Many of the potential uses of Quick Response (QR) codes in real estate lie in advertising and the ability for an agent to better reach interested people. QR codes for real estate can be used on signs and flyers for a house listing, which can then direct someone to a website detailing more information about a property. Agents can also use them on business cards and similar advertisements to easily get customers to their websites. In many ways, the use of QR codes for real estate is about relaying information to customers in a new and concise format.
Quick Response or QR codes are graphical images resembling bar codes, which are square in shape and can be either black and white or include colors. These images can be scanned by certain devices, such as a smart phone with a camera, and then read by software on that device. This then relays information on a screen, based on the data used to create the original code. Pictures, plain text, and links to websites can all be used to make these images, which are then relayed once the code is scanned.
The potential uses of QR codes for real estate are being developed and explored and have largely consisted of marketing in many applications. Flyers and signs used to advertise houses, for example, can include an image that, when scanned, redirects a person’s phone to a particular website. This can be a webpage for the house associated with the sign, which then provides additional information about the house. The use of QR codes for real estate in this way allows agents to more easily provide links on physical advertisements that can bring people to digital assets about that property.
Real estate agents can also use these images to better market themselves and provide additional contact information to customers. A business card, for example, can have a code on it that can be scanned by a smart phone with a camera. The scan might direct someone to a social networking site for that agent, or to a collection of listings represented by him or her. This type of promotion has been used in a number of fields and is becoming increasingly popular as one use of QR codes for real estate.
Future applications of QR codes for real estate are likely to provide additional advertising opportunities. There are some concerns by agents that these types of promotions are gimmicks, and that little real value is found in their use. As these codes become increasingly popular, however, different types of data may be relayed through them as they make additional information more accessible.