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A mansion under construction in Miami is breaking new ground in real estate by being sold as two properties—a physical one and an identical virtual one in the metaverse. One Sotheby’s International Realty is partnering with Voxel Architects, along with Gabe Sierra, a collector of nonfungible tokens, to launch the “MetaReal” mansion, dubbed the first home sale of its kind in real estate.
The virtual home will be in The Sandbox metaverse. The physical home is set to be complete in the fourth quarter of this year and will be located in Miami.
“This is another leap into bridging physical and digital worlds into the metaverse,” says Sebastien Borget, The Sandbox co-founder.
The buyer of the NFT asset will be buying the physical and digital versions of the home. NFTs are any digital asset, often images or videos, that can be attached to a blockchain to be bought and resold.
The 11,000-square-foot physical home is being built on a one-acre lot in Miami. It will have seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms. Voxel Architects will then create a mirror image of the mansion on The Sandbox in the metaverse.
“The metaverse counterpart of the home will serve as an extension of the real-world home, allowing the buyer to host in-home meetings, events, and parties with guests from around the world,” Meta Residence founder Gabe Sierra told Forbes. “By mimicking the real-world environment of the buyer, we are creating an experience that blends the lines between metaverse and reality. Imagine fighting off a dragon, traversing over a mountain range, and finally arriving at your metaverse property, where you are greeted by your friends who are visiting to check out your new ‘Bored Ape’ NFT. After interacting in your virtual living room, you exit the metaverse, and you are now sitting inside that same real-world house. That is the experience we are creating.” The “Bored Ape” is a popular theme for NFT collectors.
Michael Martinez, the sales agent with One Sotheby’s, will be offering the MetaReal mansion on the auction block later this year. The reserve amount has not yet been disclosed.
One Sotheby’s and Sierra reportedly have acquired more than 40 acres in the metaverse for future projects.
“We believe that the metaverse is the next evolution of social connection and will play a role in the future of real estate in one way or another,” Daniel de la Vega, president of One Sotheby’s International Realty, told Forbes.com.