ITECH1100 Understanding the Digital Revolution

technology (Dunne et al., 2014). In fact, it has fully transformed the manner in which real estate agents used to operate when in the field as well as the way potential buyers shop by reducing the effort required. This paper will address some of the main ways through which wearable technology is transforming the real estate industry for both buyers and agents.

Since Real Estate professionals are well conversant with the internet and have access to smartphone applications, wearable technology is expected to cause a boom in the real estate industry by enabling faster and effective communication between agents, buyers, and lenders as well as simplifying the process of searching for homes. For instance, Google is very soon expected to launch a product by the name Glass and which closely resembles eyeglasses although with a low weight of about 1.5 ounces. It is a device which is packed with several features which will enable Real Estate professionals to find convenient in their operations as well as save time (Frulio et al., 2016). Glass can be compared to having a smartphone on ones face. Next on line is the iBeacon, another technology expected to be incorporated with the Glass in the near future. It is a technology which will be using low power transmitters to notify buyers whenever they get close to a certain property on sale.

Sci-fi style devices are also another trend to watch as far as Realtor's interaction with property buyers will be concerned. I mean, imagine interested buyers wanting to have a look at the property; real estate agents will only need to invite the buyer on a video call through the Google Hangouts and humbly walk around all the corners of the property while the buyer watches the property on their devices whether sitting at home, relaxing at a park or even shopping. This feature alone will revolutionize the process of home buying.

1. Brainstorming Ideas on Wearable Technology Impacts

Basically, the aforementioned three main ways through which wearable technology is expected to transform the real estate industry for both buyers and agents as described below

a. Smart Glasses for Online Computer-less Field Work 

While real estate professionals will be interacting with potential homebuyers, the Smart glasses which are in the form of improved reality visors have shown great promises. This wearable technology will allow real estate agents to carry on their work online with their hands-free from the smartphones doing other things. For instance, the F4 augmented reality visor prototype made by an Italian GlassUp company has shown its capability of creating several functions for both the real estate agents as well as a homebuyer. These functions include but not limited to phone functionalities, video streaming cameras, indicators for firsthand data and conveyance of security alerts (Montanari, Mascolo, Sailer & Nawaz, 2017). The device also has an optical display, Wi-Fi, voice control, Bluetooth, and other several Apps which have been developed for interminable functions. This product will help realtors in publishing and promoting live images of their properties and downloading data in real time without the help of smartphones. Additionally, homebuyers will use the device when detecting property flaws, searching for new properties and live streaming property images to family members or organizations that cannot make it physically to visit the property site.

b. SmartWatches for Realtors and Homebuyers 

The trend in usage of smartwatches as a wearable technology has been increasing constantly in size. Real estate agents and average homebuyers have not been left behind in the adoption of this technology because smartwatches within the industry can be utilized in various ways, right from casual situations to professional ones (Ullah, Sepasgozar & Wang, 2018). For instance, the Apple Watch has helped in the transformation of the industry by allowing the use of various applications such as City Mapper (for navigation) or Fantastical 2 (for calendaring events). Additionally, Apple iWatch has emerged to enable users to access some of their iPhone features like texting and making calls. So, whether it means to schedule appointments, download data, connect with friends or potential clients via text message or voice, smartwatches have facilitated a home-away-from-home scenario for those familiar with smartphones.

1. Virtual Reality for Lifestyle Home Builders

Home builders under this category refer to three different departments: architects, realtors, and contractors. The introduction of Virtual Reality technology during their work process has, to some extent facilitated effective client interactions. This is because consumers require more convenient ways to hunt property and coordinate with contractors and have increasingly found the solution to their concern at mobile applications. However, what has been lacking in most of these applications is the capability of visualizing three dimension structures from two-dimensional drawings. The current improvements in VR under wearable technology has appeared as a game changer because it has incorporated features which allow the users to experience property that is yet to exist and truly be able to understand things like spatial relationships between different rooms in the house.

For instance, Virginia-based Lifestyle Home Builders have begun the process of inserting VR into their custom home buildings and buying experiences. The company is using building information modeling (BIM) and off-the-shelf software to enable its customers to virtual experience completed versions of their houses although under construction through VR headsets (Baker, 2017). Several other designers are also using this technology to display model homes as well as bringing stock floorplans to reality; Lifestyle’s VR platforms give homebuyers a chance to perceive their custom houses before they are constructed and can make changes at this stage and avoid the challenges of making changes when construction is underway. This has highly helped in cost-cutting, avoidance of errors, and frustrations when construction is ongoing for both buyers and designers.

Similar to Virginia-based Lifestyle Home Builders, Cardiff-based estate agent Jeffrey Ross has come up with a different version of VR platform to allow homebuyers to have a look at properties at any place of their convenience. The firm is capturing 3D video footages of their houses on sale and allowing potential buyers to navigate around the images using VR goggles. The approach has given the firm a competitive advantage as the VR is allowing people to tour around the rooms conveniently hence saving customer time (Baker, 2017).

1. Constraints in Adoption of Wearable technology
2. Security issues

Some of the wearable technology devices have been made of expensive materials like gold and silver. Putting property on sale through the approach, on the other hand, requires the real estate agents to display to a large number of buyers, and that is comprised of strangers (Baker, 2017). On the side of homeowners, a lot of trusts is also highly demanded, and trust must prevail in all the involved parties and which is amicable within the property confines when being displayed publicly. This code of conduct is however rare among people and will definitely result in safety and legal issues.

1. Increased crimes

Information on the property on sale will also be placed on public domains, and that will definitely have alerted conmen and women on the availability of such properties so that they can take faster moves and look for clients to fake identity and documents which will be used to sell the property illegally. The cases will be expected to escalate at high rates until when a solution will be sought to enable distinguish between real sellers and buyers.

1. Privacy issues

Considering that some of the applications will require registration of both homeowners and buyers, the issue of privacy to the information entered is likely to become a problem. This is because the business will be involving an exchange of lump sum amounts of money which can be targeted by criminals if they have details belonging to the players.

1. Wrong Usage of Wearable devices

Some of the wearable devices although very important when used rightfully if misused will have ethical issues on the society. For instance, the Glass technology if misused may lead to interference with the privacy of others like when used to record private conversations and streaming videos of naked people (Baker, 2017).

1. Process components
2. Smart Glasses
3. SmartWatches
4. Sci-fi style devices
5. iBeacons
6. Description of Changes

Lifestyle’s VR platforms will give homebuyers a chance to perceive their custom houses before they are constructed and can make changes at this stage and avoid the challenges of making changes when construction is underway (Baker, 2017). Smartwatches will make it possible for real estate agents to schedule appointments, download data, connect with friends or potential clients via text message or voice, smartwatches have facilitated a home-away-from-home scenario for those familiar with smartphones. smartGlasses will allow real estate agents to carry on their work online with their hands-free from the smartphones doing other things.

References

Baker, G. (2017). Reducing Post-Acute Care Costs With Wearable Technology—Part 4. PROVIDER.

Dunne, L. E., Profita, H., Zeagler, C., Clawson, J., Gilliland, S., Do, E. Y. L., & Budd, J. (2014, August). The social comfort of wearable technology and gestural interaction. In Engineering in medicine and biology society (EMBC), 2014 36th annual international conference of the IEEE (pp. 4159-4162). IEEE.

Frulio, F., Sheikhi, E., Rossazza, L., Perfetto, G., Calvachi, A., Picco, G., & Comai, S. (2016, November). IOM–Internet of Mobility: A Wearable Device for Outdoor Data Collection. In International Conference on Smart Objects and Technologies for Social Good (pp. 88- 95). Springer, Cham.

Montanari, A., Mascolo, C., Sailer, K., & Nawaz, S. (2017). Detecting Emerging Activity-Based Working Traits through Wearable Technology. Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies, 1(3), 86

Ullah, F., Sepasgozar, S., & Wang, C. (2018). A Systematic Review of Smart Real Estate Technology: Drivers of, and Barriers to, the Use of Digital Disruptive Technologies and Online Platforms. Sustainability, 10(9), 3142.

Warburton, D. (2016). The role of technology in the real estate industry (Doctoral dissertation, University of Cape Town).