LU Student’s New Business Provides Virtual House Tours
What if homebuyers could tour a house without leaving their couch?
An entrepreneur and Liberty student’s business, i360 Virtual Tours, provides homebuyers in Lynchburg just that. The service takes interactive 3D virtual scans of different locations for prospective buyers, enabling them to appraise or tour homes from the safety and comfort of their own homes.
Maia Anderson originally started her business in California after recognizing a need in the real estate market for virtual options during the pandemic.
“I interned for a real estate investment group about two summers ago.” Maia said “And so when I learned during the pandemic how the real estate market was basically declining due to the fact that people weren’t able to see homes, I wanted to help [bring] a more streamlined way [for] people [to be] able to go to the homes without having to risk themselves in any way.”
While Anderson wanted to make this technology a solution, she also wanted to make sure that her solution was a viable option for the market.
“[I talked] to my dad. He saw the vision that I saw. He believed in it,” Anderson said. “So we got a market analysis done. From the market analysis… we saw the projected range of what this particular solution could be for the next 15 years… We said, okay, we think these numbers are nice. Let’s put up a business plan together. So we put up our business plan. And from there we filed the LLC in California.”
To help promote her new solution, she reached out to a network of people who she hoped would be interested in using her technology.
“I already knew [real estate] agents [from my previous internship],” Anderson said. “I reached out to them, asked them, hey, this is the service I provide. Now, is this something that you would be interested in? Some of them agreed that it was something they already utilize and they would love to help me in just building my portfolio.”
Her work with these real estate agents led to the sale of two houses for over one million dollars.
Additionally, Anderson branched out from the real estate market to help Alexis Maye, the Creative Director for Christian Hip Hop Indie Label Culture Villains LLC, create promotional material for one of their music artists.
“It was a great experience,” Alexis said. “Maia is very attentive to detail, very on time and very thorough. She helps you organize your vision and implement it.”
There have been many challenges with starting and running a small business while being a full-time college student, but Anderson said it is worth it.
“I really, really think that the success of my business has to be in being a solution to people,” Anderson said. “Having the ability to help market a home for one of my past clients [and] for both of them to sell literally within a week and for [the customers] to be satisfied, that is such a success for me because that is the main reason why I created the business, to be a solution, to be a tool that they can use to help [them] further.”
More information is available at i360VTours.com, or on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @i360VTours.
i360 Virtual Tours is also interested in hiring partner photographers. Contact Maia Anderson through her business number (925) 399-8024 or through social media.
Ashleigh Brown is a Feature Reporter.