April 22, 2025
Maybe you’ve chuckled at the latest round of Home.com commercials featuring actor/comedian Dan Levy, SNL star Heidi Gardner and Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman. Behind the laughs, however, lies a serious business – one that’s growing greater as more home buyers turn to data and even AI to guide their search.
Homes.com (and many other similar sites) draws 110 million viewers across its network each month. The combination of data and video about neighborhoods, including master planned communities, has proven to be a huge draw. Now, it hopes to offer a similar experience for builders. Later this year, Homes.com will extend its engagement to include new construction homes and communities. It’ll again blend data and immersive content so that website visitors can make an even more informed decision.
“Free of charge, builders will have the opportunity to showcase their communities on one of the top real estate websites,” the company spelled out in a recent blog post. “Builders will have the unprecedented ability to edit their community listings, enabling them to highlight surrounding neighborhoods and schools. Homes.com will also expand the range of community amenities and home features, empowering new home buyers to filter and compare new homes by lot size, move-in dates, but also by more nuanced features like brands of appliances.”
Of course, Homes.com is far from the only company utilizing the latest technology to assist home buyers. A 2024 Realtors.com study revealed that 43% of home buyers make the Internet their first step when looking for properties. In addition, all home buyers used the internet to search for a home. They deemed photos, detailed information, and floor plans as the most valuable content on websites.
Conversely, only 21% of home buyers reached out to a real estate agent as their initial action. And the next agent they use may not even be a human. Last year, reAlpha Tech Corp, a real estate technology company developing and commercializing AI technologies, launched Claire, billing it as the real estate industry’s first generative AI-powered, zero-commission Smart Buyer’s Agent.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. A December 2024 story listed from Built–In included 19 real estate companies utilizing AI, including Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin and Opendoor. New York real estate agency owner Nicholas McMillan said AI makes sense for such companies because they use it to analyze real estate data, identify market trends and forecast future trends.
“This information helps buyers make data-driven decisions on timing their home purchase, considering factors such as market fluctuations and demand-supply dynamics,” McMillan said in a Nasdaq.com story. “By leveraging AI’s predictive capabilities, individuals can gain valuable insights and maximize their investment potential when buying a home.”
Real estate agents are also relying on data and sites to guide their clients' purchases. Oyssey, a 2024 startup, markets a service through agents and brokers that can allow buyers to research political and consumer data. Yes, you can gauge if a neighborhood leans right or left.
And Forewarn equips real estate professionals with instant knowledge prior to face-to-face engagements, using AI and machine learning to verify identity of clients, including criminal history, property and vehicle ownership, financial data, additional phone numbers and address history.
With the ability to deliver a wide array of data, AI offers access to metrics for everyone involved, from realtors and appraisers to home builders and home buyers.