DAVID PAYNE

David Payne of Invent Dev is part of this year's Real Estate Professional's Hot List.

DAVID PAYNE
https://www.inventdev.com/
Invent Dev
Toronto, ON

In 2009, David Payne and his wife were sorting through a mountain of floor plans, trying in vain to select the perfect preconstruction condo. “I found the whole process very draining and frustrating,” Payne says. “I could not base the biggest investment of my life at that time on something I couldn’t comprehend or visualize.”

The couple eventually bought a resale property. A year later, Payne had launched Invent Dev, a piece of virtual technology that allows buyers to not only look at a space in 3D, but to walk its floor plan, fully customize it and even experience its view.

“We’ve really evolved to the point where our experiences are so photorealistic and lifelike that most people, when they actually see them, think they’re real spaces,” Payne says.

While Invent Dev has had its greatest impact on the preconstruction sector, where buyers can experiment with different colors, finishings and fixtures, Payne says the company’s next step will be to provide the same customization for buyers wondering what existing properties might look like post-renovation or with different furniture layouts, allowing them a glimpse of what their homes could one day be.

“There are a lot of applications and opportunities in the market still,” Payne says. “We have a long way to go. And that’s partially what’s so exciting about real estate – that as an industry there’s a lot of room for innovation and improvement. That’s why we really like working this space.”