Second Life Houses equal real sales of an existing house? Yes - it happened today as Coldwell Banker Put a Real House on Second Life Block.
Coldwell Banker commissioned www.Code4Software.com to create an exact replica of one of it's clients' home in the virtual world of Second Life (the real life home is selling for 3 Million Dollars and is located in Seattle, Washington).
"…today, Coldwell Banker, one of the nation's largest real estate brokerage firms, will bring that 3-D virtual world one step closer to reality, when it puts a real, brick-and-mortar house on the block in Second Life.
".."We chose Seattle for a couple of reasons," Charlie Young, a Coldwell Banker vice president, said. "One, it was a progressive and innovative market. Two, the [housing] inventory could compete internationally."
The virtual house could provide an opportunity for buyers who are far away to take a look at the home, Young said.
"…For Coldwell Banker, which has been selling and building virtual houses in Second Life for $20 a pop, the idea of marketing a real home in that space was a natural extension, according to Young."When you look at how homes are bought and sold today, the process has changed completely," he said.
Stephanie Singer, a spokeswoman for the National Association of Realtors, agreed.
"Realtors all over the country are advancing technology," she said, as more and more buyers and sellers use Web casts and YouTube to market their homes. "That's a big change from what you've seen 10 years ago."
Eighty-one percent of recent home buyers used the Internet to buy their homes, as opposed to 2 percent in 1995, according to the association.
As Realtors are beginning to see the light …. what about the Architects - who actually use programs like AutoCad to create the Architectural Plans… what are they waiting for?
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