Real Estate and Future Technology

[RESteve]

Oooh, that game. Weird concept... never really got into it.

Some people making a living (over 100k a year, $US) selling real estate in there. It's pretty crazy.

[BrandonSternfield]

Oh, I've heard about it. My old roommate was into it.

See, I'm one of those college kids that played games to get away from life (like watching a movie). But playing a game that mimicked life so... wasn't really what I wanted.

I've heard of people becoming insanely rich off SL. I've also heard of people having family disown them, wives leave them, children hate them, etc.

[REMarketer]

I've heard so much about Second Life... but not my cup of tea... As far as technology goes, we've only began to scratch the surface. Moreover to the 'near' future, we'll be seeing more and more business web-apps surfacing that expand the reaches of real estate efficiency, exposure, and/or impact. Take for example google real estate maps: http://base.google.com/base/s2?a_n0=...3Den%26gl%3DUS

[judyo]

But what about the smell - I've shown some nice looking homes that smelled really bad! COS might be contingent on smell.

Imagine this scenario:

You log onto the MLS. You find a listing you like. You get the appropriate gear, and click on the virtual tour button.

Suddenly you are in virtual reality. Only you are actually inside the house, as far as you can tell. You can feel the things in the house, see. Meanwhile, as you walk from room to room, a voice tells you the details. There is a display on the side of your vision, in case you want to know something that was already said. If you have a question, you merely ask it, and it will respond with the answer. If you like it enough, you can buy it while in virtual reality. You merely sign the proper forms, with the voice guiding you. It's all done electronically.

I'm talking 10-20 years down the road (I think). But it's not entirely impossible.

Hate to say it, but I'd rather have the facts I need, and time alone to explore a place, instead of someone following me around trying to spout off facts and interesting things

I'm a very logical guy, hence my comp sci degree. My emotional interaction is for friends.

[drang3d]

This might interest some of you. They are turning the interface that Tom Cruise used in "Minority Report" into a reality ( http://news.com.com/Wave+your+hands+...l?tag=nefd.top )