Ask Redfin, an AI assistant aimed at home shoppers, is currently in beta testing of the company’s mobile iOS search experience.
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Ask Redfin, an AI assistant aimed at home shoppers, is currently in beta testing of the company’s mobile iOS search experience.
The generation tool is designed to assist consumers, and anyone looking for housing in the U.S. can choose to participate in the early launch phase, according to a March 7 press release. Users can interact with the bot on a number of listing-specific topics, asking it if there are any homes that are open soon, if an ADU can be built, what the HOA fees are, what’s unique about the home’s interior, or nearby schools, similar to other common queries. .
“It integrates with Redfin’s support team, so homebuyers can quickly connect with a licensed real estate agent if they have questions beyond the details of the listing, such as how to make an offer or get an agent’s opinion on a home’s market value. Home ,” the press release stated.
Redfin is looking at how artificial intelligence tools can save agents time and quickly provide buyers with market intelligence that drives purchasing decisions. Ask Redfin eliminates time-consuming email threads and reduces the time it takes agents to determine the validity of a lead. If the beta test goes as expected, sellers could benefit by showing their homes less often to cold leads or misleading buyers.
Homebuyers who download the Redfin iPhone app in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Washington, D.C. — about a dozen U.S. metropolitan areas in total — will be prompted to consider AI chat when viewing listings. Users outside of these automated marketplaces can still participate in the beta, which can be accessed through the My Redfin module within the app.
The company said it plans to make the feature a preset option in more markets as testing progresses, and will solicit feedback from consumers and collect data from agents on the tool’s performance.
“We provide extensive data for every listing you find on Redfin because homebuyers deserve to know as much as possible about a home,” Ariel Dos Santos, senior vice president of product and design at Redfin, said in a press release. Customers can easily Easily find the information they want to know. “
Inman reported on Redfin’s latest earnings report, which showed that the brokerage continued its recovery in the fourth quarter of 2023, with revenue declining 2% annually to $218.1 million – nearly comparable to its first and second quarter results. A 180° change, with annual revenue falling by more than 20%.
The Seattle-based company earnings report It showed that the gross profit margin has improved, increasing by 32% year-on-year to US$73.2 million, of which real estate services gross profit increased by 14% year-on-year to US$29.9 million. Inman reported that real estate services gross profit margin was 22.5%, an increase of 20% from the fourth quarter of 2022.
Chief Executive Glenn Kelman once again cited web traffic statistics to claim his place in the “wars of portals,” an ongoing debate among web search leaders. , which website attracts the most users.
Kelman said the company will become the “No. 1 brokerage site” in 2023, with Redfin.com reaching an average of 49 million monthly users by 2023.
“Our website continues to attract visitors from our competitors. New sales initiatives are driving breakthroughs in areas where Redfin has been stymied for years,” he said on the earnings call.
Portal rival CoStar, led by its less taciturn CEO Andy Florance, recently launched a $1 billion national advertising campaign aimed at bringing the Homes.com launched to U.S. consumers, first during Super Bowl broadcast by Daniel Levy and saturday night live Heidi Gardner. CoStar will continue to run ads throughout the year, including during major cultural events such as the Oscars and NBA playoffs.
At Inman Connect New York, Florence lashed out at search competitors, including Redfin, referring to them collectively as “Ziltorfin,” using the newly coined portmanteau “Ziltorfin.”
Determining traffic counts is not an exact science, and these numbers require a lot of parsing to accurately compare apples to apples.Most reports are educated guesses, according to digital marketing firm pivot point. Furthermore, traffic in no way equates to the quality of content or service delivery.
For example, tools like Ask Redfin can actually reduce the time users spend on the portal by delivering information faster.
Redfin announced last October that it was severing ties with the National Association of Realtors. Kelman cited the 1.56 million-member real estate trade group’s recent sexual harassment scandal and a host of other grievances, including the NAR’s commission structure, as the main reasons for its call for as many as 1,800 brokers and agents to immediately cancel their memberships.
Redfin’s position on the NAR (and, in some markets, the MLS) makes it even more important to attract traffic to its standalone products.
The Redfin app is usable In Apple’s App Store.
Email Craig Rowe
