 and welcome to Connecting Hawaii Business on ThinkTag Hawaii. My name is Kathleen Lee, and I am your host for this program. On today's show, I am excited to introduce my friend, Jerome Adarda, founder of Visionary Views, to talk about real estate technology as well as his other endeavors. Jerome, welcome to the show. Hi, Katherine. Thank you for having me. Of course. I'm excited to be here and to think that. Me too. I'm excited for you to be on as well. So tell our viewers about yourself. So my name is Jerome Adarda, Jr., and I'm the founder of a real estate media company called Visionary Views, LLC. And I'm also an international marketing partner with SMDC, which is SM Development Corporation based in the Philippines. And I'm also in the middle launching a new startup called Virtual Staging Studio. So I'm really excited about that new startup. Very cool. So we have one, two, and three things. Let's start with the first one, Visionary Views. Tell us what that is all about. So Visionary Views, it's a real estate media company where we offer five main services, which include photography, videography. We offer drone services. And we also do virtual tours and virtual staging. So and we help local real estate professionals market their properties online. We also service Maui and also Las Vegas, so three locations right now. And yeah. So any way that we can help a real estate professional market their property is that's what we do. Okay. And how did you identify the need for you to create you and the people that you worked with to create Visionary Views? Where did that come from? Well, I got the idea about, I think, six years ago in 2017 when I saw my first virtual tour. So probably everyone on the show Think Tech has seen a virtual tour before. And so I first seen one in 2017 and I was like, wow, that's so cool. Because I grew up in a real estate family and growing up in the 90s watching my parents in the real estate business, it was just photos. And then all of a sudden there's this virtual tour, I was like, wow, I want to do that. And then it wasn't till 2020 in the middle of the pandemic when I kind of saw an opportunity because the real estate market was, I guess, going through a transition. And a lot of people wanted to purchase properties, but they weren't able to physically look at them or view them. And so I was like, okay, I think this is a time to get into doing virtual tours. And so I just dove right in. And yeah, just because of how COVID was, it was a great time to get into that. And things just start to pick up from there. Awesome. You mentioned that you come from a real estate family. Jerome, could you expand more on that? How far back does your history go when it comes to the real estate sector? Okay, so I guess three or four generations. So my great grandparents actually, when they immigrated here, they ended up in Lahaina, Maui, and I guess our first piece of getting into real estate was that we actually owned property in Lahaina right on Front Street. And so yeah, my grandma owned the, actually a grocery store and I used car lot right on Front Street, Maui. That was our first piece of real estate that we owned here. So it was really, really devastating when the fires happened, you know, all that history is now gone. My dad went to Lahaina Luna High School. But yeah, that was our first investment in real estate. And then my parents actually, we have a foreclosure business. So that's our family business. My dad has been doing real estate since the 70s. And so if you're familiar with the foreclosure business, basically that is purchasing, rehabbing and then reselling real estate. And so I grew up, the time that I can remember, my dad would purchase a foreclosed property and then fix it up. So I'd be there throughout the whole process from the time I'd go with him as a little kid to be auctioned. So watching him purchase a property, bidding for the property, and then fixing it up. I remember helping him rehab or demo a kitchen. So he'd give me a sledgehammer. He'd be like, don't hurt yourself. Take apart this kitchen. And so, yeah, so I did all that. And then watching my mom stage the property and then both of them taking photos to based online. So yeah, it all played a part into what I'm doing today. It's a huge influence. I knew I wanted to get into real estate. I didn't really want to become an agent for a save, but I knew I wanted to get into it. And I followed the way to get into the real estate industry more on the creative side. So yeah, I just have a lot of fun creating virtual tours. I still think the technology is still very brand new. Not every, not all agents have picked it up yet. But I see more that they are doing it more and more today. That is wonderful. And I'm glad you talked about that. Could you tell me more about the team over at Visionary Views? Yes. So it's myself. And then I have a partner, Chris. So Chris Batoon. And then there's Tristan Mulal, Carson Chang. And then my team member is Justin Potaghi. And then in Vegas, Alicia Bakke heads that operation. But a little bit about them. We've all kind of been into photography, videography, all that. Actually, Carson, I actually started a company with Carson called Follow Me Media several years back where we were doing social media management and doing photography for people's products and businesses. And yeah, so Carson and I kind of worked on those things together. Tristan, he is our like our PR person. He is, if anyone is familiar with B&I, it's a business networking international. But Tristan does a lot of our marketing and building relationships with other business owners and realtors. And then Chris, Chris lived in Japan for a long time helping businesses to do their marketing. And so when he moved back to Hawaii, he was the first person I pitched it to. And then we all kind of just ended up partnering up and working together. That's awesome. Our is your clientele, Lucy, in Hawaii, are they from all over? What give us a gist of the people that you are helping or the clients that you are helping out? Sure. So yeah, most most of our business are local realtors located here in Hawaii or Maui and then also realtors in Vegas. So we just really focus on our local clientele here. But we want to aim to have a global clientele base. And so that's what our new project will I'll talk about that later on. But yeah, that's what our new my new venture virtual staging studio will be able to do is to help real estate professionals not just locally, but nationwide and globally as well. There are lessons launched into that since you already mentioned it. And sure, virtual staging studio, what is that about? So like I mentioned earlier, visionary views offer five main services, which include photography, videography, three virtual tours, we do drone, video and photos. And then we also do what's called virtual staging. And if you guys are unfamiliar with staging a property, it it costs a lot of money, like a realtor can spend upwards of three, four or five thousand dollars to stage a property. And so virtual staging is an alternative option for them to maybe do it faster and also not spend as much money. So I'd say more affordable alternative to staging. And in some cases, you can you're unable to stage a property, say if a property is being occupied, say there's someone living still living in it, maybe the owner or the the renter. You know, it's not a viable option to go in and stage it physically. But with virtual staging, we can go in there, take the photo. We can remove, like say the whole living room was cluttered. We could remove all the items in there and then virtually stage a property. So I still think I still believe that physically, physically staging a property is the best way to stage a property. There's nothing, you know, it can't be the real thing. But being able to have a second option like virtual staging, it serves its purpose as well, definite needs. And so virtual staging studio is is a platform. It's it's it's actually a set. So it's a software as a service and a platform where real estate professionals can log on and or go to our website and then upload their photos. And then the main service is virtually virtual staging. So we can virtually stage a residential, any part of a residential home, single family home, condo, apartment unit. We can even virtually stage commercial properties as well. And we can pretty much do stage it however they want. If someone wants to make like a workshop in their garage, we can stage it as a workshop, stage a master bedroom or if they want to stage an office, basically whatever they're looking for, we can do it. And so there currently are other virtually staging virtual staging companies out there for sure that they've been around for quite a while. But we're kind of bringing in a new take on it. We're we're offering a little bit more options than what what's out there right now. And then so virtual staging is the main service. But aside from virtual staging, then we have, you know, add ons where they can replace the sky, right? So say they took a picture and then one of the windows is like really cloudy. We could, you know, add like clear blue sky in the windows of sky replacement. We can also declutter the property or the space in an image enhancement. And then we even have an option to create a social media reel with all the photos at the stage. So yeah, I'm really excited about virtual staging studio. That's cool, as long as what you're saying is accurate, right? Like you're not taking out a building in the back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we won't be changing the geography. Yeah, we won't be changing the geography of of the photos. I think that's wonderful. But does that is what you're doing? Does it tie in with AI at all? Um, so not quite yet. Um, so I've done a lot of research on virtual staging AI. And, um, it, it's really, yeah, AI is so incredible. It's, it's so smart. Um, but as far as the AI software that I've seen out there right now, where people can virtually stage, um, with AI, um, the software that I still is not as good as, as a human virtually staging it, where, for example, um, it can identify like, oh, it's a living room space. But some of the objects I noticed are not to scale. So maybe like the dresser might be a little too big or the plant might be floating in the air still, but, um, it's, it's, it's almost there. And so as far as the AI goes, I don't see it as a, as a threat to what we're doing, like, oh, wow, you know, yeah, I'm like people where I'm doing. Um, you know, if, if I'm able to adopt the AI and use it as a service as well, um, yeah. And real estate has always been more of a in-person type of, uh, industry. So, or as close as it can be. So I, I think, you know, having a human still see like, Hey, what, what do you want, look, how can we design it for you? Or still having a bit of a human touch, uh, I think still matters. You know, in, in the real estate. So yeah, yeah. So you're saying humans are still important. Thanks. Yes, definitely. Yeah. As far as challenges go when it comes to starting or launching your business, what are some that you have identified that you can talk about? Okay. Um, so with visionary views, the, you said marketing, right? Marketing challenges. Just any challenges, even, yeah, marketing or even just starting the business or growing it. Okay. So with visionary views, um, our whole marketing plan, I, I call it old school and new school marketing. So for lack of a better term, but that's what I, you know, when we're putting our heads together, me and the team and like how we're going to market, that's what we called it old school and new school marketing. So, um, I'll first talk about the old school approach. So with, with visionary views, um, being a local business, uh, we did, we got in, in, in front of people as much as we could. So we went to like open house every Sunday, knocked on doors and just introduce ourselves. We had booths up at, um, you know, um, realtor conventions. Uh, we still, we still do these things. Um, but yeah, we got in, in, in front of people and talked to them and introduced ourselves. Um, we did cold calling and then more of the new school marketing. We, we, um, hopped on social media, sent emails. Um, yeah, direct messaging, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook. So, so we did everything. And so the, the challenge moving forward with purely online business, um, like virtual staging studio, it's kind of, kind of new territory, not really. So we can't like get in front of people's faces as much, um, because we'll be marketing nationwide, but, um, over the course of learning how to market for, uh, visionary views will be applying the same things, um, for virtual staging studio. Okay. But you seem very knowledgeable and passionate about what you do. So what, what keeps you in the industry? Um, what keeps me in the industry? Um, I think the tech does, yeah, the tech is, it's always fun adopting and using new technology. So, uh, it always keeps me on my toes and that is, is really fun. Like, like we, whenever we buy a new camera, right? For example, our, our, um, our Matterport virtual tour camera, like it's like, whenever you buy a new tool, it's like you have a new toy, right? And then as soon as we learn how to use, you know, all of the features of white camera, they're launching the new thing. And then like your new camera can, can do like LiDAR and all that. And then, okay, we have to learn about LiDAR and, and that's fun for me. Like learning new technology and adopting it and finding ways to, service clients with it. All that stuff is, um, I think for me and the whole team, um, where we like to do that. So, uh, that, that keeps us in the industry and also servicing our client. Um, I've been in other industries before where it was kind of, you do the work and then, um, you know, maybe your clients don't appreciate it as much, but definitely in, in the work that we do now, we see that we're getting results. Um, houses are houses sell or houses that we help market, you know, we see them. Um, you know, because having say someone do photos with just their phone versus being able to, um, help market by showing drone footage or virtual tours. Yeah. We see that it helps our clients. And so that always feels good when we're getting results for our clients. That is wonderful. But one thing that we have yet to tackle is your role as an international marketing partner for SMVC. What is that about drone? Okay. So, um, I've been going back and forth to the Philippines from ever since I can remember, um, and my, my, my family or my parents, um, we've invested in the Philippines a lot, uh, as far as real estate, uh, we used to have a farm in the Philippines, like chicken farm. So we actually used to supply Jollibee with or RFM, uh, which is, uh, yeah, we used to supply Jollibee with, with their chickens and we used to have a chicken farm. So I've been going back and forth to the Philippines and, you know, just the investments that my parents have made, like in the nineties and then the Philippines is like constantly growing and seeing the return of their investments there. Um, you know, I said to myself, like, why don't I invest in the Philippines? And so I did and then along the way, you know, just all the projects in the Philippines having is really intriguing. Like they're constantly, every time I go there, it's like, Hey, this bridge wasn't here before or this tree wasn't here before. This building wasn't here before. And so, um, I actually am an international marketing partner with a seven development corporation. Um, if anyone's familiar with like, or have been to the Philippines, they own like a lot of malls, um, and they do a lot of development, like SM all of Asia. It's the biggest mall in Asia, owned by SM, um, SM, SM DC is owned by the sea siblings. I think they're the first or second, uh, most wealthiest billionaire in the Philippines and so on. Um, yeah, I do their, their marketing. So what I do here is I, I basically market their strategically placed or located, uh, real estate. So for example, they're building a new airport. It's called the new Manila International Airport, uh, located in Bluicon in the Philippines. Then also in Bluicon, they're building a, the new Manila International Airport, yeah, in Bluicon. And then SMDC is building, uh, development also in Bluicon. So it's like, uh, wherever the Philippines is building infrastructure, SMDC also builds nearby, like say a new subways being built in Makati, SM will build like, uh, new development near, uh, transit station. And so, um, yeah, I just help it, help market, uh, their strategically, uh, located projects. And you can ask them, I love how you talked about all this wonderful infrastructure and the thing that clicked in my head was he, he had a direct line to the jaw of each chicken. Yeah, I wish we were still doing the chicken farming. What? So how do you, how do you tie all of this in together? Um, so everything that I do is, uh, real estate related or related to real estate. So, um, I think that's what, that's what makes it easy is it's all one industry. So, um, whether it's in the Philippines or here. And also, I have team members in, in the Philippines for visionary views and, uh, virtual staging studio. So I have about four virtual assistants in the Philippines. I also have some team members in India and Vietnam. Um, but definitely I, um, I've actually got to meet some of my team members last, this past August when I went there for a family reunion. So yeah, um, it just made my, um, yeah, I just really love the Philippines and any, any way I can, uh, help, help out or provide jobs there. So, um, yeah, it's awesome. And yeah, I think that's wonderful. With a few minutes that we have left, what are some lessons that you learned, especially when it comes to your endeavors that you would like to share with our viewers and perhaps people who want to go into the sector that you're currently in? Um, what can I leave with our user? Yeah, if, um, if you're, if you're, if you have a passion about something and, um, I'd say you need to have the, the right team, right? Um, yeah, I'm on here like doing the interview, but you know, it's my, really my team that, um, helps, helps us to do what we do. Yeah. So like without Tristan, Chris, Carson, um, yeah, I couldn't do this on my own. So I think what's really important is having the right team to help you chase after what you're passionate about. Wonderful. Is there anything else that you'd like to add? Um, yeah, um, stay tuned for virtual staging studio. We haven't officially launched it just yet, but, um, it's coming soon. So I'll, I'll try to keep the, everyone, uh, updated with when we're officially going to be launching. Awesome. And if people want to learn more about visionary views or the virtual staging studio, how do they get a hold of you? Um, so you can follow us, uh, on Instagram. It's at visionaryviewsloc.com or if you want to reach me directly, my email is Jerome at visionaryviewsloc.com. Okay. We've given your contact info to everyone in perpetuity. So thanks Jerome again for being on the show and sharing your knowledge with us today. Uh, really appreciate it. We have been talking with Jerome, Jake and Darna, founder of visionary views as well as the upcoming virtual staging studio. So thank you again for being on the show. Thank you, Stephanie. Of course. And thanks for, thanks for ThinkTech. Yes. Thanks for ThinkTech Hawaii for making shows like this possible. Mahalo to Jay Fidel, as well as the people who help out. We had Haley and Mike who have helped us out on this episode. So until next time, aloha.