ChatGPT could help you find your next home

Home shopping can be quite challenging, especially in today's economy. However, mobile apps like Zillow and Redfin are here to make the process a little smoother. Both real estate websites have recently announced the integration of new ChatGPT plugins for real estate searches.

This exciting addition could make home searching a less daunting task, transforming it into a simple conversation with an AI chatbot. With ChatGPT, users can easily ask for listings within a specific price range, inquire about whether a listing is for sale or rent, find out the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and much more.

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ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI last fall, is a conversational bot powered by the company's impressive language models, GPT-3.5 in the free version or GPT-4 for Plus users. It utilizes natural language processing to engage in text conversations with users, creating an experience that closely resembles chatting with a real human.

People employ ChatGPT for various tasks, including generating text for writing projects, translations, and answering basic questions. Its versatility goes beyond that; it can also assist with coding, debugging, creating Excel formulas, and now, even searching for homes.

This integration of artificial intelligence is not unfamiliar to Zillow, as the website has been using machine learning to generate its trademark Zestimate since 2006. Zillow employs a proprietary algorithm that takes into account a home's facts, location, market trends, as well as public, MLS, and user-submitted information to calculate the estimated market value.

The company also utilizes AI to produce immersive floor plans for listed properties and enable natural language searches.

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Redfin, another real estate technology company, is also launching a ChatGPT plugin. Redfin hopes this plugin will help users easily find homes that meet their criteria beyond a simple checklist or filtered search. Users can now ask more descriptive questions, such as requesting a home in a neighborhood with trendy restaurants, that fits their salary and budget, or includes a private backyard.

David Beitel, CTO of Zillow, sees this as just the beginning and states, "As the first major residential real estate marketplace to bring advanced, AI-powered search to the home-shopping experience, we understand its immense potential, and we look forward to developing more tech innovations with OpenAI technology in the future."

OpenAI's ChatGPT-4 plugins are currently available to a limited number of users on a waitlist basis, with plans for wider implementation in the future. The Zillow ChatGPT is currently in its alpha phase, allowing the company to fine-tune the user experience. The release date for all users has not been disclosed yet.