Voice: The Final Frontier?

May 24, 2017

I think by now it’s safe to say that using the spoken word to find and disseminate information is the next generation of ‘googling’ something.

Hey Siri, turn on the kitchen lights. OK Google, play 2Cellos Thunderstruck. Alexa, let’s shop for a new house today.

Wait, what?

Yep, you read that right. You can now shop for a new home using Amazon’s Alexa (and Google Home) as of last month thanks to a father and son duo who founded a company called Voiceter Pro. Check out their demo video:

But, will this catch on for a viable way to search for real estate, which is still a fairly new frontier for voice search?

Well, last week, at the Realtors Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo in Washington, D.C. it was proposed that the committee look at how rules might be changed to allow for the dissemination of IDX information to consumers through smart speakers such as Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Home. That’s promising, right?

Of course there were concerns voiced (see: Could Alexa Be Your Client’s Agent?), but in the end, the majority of committee members approved the proposal, so it’s obvious that there are enough people that think voice search may have a big enough place in the real estate industry that plans should be laid out beforehand.

Now, while this first iteration of voice search is cool and all, and I’m truly glad to see it finally making it’s way into real estate specific applications… I’m not super impressed with the overall experience and already dreaming of what’s next. Cause that’s just how I roll.

In my mind, the holy grail of real estate search is a still a VISUAL IDX platform (real estate app or website) that allows a voice activated lifestyle search bot (show me riverfront homes with a deck that are near a Starbucks) that understands natural language and conversational commands (start over, never mind, etc). The key to me is the initial visual part, and performing the voice search through a platform that can instantly give me results. I’m not really interested in taking the time to do a voice search only to have to then go check my email for a list of properties that when clicked, land me back on an agent or brokerage’s site that looks like it was built in 1996.

Give me a single place to perform the search, SEE the results, modify them if needed and then connect with an agent if I choose.

This has already been done, for the most part, in Australia on myrealestate.com.au (demo video here), and I know there are a couple companies working on this for the us in the US… so here’s to hoping a full voice activated search platform for real estate, effectively taking us where no man has gone before! Like what my friend Chadd’s currently building, shown here in his live demo:

Cool eh?

Anyway… hey Google, order me an Uber. I’m outta here!