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RSS FeedReal Estate Consumers of the Not Too Distant Future |
Posted at Saul's Notes by Saul Klein
Oct. 29, 2006
Categorized in: New Business Model
Tagged with: virtual worlds
Real Estate Consumers of the not too distant future
Who and where are the real estate buyers and sellers of the future and how can you meet them today? The buyers and sellers of 2010? 2015? 2020?
If you plan to be in the real estate business in the future, then these buyers and sellers must be part of the vision of your business and your career. Why not begin prospecting now?
Who are the real estate buyers and sellers of the future?
This is obvious, they are the 15 to 20 year olds of today. They are your buyers and sellers of tomorrow.
Where are they and how can you meet them?
They are spending time on the Internet in "Virtual Worlds" creating and leading "Virtual Lives." This includes, among other things, buying "Virtual Clothes" for their "Virtual Selves" and buying and selling "Virtual Real Estate," and running "Virtual Businesses."
On another level, some companies are using this technology to develop real life solutions in a virtual environment...but let's get back to play...
In my youth, I loved to play Monopoly. Back then, I really didn't relate the game of Monopoly to real estate. It was not until later in life, as a real estate broker and real estate educator, that I realized Monopoly was a real estate game and that it taught basic real estate principles such as title and deeds, assemblage, plottage, plottage increment, rent collection, risk and yield, mortgaging, exchanging, taxation, bankruptcy and more.
Back then, we played Monopoly at most a few times a year. There was always the problem of finding enough kids (and/or parents) who could take the time to play a game of Monopoly...and many games went unfinished because Monopoly is a game that takes a long time to play from start to finish.
In Virtual Worlds, people are free to develop new social and business skills as they meet, dance, and create with their "Virtual Friends," who, in many cases, are people they have never and will never meet "in the flesh." You can leave a virtual world at will...and you will always find people and things to interact with when you return. Your new virtual friends could become your virtual customers and some day your real life customers...or at least learn about your real life services from their interaction with you in a virtual world.
In the process of this new type of "play," many young people are learning...increasing their knowledge, honing their skills...and spending "Virtual Money" ("Lindens" in one of the Virtual Worlds, a virtual currency that has a US Dollar conversion rate). There are many lessons one can take from buying real estate in a virtual world to the purchase of real estate in the real world.
Virtual worlds are not perfect "worlds" and in fact, have some of the negatives of the "real world." But they offer the ability to merge information and creativity in a new way.
By now you might be scratching your head and asking yourself what in the world I am talking about.
No....the question you should be asking is what in the Virtual World am I talking about?
You have to experience it to understand...and at this point in the evolution of virtual world research, it also takes a little vision and imagination to get beyond the concept of "play." What is being created is an easy to use interface with immense expressive power, where people can share, collaborate, and create new kinds of information, allowing the interaction of people, information and ideas in a new way. The potential is enormous.
Who would sit in front of a computer screen for a half hour or even hours at a time? The same question was once asked about the radio, and the television.
Today, kids are spending time in virtual communities. I read where http://SecondLife.com just went over one million users, 50,000 online at any given time. Another popular location is http://There.com There are many more and lots of research money is going into the continued pursuit of a truly "interactive web" in general, and this concept in particular.
Before you write this off as trivial and inconsequential, know that MTV, IBM, Reuters and other major players are investing time and money into the emergence of what some are calling the "MetaVerse." But don't take my word for it, check it out for your(virtual)self. You may want to set up your virtual real estate office while virtual real estate is still affordable (at least while the good "locations" are still available and affordable).
See you online...let me know if I can help you with your virtual real estate needs.
Noah Boardwalk (SecondLife.com)
RealEstateBroker (There.com)
RealEstateBroker (There.com)
AKA...
Saul
Saul
Saul Klein
President, InternetCrusade
President, InternetCrusade
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