Redfin Conversational Search: Master your property search
Finding the perfect home just got easier. Here’s how to jump in.
AI is rapidly changing the way people find homes and interact with the real estate market. More and more consumers begin their searches through tools like ChatGPT and Gemini without ever interacting with traditional search platforms, preferring to find homes through conversations and questions.
Also among home buyers more and more Picky in today’s expensive market, Redfin wanted to make it easier and more enjoyable for people to find the home that suits them best. So we did.
Using our new conversational search feature, home seekers can now find homes on Redfin.com and the Redfin app by describing what they want in their own words and starting a conversation to refine their search. Users can comment on suggested listings to say the kitchen should be more modern, or respond to follow-up questions about, for example, their preferred travel time or proximity to a school they identify.
How house hunters use conversational searches
Whether you’re looking for a home, just browsing the neighborhood, or want to find unique listings, conversational search is for you. Here are recent ways people have used it:
- Finding a renovated house: A user requested newly renovated properties that could be used within 30 minutes during rush hour and in the user’s desired school district. After some back and forth, the tool showed them homes that met their criteria – all in three minutes.
- Looking for a high value home that will close quickly: A buyer wanted vacant homes under $1 million that were move-in ready. The tool returned 13 single-family homes that met their criteria.
- Looking for a house with high-quality lighting: One home seeker wanted to see homes with high-quality lighting and smart features, such as architectural lighting with small openings. The tool let them know that sometimes sellers don’t list these specifics but still found a listing that met their exact criteria.
- Looking for an investment property: Another user was looking for an investment property on a budget, with strict HOA limits, size requirements and radius restrictions. These are not filters available to consumers, but using conversational search, they found what they were looking for through natural conversations.
Early data shows that conversational search helps people find homes that suit them, through a deeper understanding of preferences that traditional filters can’t achieve. About half of these queries contain some form of a non-filter parameter, which shows the value of a back-and-forth dialog.
How to get started with conversational searching at home and on the go
Conversational Search is built with Sierra and is embedded in the Redfin home search experience online and in the Redfin iOS and Android apps. However you search, just describe what you’re looking for, the same way you would when talking to a friend.
Here’s how to get started on the Internet:
- Go to Redfin.com and log in.
- Click on the search bar. You will then see an option to try conversation search.
- You can also access conversation searches from the home page, card view, list pages or directly on Redfin.com/chat.
- Start by describing the type of home you’re looking for, and the tool will ask follow-up questions to refine your search.
Here’s how to get started with the Redfin app:
- Update your Redfin app to ensure conversation-level search is available. (If you don’t have the app yet, download it.)
- Tap the search bar at the top of the app’s Home Search page.
- Tap ‘Smarter Search, Powered by AI’.
- Start typing what you want in a house, from broad wishes to specific details.
- Chat with the tool to refine the results and discover homes that better suit your needs.
As you view the offers, you can respond in real time, for example by saying you want a bigger backyard, or asking if the house is near a nearby park. The tool adapts immediately and limits your results as the conversation continues.
How to get the most out of conversational searches
Conversational searching is powerful and can uncover homes that would otherwise go unnoticed, but it relies on your input to provide an answer. Be as complete as possible about the type of house you are looking for– the more detailed, the better. For example:
- Instead of, “Show me homes in Chicago with a pool,” say, “Show me homes in Chicago for under $2 million, within 25 minutes of Willis Tower and near an L station, with a pool.”
- Instead of, “Find me a cheap, quiet house in Detroit,” say, “Find me a fixer-upper in the Burbank area of Detroit for under $150,000, on a quiet street near a park and with no HOA fees.”
- Instead of, “Show eco-friendly homes in Seattle,” say, “Show me new or renovated Seattle homes for $1 million with smart features, green technology, and modern interiors, near Magnuson Park.”
After you get results, you can keep refining: asking follow-up questions, commenting on your likes and dislikes, or adding new details as you think about them. The tool adapts in real time and gets smarter with every question, using its wealth of data to find the right match for you.
Importantly, conversational search cannot act as a licensed broker, meaning it cannot provide substantive advice or tell you what to do or not do. It simply makes searching easier and more intuitive, so you can spend less time sifting through listings and more time viewing homes that are right for you.
The future of home searching is now
Artificial intelligence does reform how people discover information online, and home searching is no exception.
With conversational search, Redfin uses AI to make the home search process smarter, more personal and more accessible. We enable you to find your needle in the haystack. We search every haystack and give you detailed information about the type of needle you are looking for.
Conversational search extends Redfin’s leadership in using AI to transform real estate, contributing to a range of products such as the Redfin Estimate (real-time home values), Ask Redfin (Q+A for housing questions), and Purchasing power (personalized affordability calculator). Each innovation reflects Redfin’s commitment to making home buying smarter, fairer and more accessible.
Try conversation search today Redfin.com by simply looking for a home; it is embedded into the search experience on the homepage, map, and listing pages. You can also go directly to Redfin.com/chat. In the Redfin app, tap the search bar and press “Smarter Search, Powered by AI” to get started.
