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.

Home searchers can now find homes on Redfin by describing what they want in their own words and engaging in a conversation to refine their search. Using our new conversational search feature, you can now 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 you 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.

How to get started with conversational search

Powered by Sierra, conversational search is built directly into the Redfin home search experience. Just describe what you’re looking for the same way you would when talking with a friend. 

Here’s how to get started:

1. Go to Redfin.com and sign in.
2. Click on the search bar—you’ll then see an option to try conversational search.
3. You can also access conversational search from the homepage, map view, listing pages, or directly at Redfin.com/chat.
4. Start describing the type of home you want, and the tool will ask follow-up questions to help refine your search.

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.

Then, when you find a home you love, you’re already in the right place to connect with an agent, set up a tour, get pre-approved for a mortgage, or take your next step in the homebuying process.

How to get the most out of conversational search 

Conversational search 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 me 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 will adjust as you go.

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.