With the current reboot of virtual reality picking up, one area realty company is incorporating the trend into its marketing tools.

Topsail Island-based Lewis Realty Associates Inc. recently launched virtual reality videos of its vacation rentals and sales properties.

“Quite often a question arises such as, ‘where is the master suite?’ or ‘where is the children’s bedroom in connection with the rest of the property?’ The answers are difficult for the consumers to visualize until they can personally view the property,” company officials announced on the firm’s blog (realestatetopsail.com). 

Lewis Realty is rolling out the tool for all of its vacation rentals and has started on models for some of its higher-end sales properties. 

After researching VR, Lewis Realty president Chris Rackley partnered with Mountain View, California-based Matterport, which supplies a motorized camera with multiple lens and infrared sensors to make a high definition, 3-D model of a property, officials said.

“This is not to be confused with the boiler plate virtual tour that many companies have been offering for years,” Rackley said in a statement. “This is true immersion into the home from anywhere in the world and it is not an inexpensive technology; however, we strive to be the first in utilizing the latest technology for our real estate company.”

The company has focused on incorporating new technologies to help with its real estate services for years, officials said. It recently received an exemption from the Federal Aviation Administration to use drones for filming real estate footage. The federal agency is granting permission for commercial drone use on a case-by-case basis while regulators work out the national rules governing drones.

With the VR videos, prospective homebuyers and vacation renters still can check out the houses in the conventional way on their computers or smartphones. But the full capabilities of the 3-D models are geared toward virtual reality headsets hitting the market such as the Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Rift.

“The user is able to see how each room is situated within the rest of the property as well as being able to see even the finest of detail while taking the virtual walk through,” according to the company’s blog post. “This provides the user a true ‘out of science fiction’ view placing the user inside the home.”