Will Augmented Reality Change Commercial Real Estate Forever?

Will Augmented Reality Change Commercial Real Estate Forever? Here Are 14 Possible Ways!

Simple question.I have another question. Where in the hell is it? This technology has been around for a few years and is such a no risk high reward play for commercial real estate. Who needs a search app and who needs to pay for a search app? NO ONE!

Mobile Mobile Mobile.

Everywhere you look mobile is the next big thing in real estate. Commercial real estate on the other hand seems to not be part of the mobile equation. I’ve been looking pretty hard and I haven’t really found much, but maybe I have found one possible solution.It’s called Layar.I wrote about this in 2009 and here I am again screaming and yelling at the top of my lungs to get the industries collective attention and for what? The real commercial real estate REALITY.Access to every building and building information live and in real time.

Here is what I think the technology can do for the commercial real estate business. Just imagine walking past a downtown office building or any building for that matter holding up your phone and the address pops up. Tap your phone on the building availability button and scroll to:

1.What space is available? Is it 2500 sq ft or 10,000 divisible into four two thousand square foot sections?
2.What type of space or class of space is available Class A, totally tricked out and ready Class B a little older but with some improvements still be quality. Class C probably needs some major work but the location and terms may warrant a look? Maybe it is a Flex space with dock access.
3.Cost of space. Is it 5-10-20 50 dollars a square foot?
4.What type of lease terms? Is that per month, per year. Triple Net or Total Gross?
5.Building owner incentives? Is the owner providing a prospective tenant any dollars or allowances, such as, a $3 dollar allowance for carpet or interior finish with a $20,000 cap?
6.What are the costs of utilities? Who are the utility providers and who are the vendors that service the building?
7.Is the building Green or LEED certified and are the documents available to see the points earned?
8.What is the present zoning and what are the allowable uses? Is there potential for a variance with multi uses?
9.What are the incentives from local government for business to relocate to the area?
10.What type of businesses are in the building now? Is it predominantly a medical building or is it more diversified, with possible clients or alliances partners?
11.How does this building compare to the building I occupy now?
12.How does this property compare to other similar properties in neighborhood?
13.What are neighborhood amenities-restaurants, parks, etc?
14.Last and certainly not least. How about the name contact info and ability to instantly get feed back from or communicate with a leasing representative?

Look at this from my ROFO.com friends:

The Building Faces Everyone.

Who does not have a mobile phone? Who does not have a smart phone? So let’s look at a simple scenario. You are a building owner.You have a B to B + office space available. You are 30% vacant.You like your broker and he has sent you all the links to the sites he is marketing your property on.  He has also sent you a copy of that sharp company online brochure/PDF thing.He calls about once a week to give you updates with the activity. He has given you the stats on your property “views” on various third party sites. You think well….great I am still at 30%. He calls you up one day and asks to come in and see you. You say”what for?” He says “I need to show you how your building will stand alone and market itself to anyone with a phone.” You say “What?” He stops buy and shows you the augmented reality app his company has just started.

Now there is a company and a broker that knows how to market a building. Thoughts?

Duke Long