“I can’t put my arm around memories,” sang New York punk rocker Johnny Thunders. And until now, you haven’t been able to wear a hat in your digital home in the Metaverse.
That said, while the digital universe is a popular place to fight imaginary enemies, you can also choose to live a more peaceful life, buying land, designing and furnishing your home. .
In Florida, someone did.
The new owners of a Pinecrest home in Miami-Dade County not only got a brand-new mansion in the upscale village located some 10 miles south of downtown Miami, but they also got possession of a fully built-out digital version of it. I am proud to be a person. Inside the sandbox.
The home and digital edition fell short of the asking price of $12.5 million, but sold for $11.2 million in an all-cash transaction. This set a sales record for Pinecrest and surpassed the area’s highest price per square foot of $1,335.
“The new owners have two versions. One is brick and mortar, with the roof and everything,” said Michael Martinez, a real estate agent with ONE Sotheby’s International Realty. Martinez, along with Kiki Rutten, also of ONE Sotheby’s International Realty, performed the dual duties of representing the private buyer and co-representing the seller, Sierra Development. “But it’s also built in a sandbox, which is a metaverse virtual world,” Martinez said. “That’s part of the game. It’s 3D virtual reality. You can tour it, sit on the couch, invite guests, and have a party.”
In fact, the digital version is not exactly the same as the real one, as it includes a nightclub. For the Metaverse-minded, there’s no need to drive to South Beach for the party, just head to the Sandbox grounds.
The Sandbox Digital Home was developed by Voxel Architects and Gabe Sierra, director of operations at brick-and-mortar home contractor Sierra Developments, who is an avid NFT collector.
“There are certain communities that follow the metaverse,” Martinez said. “The buyer was a young professional and this caught his attention. He couldn’t believe it. This is the first time something like this has been done in this way.”
A question arises here. Is this the future of home marketing, a step beyond the 3D digital tours that are now common in sales listings?
“I don’t know. It’s expensive to create,” Martinez said, declining to say how much. “It also takes a lot of time to create. You need the right team to recreate a real home digitally. I don’t know if digital twins are for everyone, but for this property it was very it was fun.”
Martinez believes what really sold the house was the house itself.
“When you walk through a home in the real world, you see how great the spaces are and how the outdoors integrates with the home to create the great outdoor living that people have come to expect from South Florida.” he added. “It’s a very expressive house. In real life, there are emotions behind it.”
The newly built 1.09-acre property includes an 11,000-square-foot American Modernist-style main house with seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms, and a separate one-bedroom guesthouse with private laundry facilities and garage. contained.
The interior ticks all the boxes with high-quality finishes and state-of-the-art appliances, and in addition to the living room and family room with wet bar, there’s also a wine cellar.
The outdoor component includes a 40-foot resort-style pool with an infinity-edge hot tub, edged by a 60-foot-long outdoor lounge on a covered terrace and adjacent to an outdoor kitchen.
At the end of the day, new homeowners can relax in the master suite, which features a living room and a spa-like bathroom with a soaking tub.
Apart from the digital twin, four NFT art pieces were included in the sale. They are displayed on the wall. His four NFTs were transferred to the new owner along with the sandbox assets upon the closing of the home sale.
“Buyers are interested in art,” Martinez said. “This home is perfect for a real art collection. There are 50-foot-high ceilings in various parts of the home. This home is very impressive, but buyers may have initially thought it was a digital concept. After that, I was even more impressed when I saw the real thing.”
