Real Estate News & Market Insights:
- Conversational search uses natural language so you describe preferences; it asks follow-up questions to refine results and surface nuanced listings.
- Redfin's conversational search is embedded on Redfin.com and the Redfin app, powered by Sierra for web and mobile access.
- Provide detailed constraints like commute time, neighborhoods, and features; the tool adapts in real time as you refine requests.
- Conversational search is not a licensed agent; it cannot offer legal or substantive advice but makes searching smarter, faster, and more personal.
Finding the perfect home just got easier. Here’s how to jump in.
AI is quickly changing how people find homes and interact with the real estate market. More and more consumers are starting their searches on tools like ChatGPT and Gemini without ever interacting with traditional search platforms, preferring to find homes through conversation and questions.
With homebuyers also increasingly picky in today’s expensive market, Redfin wanted to make it easier and more enjoyable for people to find the home that fits them best. So, we did.
Using our new conversational search feature, home searchers can now find homes on Redfin.com and the Redfin app by describing what they want in their own words and engaging in 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 their preferred commute time or proximity to a school they identify, for example.
How house hunters are using conversational search
Whether you’re in the market for a home, just browsing a neighborhood, or want to find unique listings, conversational search is for you. Here are recent ways people have used it:
- Finding a remodeled home: A user requested recently-renovated properties that were within 30 minutes to work 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.
- Seeking 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.
- Searching for a home with high-end lighting: One home searcher wanted to see homes with high-end lighting and smart features, such as small aperture architectural lighting. The tool let them know that sellers sometimes don’t list these specific features, 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 constraints. These are not filters available to consumers, but using conversational search, they found what they wanted through natural conversation.
Early data shows that conversational search is helping people find homes that fit them through a deeper understanding of preferences impossible with traditional filters. Roughly half of these searches contain some form of a non-filter parameter, showcasing the value of back-and-forth dialogue.
How to get started with conversational search—at home and on the go
Built with Sierra, conversational search is embedded into the Redfin home search experience online and in the Redfin iOS and Android apps. No matter how you’re searching, simply describe what you’re looking for the same way you would when talking with a friend.
Here’s how to get started on the web:
- Go to Redfin.com and sign in.
- Click on the search bar—you’ll then see an option to try conversational search.
- You can also access conversational search from the homepage, map view, listing pages, or directly at Redfin.com/chat.
- Start describing the type of home you want, and the tool will ask follow-up questions to help refine your search.
Here’s how to get started on the Redfin app:
- Update your Redfin app to ensure conversational search is available. (If you don’t have the app yet, download it.)
- Tap the search bar at the top of the app’s “Find Homes” page.
- Tap “Search smarter, powered by AI.”
- Start typing what you want in a home, from broad desires to specific details.
- Chat with the tool to refine results and discover homes that better fit your needs.
As you look at listings, you can react in real time—for example, responding that you’d like a bigger backyard, or asking whether the home is close to a nearby park. The tool adjusts instantly, narrowing your results as the conversation continues.
How to get the most out of conversational search
Conversational search is powerful and can surface homes that might otherwise go unnoticed, but it relies on your input to provide a response. Be as thorough as you can about the type of home you’re looking for—the more detail, the better. For example:
- Instead of: “Show me homes in Chicago with a pool,” say: “Show me homes in Chicago for less than $2 million, within 25 minutes of Willis Tower and near an L station, with a pool.”
- Instead of: “Find me a cheap, quiet home in Detroit,” say: “Find me a fixer-upper in the Burbank neighborhood of Detroit for less than $150,000, on a quiet street near a park and with no HOA dues.”
- Instead of: “Show eco-friendly homes in Seattle,” say: “Show me new or remodeled homes in Seattle for $1M with smart features, green technology, and modern interiors, near Magnuson Park.”
After you get results, you can keep refining—ask follow-up questions, point out what you like or don’t like, or add new details as you think of them. The tool adjusts in real time and gets smarter with every query, using its wealth of data to find you the right fit.
Importantly, conversational search cannot act as a licensed real estate agent, meaning it can’t provide substantive advice or tell you what you should or shouldn’t do. It simply makes the search easier and more intuitive, so you can spend less time sorting through listings and more time looking at homes that make sense for you.
The future of home search is now
Artificial intelligence is reshaping how people discover information online, and home search is no exception.
With conversational search, Redfin is using AI to make the home search process smarter, more personal, and more accessible. We’re empowering you to find your needle in the haystack—looking across every haystack and providing detailed information about the type of needle you’re looking for.
Conversational search expands Redfin’s leadership in using AI to transform real estate, adding to a line of products like the Redfin Estimate (real-time home values), Ask Redfin (Q+A for housing questions), and Buying Power (personalized affordability calculator). Every innovation reflects Redfin’s commitment to making homebuying smarter, fairer, and more accessible.
Try conversational search today at Redfin.com by simply searching for a home; it’s embedded into the search experience on the homepage, map, and listing pages. You can also head directly to Redfin.com/chat. On the Redfin app, tap the search bar and press “Search smarter, powered by AI” to get started.
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