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‘My Home Was Turned Into a Pokemon Go Gym’

Posted on July 12, 2016 | by Chhing Chhut in News | 1516 Views

‘My Home Was Turned Into a Pokemon Go Gym’

Pokémon Go app

Niantic, Inc.

They’re baaack! Pokémons—those cute but annoying Japanimated critters from the nineties—are all the rage once again thanks to Pokémon Go, a crazily popular smartphone game that challenges participants to “capture” virtual Pokémons by heading to specific real-world locations via GPS. To help you hone your gaming skills, the app will even point you to Pokémon Go “gyms” in your area—basically public places where you can meet other fans and even a “trainer.”

So what does any of this have to do with real estate? A lot, actually—at least for homeowner Boon Sheridan of Holyoke, MA. That’s because without this web designer’s knowledge or consent, his home was somehow appointed to be a Pokémon Go gym. Now, increasing throngs of players are lingering outside his front door, leading people to ponder the effect on his property’s value: Will it skyrocket or plummet in the wake of all these gamers lurking on or near the front lawn?

Sheridan learned his home was bestowed this mixed blessing over the weekend, when he noticed random strangers hovering outside his front door, smartphones in hand.

“For the record, I’ve counted 15 people stopping by and lingering in their phones so far. I think at least three car visits as well,” Sheridan tweeted on Saturday. By Sunday, more than 50 people had flocked to his home.

How properties become Pokémon Go gyms

So how did this happen? According to The Independent, gyms are picked (presumably by the app’s creator, Nintendo) to be located near churches or parks. The app or Google Maps can point fans to a gym near them.

Pokémon Go gym locations across our fine nation

Google Maps

Pokémon Go gym locations across the U.S.

But apparently whoever selected these locales must have been using an old map, because Sheridan’s home was a church 40 years ago—before it was converted to a home. Plus it’s across from a park, so double whammy!

Boon Sheridan’s home, a converted church

Boon Sheridan

Pokémon Go gym house

So this led Sheridan to begin documenting his home’s strange new cachet on Twitter:

Sheridan has even met the gym’s designated “owner.” Which is weird, because this individual owns only a virtual space, while Sheridan owns the actual property. 

This flurry of Pokémon-obsessed visitors has Sheridan a little weirded out, understandably. But overall, he says he’s amused by the whole thing.

Oddly enough, his story has also inspired envy.

“Some of the people who have visited have said they wished their house was a Pokémon Gym,” he told realtor.com®. Discussions have also cropped up on whether there’s a way people could volunteer their own homes as gyms and turn this enterprise into a money-making endeavor, a la articles like “Turn Your House Into a Gym and Profit!” 

Pokémon Go’s effect on real estate: Good or bad?

The effect Pokémon Go gyms might have on a property’s sales price remains to be seen, although some Realtors® say this craze won’t move the needle much. 

“Before assigning any ‘real’ value to a Pokémon Go gym location, I would take a careful look at the demographics of Pokémon Go users,” says Texas Realtor Wendy Flynn. If the majority are too young to buy a home, “any increase in property value—if indeed it did provide one—would evaporate fairly quickly as the likely-to-be short-lived fad fades,” she says.

That said, the game did help Flynn get more eyeballs and visitors to a recent open house. 

“When I realized what a craze Pokémon Go was, I downloaded the app and ‘caught’ a Pokémon at my open house,” says Flynn. “I did it as a tongue-in-cheek marketing idea, just because it’s good for SEO to have one’s content connected to trending topics.” 

But beware: Realtors say the effect on real estate prices could be bad rather than good. 

“It could become a negative in the neighborhood with all sorts of activity and people coming and going at all hours,” says Florida Realtor Cara Ameer. “It could lead to neighborhood covenants and restrictions being amended. Perhaps there will need to be a required permit to be obtained or special zoning requirements that residents have a right to live in a ‘game-free zone.’”

While this may not be much of a widespread issue now, Ameer warns that it could become more so as game-obsessed millennials become predominant homeowners in the future. “These types of training zones could become increasingly popular in certain areas where gamers tend to live—for example, tech cities like San Francisco and Seattle.” 

So if your own home happens to get picked as the next gaming hot spot, you’ve been warned—unless you’re a gamer too, in which case you can join in right outside your door. 

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Source: Real Estate News and Advice – realtor.com » Real Estate News