Virtual Community Real Estate by Epic Reality
By Janelle Stear Photos by Kimberlee Miller
Sheridan Hodson and Chad McCloud founded Epic Realty in September 2017 with hopes of providing a pleasurable home buying experience to their clients while simultaneously creating a way to give back to the community.
Epic Realty is not your traditional real estate company. They take their own real estate platform, combined with 3D and virtual reality head set technology, to improve the house-hunting experience. “Whether you are selling or buying, we want to make the process easy,” says Sheridan. “We do all the 3D and virtual reality work, then post your property online, which gives you maximum exposure.” This saves time and can get houses sold faster.
How It Works
For buyers, Epic Realty does the necessary footwork with on-demand filming and generates 3D images of homes that clients may be interested in. Prospective clients then receive a virtual reality headset. Epic Realty follows up with email links that connect to the headset. Once connected, clients can use touch points to put themselves directly inside the homes they wish to see. Clients can peek into the laundry room or the kitchen. They can look 360 degrees in every room. And they can easily navigate themselves throughout the house.
Chad and Sheridan will even send a headset to out of state clients interested in moving to the Treasure Valley. And once they’re ready to visit, Epic Realty has their own concierge service that provides a rental car, a room at the Inn at 500 downtown, and a voucher to a local restaurant. They will even personally drive clients to many of the available houses. Epic Realty wants to ensure that each experience is enjoyable by giving clients more time to immerse in the local culture.
Doing More
And even still these epic realtors want to do more. “A big part of our value to clients is investing back into the communities they live in.” Sheridan and Chad have purchased a truck and trailer that they use to take to various neighborhoods. They then set up a bounce house, yard-games, and a barbeque—all so families can fully enjoy their neighborhoods together. While the kids play, the parents can experience the virtual headsets or simply visit and connect. Sheridan feels that it is important that they have “community involvement and try to give back to the people without the expectation of anything in return.”
They also are working with local supply companies, using upcycled lumber, to construct several hundred community lending libraries, stocked with donated books. “We are defining a legacy now for what our company stands for rather than waiting until later to give back.”
When prompted to define Epic Realty, Sheridan explains, “We see ourselves as a high-end marketing tech company. Then fusing that with a high-end real estate experience. We want you to feel that it was more than a transaction, but rather an epic experience that is so over the top that you never forget it.”
Chad and Sheridan can found at The Village in Meridian or reached by phone at (208) 576-4717.