike says he is expecting a lot of interest in Wooing Tree Estate from people out of the region, which makes this technology a fantastic selling tool for those who cannot make it onto the site in the initial stages of their research. “You can actually search the homear app to find our Wooing Tree designs, so you don’t have to be on site to see them,” he adds.
Richard Penny, founder of the Kiwi start-up that created homear, developed this technology because he believes new home buyers deserve a better experience. “Buying a home off a piece of paper is a pretty scary proposition for most people. By using technologies like augmented reality, we can help people really understand a new home before it’s been built and give them confidence to make big decisions. When that happens, everyone wins.”
If you are interested in any properties at Wooing Tree Estate, visit the site, download the homear app and take a look at this technology first hand. Prepare to be amazed.