AI has come to Portland's real estate listings
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Tomo uses artificial intelligence to let homebuyers make natural language searches. Screenshot: Tomo.com
Mortgage platform Tomo has rolled out a new AI-powered home search portal in select cities including Portland, but some question whether it's more effective than a human broker.
Why it matters: As more real estate marketplaces use artificial intelligence, searching for homes could become a lot faster and easier. Plus, results could be more personalized.
Details: Former Zillow execs and Tomo co-founders Greg Schwartz and Carey Armstrong developed it so consumers can search for homes based on specific wants — beyond the number of beds and baths — and shop more like savvy investors.
What makes Tomo different from existing home search giants is the platform's built-in, AI-powered, free-text search capabilities, Schwartz tells Axios.
- The idea, he said, is for consumers to describe their dream house the way they might to a friend.
Axios tested the tool in Seattle and found it was capable of picking up on specific preferences. We plugged in: "Home with a view of Lake Washington, modern design, a rooftop deck, and it's really important for me to have a space to WFH. Oh, the kids love a backyard."
- More than 300 listing matches came up, clearly tagged with the boxes the homes checked. Some had just a couple of the requisite tags checked off, others had most.
How it works: Users see a home description, plus the names of the current owners, their original loan amount and the estimated remaining mortgage balance.
- Generally, the narrower the profit margin, the less room you have to negotiate. But if the owner stands to make a considerable profit from the sale, then you might be able to put in a lower offer, Schwartz says.
- Homeowners with privacy concerns can email the Tomo support team to have their names removed.
Yes, but: Our search in Portland for a two-bedroom condo, $500,000-$700,000, with a hot tub and sunrise or sunset views, brought up a wide variety of listings but no specific mention of hot tubs.
The other side: Myles Faulkner, a Portland real estate broker with Windermere Realty Trust, dismissed it as a gimmick.
- "So you plug in a description of your dream house and the AI software sends back 300 matching listings? I would fire my realtor if I was sent that many listing suggestions," Faulkner told Axios.
A human broker allows for more details, Faulkner said.
- "You need a human to be able to tell you that any given house might be close to a busy street, a gas station or opposite a strip mall."
Our thought bubble: Tomo's a fun way to cruise the listings and see how underwater you would be if you'd bought.