Sunnyvale: Virtual reality walk-through for prospective home buyers

SUNNYVALE, Calif. (KTVU) - Prospective homebuyers have a new way to tour a home. Now they can experience a virtual walkthrough using 3-D imaging. You just put on a virtual reality headset and you can virtually walk through the property.

"The reason it's a game-changer is instead of just giving you a sense for what the place looks like, we give you the feeling of what it's like to physically be in that space," said Matterport CEO Bill Brown.

One of several companies bringing virtual reality into the real estate market is Matterport.

The Sunnyvale-based firm makes 3-D cameras and software to stitch together images captured to create a 3-D home model. And it's not just real estate. The automobile industry is launching into virtual reality as well with Cadillac announcing plans to use virtual reality headsets to sell cars.

"The idea you can basically replace the car showroom with a virtual reality showroom...and having all those cars there by presenting your customer with virtual models," said Virtual Reality developer Tony Parisi.

Parisi is an entrepreneur and angel investor has been in the VR industry for almost 2 decades...

"I think there are a lot of folks who think 'Oh this is just a flash in the pan and people are excited now, it's kind of a fad.'  But I think those people who haven't tried VR," said Parisi.

Experts say one of the reasons why virtual reality is taking off now is affordability.  People already have their own cell phones and you put it in a headset and close it up and you have a VR device. And some headsets are now made of cardboard and some companies, even realtors, are giving them away for free.