Redfin Launches AI-Powered Tool to Answer Questions About For-Sale Homes
Redfin announced the beta launch of Ask Redfin, a generative AI-powered virtual assistant that quickly answers homebuyers' questions about for-sale homes. House hunters can now use Ask Redfin to learn about a listing, such as whether there's an upcoming open house, monthly homeowners association fees, what school district the home is in and much more. Anyone searching via the Redfin iPhone app in the U.S. can opt in to the Ask Redfin beta. Redfin created the feature to help homebuyers easily find the information they care about within a home's listing details, local market conditions, nearby schools, touring availability and more. Ask Redfin answers questions about home amenities (does this house have air conditioning?), market conditions (what do homes in this area typically sell for?), and zoning (can I build an ADU?), among other topics. It's integrated with Redfin's support team, so homebuyers can be quickly connected to a licensed real estate agent if their question goes beyond the details of the listing, such as how to make an offer or to get an agent's opinion on the market value of a home. "When you're house-hunting, details about all the homes you're considering start to blur together," said Dallas Redfin Premier Agent Casi Fricks. "Ask Redfin will be an asset to buyers looking for fast answers 24/7. And, if a buyer wants to take next steps, get more expert insights or discuss their options, they're quickly connected to an agent who can help." Ask Redfin uses large language models to tap nearly all of the publicly available information on a home's listing page and beyond to respond to queries. "We include an enormous amount of data on every listing you find on Redfin because homebuyers deserve as much insight into a home as possible," said Ariel Dos Santos, Redfin Senior Vice President of Product and Design. "Ask Redfin makes it easy and effortless for customers to find the information they want to know." People using the latest version of the Redfin iPhone app to search for homes in about a dozen U.S. metros—including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Washington, D.C., among others—will automatically see Ask Redfin when they view a listing. Redfin iPhone app users searching for homes outside of those areas can opt-in to the experience by logging into their account, visiting the My Redfin section of the app and selecting "Try Ask Redfin." This will turn on Ask Redfin for use on any U.S. listing, regardless of where the home is located. Redfin plans to make Ask Redfin visible by default in more markets and available on additional platforms in the future, and the company is encouraging homebuyers to share feedback as they try the beta version.

eXp Realty Launches AI Support Chatbot
eXp Realty is building on its focus on innovation and technology with the launch of an AI support chatbot called "Luna." Luna is powered by ChatGPT and GPT-4 and is available 24/7 to all eXp Realty agents to interact with the company, get assistance with day-to-day tasks, find answers to questions in real-time and get help on a variety of topics ranging from policies and procedures to tips for setting up listings, appointments and generating reports. "Luna is our first step toward using AI to empower agents," said Glenn Sanford, founder and CEO of eXp Realty. "We created Luna in direct response to our agent NPS feedback. We hear from agents all the time that this business is 24/7, so this is another way to provide support in a way that helps drive our agents' businesses." Using AI to help agents increase their productivity The company is also incorporating AI into its web-based metaverse platform, Frame (framevr.io), which now has a GPT-powered assistant in its text chat and AI-based content generation tools to help users increase productivity and customize their metaverse experience. "We believe that AI can be used in the metaverse to increase productivity and cultivate creativity," said Sanford. "We have AI tools coming out in Frame for meeting summaries, surfacing relevant content during conversations and even improving accessibility for deaf or blind users. Innovation is our theme for 2023 and we will carry that focus into EXPCON later this year, where we will really zone in on AI and its capabilities in this industry. I'm looking forward to even more exciting ways we will continue to look to AI to improve our business, for example using a BOT at SUCCESS to leverage the massive amount of valuable content we have curated."

planetRE Rolls out RealEstate ChatGPT
planetRE announced a new Enterprise AI platform called Chocolatechips.ai. The platform was developed in collaboration with leading researchers and globally embeds new technology in AI imaging, video, text and avatars. It can be used by a single user or by teams with permission-based sharing and collaboration of content. Chocolatechips.ai is the first platform with optimized deep learning specific to real estate and planetRE intends to extend the platform to other leading verticals. Most AI platforms in the market today are generalized, and hence a specific domain practitioner takes a longer time adapting it to their business. One of the big challenges is what question to even ask the AI system on an ongoing basis to keep generating meaningful marketing content. The new platform has been rapidly learning the real estate ecosystem related to consumer purchases, rentals, loans and home improvement, enabling a quick onboarding and adoption of the new AI Content Generator by practitioners. This content can in turn be used within the system to instantly create email, blogs and social media marketing that is now specific to the real estate domain. This step is a precursor to adopt valuable AI tools, as it offers a rich library of learning to influence the creation of text, imagery and video. There is voice-to-text and text-to-voice embedded with branded agent avatars for personalization with clients. Future versions will see new forms of synthetic computing. "AI tech has been growing at a rapid pace in all fronts," said Subrao Shenoy, CEO of planetRE. "The connection of AI to a business domain practice is crucial to be adopted, and this platform offers that bridge. We believe domain specific customizations will accelerate AI within large verticals."

Video Home Tour Requests Soar Nearly 500% in One Week, Says Redfin
Redfin saw a 494% increase in requests for agent-led video home tours last week. As of Monday, 18.9% of tour requests from Redfin.com were video-chat tour requests, up from 0.2% at the beginning of March, a 94-fold increase. Other measures Redfin has taken to prepare for the coronavirus include:

Live Video Chat: The Way Modern Communication Is Supposed to Be
Technology has transformed the ways we communicate with clients. Today we have more channels available to us than ever: email, text, direct message on social media, and so on. Unfortunately, with each advancement, communication has become more impersonal and the use of chatbots and pre-recorded messages have made clients feel like they are talking to robots. However, there's one advancement in communication technology that can be the answer your clients (and you) have been searching for: video chat. Live video chat may seem optimal for friends and family, but it also holds great potential for businesses. Video chat can even help you increase engagement on social platforms and gain the winning edge over your competition.

Chat Bot 2.0 for Brokers
In 2013, WAV Group performed the most comprehensive research on responsiveness to consumer leads on broker websites. At the time, more than 50 percent of consumer inquiries were not responded to at all! For those that did respond, the quality of the response was very low and the time to respond was about 15 hours. The research highlighted an enormous disconnect between the efforts of brokers to drive consumer engagement though marketing and the problem with conversion. Since the paper, we have seen a few trends emerge. Zillow has created a center of excellence around concierge services to connect consumers from their websites with agents in real time. Zillow is the first responder and endeavors to make a live hand off to Zillow Premier Agents. Howard Hanna and others have adopted the offering of live operators too. It's working! But the expense of operating these call centers is significant, averaging about $58,000 in full-time employee costs.

Where Does a Chatbot Belong in Your Real Estate Business?
Yes, chatbots. It's a question every brokerage owner should be asking themselves. It's not as intimidating as it may sound, but it is necessary. The world of real estate is changing rapidly. What are you doing to stay ahead of the game and ensure your brokerage survives? By 2020, over 80 percent of businesses are expected to have some sort of chatbot automation implemented. (Business Insider, 2016) You don't have to be a technology company or specialize in artificial intelligence to be smart about your business tech. Look at the shifts happening in our industry and consider solutions for combatting competition and adapting with the market.

Don't Use Them Yet? 'Unthreatening' Chatbots Are Changing Real Estate Search
In this week's real estate selling tips, we'll cozy-up to the latest chatbots – software that automatically responds to client/guest questions and requests with the help of a messenger-style widget. Powered by artificial intelligence, these rockin' robots are more than automated answering machines; they're capable of understanding conversational language and responding in-kind. And with over 83 percent of buyers and renters beginning their home search online, they may prove very kind to you! Chattering Chatbots Many homeowners are familiar with chatbot technology in the form of Alexa and Siri – they just take it for granted. And the who's who of the tech community jumped aboard last year, including Google, Microsoft, and Facebook. Since then, the tech has gone forth and multiplied – possibly arriving at a brokerage near you – due to the life-like, conversational services of the system. It's so realistic that chatbox users feel as if they're communicating with a real human representative on the other side of the screen.

Best Practices of Live Chat
This post comes to us from the activSalesAgent blog. It was written in the context of home builders. However, it's equally applicable to real estate agents and brokers. We also recommend "Chatty Kathy, Beware! The Don'ts of Chat for REALTORS®": As more consumers are using the Web to research and communicate with home builders before they decide to purchase a home, it is important to understand the value of live chat and the power behind establishing a relationship between the chatter and your development. Keep in mind that although your potential customer has access to countless forms of information online, one thing hasn't changed: until someone follows up with them to answer their questions, they can't be sure of their purchase. There is plenty of literature on the Web that establishes the best practices of live chat for home builders. Watch out for these articles if they are not from credible sources! Here are some common misconceptions that are found online about live chat and the real facts to help your builder/development master the art of chat.