Homebuyers can speak in conversational language to the AI-boosted Tomo Real Estate app, taking the AI-powered home search up a notch. The mortgage platform can even tell you how much mortgage debt is left.
The founders of Seattle-based Tomo came from Zillow. Seems they know what information potential buyers want. Not just the number of rooms and square feet, but also the owners’ names, what they borrowed on the home, and current equity. The rationale? Buyers negotiate better if they have a grasp of the seller’s position.
Sellers can email the company to keep their details private, Axios assures its readers.
And will AI now be…
A Survival Tool for Agents…?
Around mid-year in 2024, there’ll be no more agent commissions in MLS listings. That’ll be tough on real estate brokerages. AI is likely to benefit. Using AI, real estate brokers — home systems installers and mortgage consultants too — can save time and energy by automating their outreach.
Generative AI can produce advertising and listing text and boost agents’ ability to do property research. Calling generative AI in real estate beneficial in several ways, the National Association of REALTORS® has observed:
By automating repetitive tasks, REALTORS® can free up valuable time and resources, enabling their teams to focus on higher-value activities.
Today’s auto-dial software is amazingly advanced. It can send voicemails, and record conversations. Leading-edge AI digital assistants for agents even use emojis and typos — to appear human when scouting out leads.
And yet, as effective as AI tools can be for marketing, professionals need to tread carefully here. The Federal Communications Commission’s Robocall Response Team is watching.
…Or Illegal Nuisances?
Over the past three years, the FCC has sent out a series of effective cease-and-desist warnings “to save consumers from the…unyielding menace of illegal spoofed, or scam, robocalls.”
In some cases, the FCC has actually blocked activity in progress, including some from “predatory mortgage robocalls targeting homeowners nationwide.” We all benefit. AI can sift through vast public records and online sources; just because we’re not called doesn’t mean we weren’t looked up.
Have a complaint about voicemail or text abuse? The FCC has a Private Entity Robocall and Spoofing Portal. The online form for public reports is on this website.
FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel said the FCC is “prepared to use every tool in our toolbox to knock them offline…” The FCC also reviews phone numbers Verizon customers mark as junk. Companies can face hefty fines for unlawful calls or misleading texts.
And just weeks ago, in February 2024, the FCC announced robocalling with AI-produced voices is illegal.
Meanwhile, Can AI Help Us Create Sustainable Buildings?
The construction sector is a well-known greenhouse gas emitter. Some say AI could help. It’s set to play a key role in better building.
We’re hearing of tools at the cutting edge of machine learning, tools that could guide the design of truly sustainable structures. Led by trendsetters like OpenAI (of ChatGPT fame), the developing technology known as generative AI produces ideas by blending data from vast, diverse sources. So it could also help professionals understand what not to do, by predicting consequences in future generations.
Architects of the future need to understand the good they can do together, insists Alessandro Melis, who teaches architecture at the New York Institute of Technology.
“With the help of AI, we can design, construct, and maintain structures,” Melis says, to “emit little or no carbon and also protect us from what’s ahead.”
Supporting References
Will Wiquist on FCC News via FCC.gov [see PDF]: FCC Issues Latest Cease & Desists Robocall Warnings (Dec. 20, 2023).
Jack Flemming for the Los Angeles Times via LATimes.com: Robocalls, Ringless Voicemails and AI: Real Estate Enters the Age of Automation (Feb. 14, 2024).
Alessandro Melis in Context: Opinion – AI Might Kill the “Starchitect” – But Make Real Estate More Sustainable: (Thompson Reuters Foundation; Feb. 29, 2024).
Joseph Gallivan and Brianna Crane for Axios.com (Axios Media): AI Has Come to Portland’s Real Estate Listings (Feb. 23, 2024).
Tomo Networks, Inc. via PRNewswire®: Former Zillow Execs Launch Tomo Real Estate, A Next-Gen Home Search Portal Redefining Home Buyer Strategies (Feb. 20, 2024).
And as linked.
More on topics: Climate risks and insurance, Climate-informed zoning
Photo credit: Rose Pilkington/Google DeepMind, via Pexels/Canva.