Redfin Debuts Conversational Search to Reinvent How You Find Homes

The AI feature allows you to have a back-and-forth dialogue with Redfin while you search, helping you discover homes that best suit your preferences

For years, online real estate search has been limited by filters and map boundaries. But no more: Starting today, you can use our new AI-powered conversational search feature to find homes on Redfin.com by describing what you want in your own words and have a natural, back-and-forth dialogue to refine your search. 

For example, you can comment on a suggested listing to say the kitchen should be more modern or respond to follow-up questions about your preferred commute time or proximity to a school. 

“When you’re buying a home, the options can be overwhelming,” said Abhishek Singh, a homebuyer who tested Redfin’s new conversational search feature. “It felt like my personal concierge, surfacing better options in neighborhoods I hadn’t considered and showing me homes I wouldn’t have found using the map boundaries I usually set for myself.”

Among our early users, we’re seeing homebuyers search broader areas than before, but with more specific home preferences. They were then often able to use conversational search to adjust their criteria and find the right home. For example, when one user requested a $300k home in or near Baltimore County with a fireplace, wood floors, a cottage-like feel and at least three bedrooms, Redfin’s conversational search explained that no homes fit that criteria and that the user might want to broaden their search radius or remove some filters. The user responded, “let’s try a broader search” and “relax on the number of bedrooms”—and relevant homes appeared.

“We always knew that a home search can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack,” said Ariel Dos Santos, Redfin Senior Vice President of Product and Design. “But conversational search lets us look across many more haystacks, with far more detailed information about the type of needle each user is looking for. We relied on search filters to define queries for years, but people share more about their preferences when it’s a conversation.” 

Now available on Redfin.com and mobile web—with support for the Redfin iOS app launching in December—conversational home search is integrated directly into Redfin’s search experience on the homepage, map and listing pages. When you click the search bar, you are invited to describe what you’re looking for—which you can do in any language as the feature is multilingual. As the conversation unfolds, the AI sharpens your search and shows homes that fit what you’re describing.

“Our goal was to build a search experience that’s like talking to a real estate agent who has seen every listing in town and who knows what clients really want through dozens of late-night conversations,” said Dos Santos. “The difference is that conversational search is available 24/7, can scan every listing on Redfin across the U.S. and respond when a buyer says, ‘show me more listings like this one, but with an extra bedroom.’”

Early testing shows that Redfin’s conversational search users view nearly twice as many home listings than those using standard search, helping them discover more options as they refine their search. They’re also 47% more likely to request home tours or other homebuying services from Redfin.

Built with Sierra, an AI customer experience platform co-founded by Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor, Redfin’s conversational search continues to evolve daily, learning from real user interactions to deliver more relevant, precise and personalized results. To start using conversational home search today, visit www.redfin.com. For tips on how to get started and make the most of your conversational search experience, check out this article.

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