The New York Times - USA (2020-11-15)

THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2020 MBRE 3

Zenny is not your ordinary real estate bro-
ker.
For starters, Zenny is only three feet tall,
with a long slender body and a rectangular
head.
Zenny is also quite young: Created in
2017 by Zenplace, a rental management
start-up, Zenny is a remote-controlled robot
that is essentially an iPad mounted on a
wheeled base, and it is part of an expanding
fleet of bionic agents showing homes across
the United States. During Covid-19, their
numbers are only growing.
Eric Holly, Zenplace’s chief executive,
has been with the company since 2017. At
the time, he said, “Real estate was old
school, a lot of pen and paper, shaking
hands, a lot of face-to-face.”
In the three years since, Zenplace, based
in Silicon Valley, has rolled out Zenny to
thousands of home showings across the
country.
There’s lots of competition: VirtualAPT,
based in Brooklyn, has robots that glide
through homes and provide immersive vir-
tual reality tours; REX, a brokerage in
Woodland Hills, Calif., has an A.I.-trained
robot to answer potential buyers’ questions
at open houses; RealFriend and OjoLabs
have A.I.-powered chatbots that mimic hu-
man conversation while providing person-
alized home listings and buying advice.
In Zenny’s case, the robot is powered re-
motely by the real estate broker or property
manager who is handling the showing from
afar. It is also equipped with sensors to keep
it from running into walls or people.
In addition to Zenny, Zenplace’s platform
includes a full suite of rental management
solutions, including tenant screening, elec-
tronic lockboxes for on-demand property
viewings, and a secure online portal for rent
payment. The company charges a $599 flat
fee for some properties, and $99 a month for
others.
VirtualAPT’s robots, which roll through
homes capturing 360-degree videos in 4K
resolution, provide ultra-crisp, high-quality
images. Their service costs 50 cents per
square foot, which is significantly less than
a human video crew would charge.
And REX, a full-service, digitally focused
real estate brokerage leaning heavily on
tech and A.I., has equipped its robotic ki-
osks with A.I. and natural language pro-
cessing. They charge a fee of only 2 percent
of the home’s sale price, compared to the

traditional 5 to 6 percent that traditional

agents take.

“Way back in 2017 we started experi-

menting with all sorts of A.I. and robotic

systems for showing homes, including the

REX Robot Kiosk,” said Andy Barkett,

REX’s chief technology officer. “You could

ask it questions like ‘How old is the roof ?’

Or ‘How are the schools around here?’ and

it would answer.’ ”

Their focus now is on drone-based imag-

ing, which they use to display customized

information about REX and the property on

hand, and building 3-D models of each home

using digital imaging and LiDar technology.

Zenny’s added value, Mr. Holly said, is

that tenants can set the schedule for view-

ings, cutting through the red tape of traffic-

crowded calendars. “It’s an on-demand

economy,” Mr. Holly said, “If you look at any

other product that you can purchase in the

marketplace, you don’t have to negotiate a

time to go see it, so that’s a huge barrier that

slows the process down.”

In the world of rentals, robots could be a

win-win, said Kelli Miller, a broker associate

at Compass Real Estate in Cardiff, Calif.

“Realtors don’t make any money on rentals,

and you put in a lot of work showing those

homes,” she said. “Renters, too, aren’t

putting down their life savings, so they’re

not picky, and a robot could definitely make

things more convenient.”

But when it comes to home purchases,

Ms. Miller was more skeptical: “Part of

finding an ideal home means having your

needs understood, and requires building a

relationship between a buyer and an agent.

A robot may be convenient and efficient, but

it can’t do that.”

Where bionic agents are making head-

way in real estate, bots are quickly moving

in, as well. Luke, an A.I.-powered chatbot

from the start-up RealFriend, scours doz-

ens of real estate databases to pull person-

alized recommendations. The bot provides

detailed recommendations with targeted

amenities like sunlight, safety ratings and

nearby subways, and can also answer spe-

cific questions such as, “Which directions

do the windows face?” or “Is this apartment

a better deal than where I am currently liv-

ing?”

RealFriend was started in 2018 by Hadar

Landau and Omri Klinger, two en-

trepreneurs who served in the same elite in-

telligence unit of the Israel Defense Forces.

They first rolled out Dooron, Luke’s older,

Hebrew-speaking cousin, for the Tel Aviv

rental market. Luke was introduced in New

York in July. The service is free for users.

Brokers selling a property, who generally

earn a 3 percent commission on sales in

New York City, pay Luke 25 percent of their

commission when the bot brings in a buyer.

The developers consulted with a behav-

ioral economist when building both Luke

and Dooron, employing strategies like al-

ways letting the client make the decision;

making sure the bot’s replies are a discus-

sion rather than facts only; and showing

vulnerability by admitting when the bot

doesn’t understand or gets something

wrong.

Users say the result is similar to texting

with a person — if that person had access to

every real estate listing in the city.

“Luke is very empathetic,” said Dr.

Ruben Pagan, who has been hunting for a

new one-bedroom apartment with a tradi-

tional broker for four months. “He apolo-

gizes if his answers are taking too long. It

really feels like you’re talking to a person.”

One month ago, Dr. Pagan decided to ex-

pand his search reach, and began using

Luke to browse listings, while he also kept

his human broker.

Thanks to Luke’s direction, he’s now fo-

cused on New York’s Seaport neighbor-

hood, and finds himself exploring proper-

ties — and asking Luke for a recommended

starting offer — at all hours. “I can text him

at 11 p.m., or even 1 a.m., and not worry that

I’m bothering him,” Dr. Pagan said. He

started using Luke by asking which neigh-

borhoods in the city were considered “up

and coming” with prices around $700 per

square foot.

RealFriend says that 45,000 users have

chatted with Luke since his New York de-

but, resulting in more than 1,000 signed

leases and a handful of home purchases. Mr.

Klinger, RealFriend’s co-founder and chief

technology officer, says he expects the

number of buyers using Luke to grow.

“We’re not replacing agents,” Mr. Kingler

said. “We’re letting them do what they are

best at.”

Luke cannot close a real estate deal, he

added — an in-person real estate broker is

still required to step in and handle the trans-

action after Luke does the scanning. And

while Luke’s ability to source apartment

listings and offer recommendations is be-

yond any human’s, he still has limitations.

“We still can’t tell you if there is a bad

smell in the elevator or if the apartment

doesn’t look like its photos,” he added.

“We’re not quite there yet.”

Above, REX, a brokerage in Woodland Hills,

Calif., has a robot that greets clients at home

showings. Right, VirtualAPT, based in

Brooklyn, has robots that take

high-definition video, which can be used to

create virtual reality tours.

A.I.-powered chatbots

that mimic human

conversation can put

together personalized

recommendations.

TECHNOLOGY

Robots Join the Sales Team

Brokers across the country are handing off home tours and client questions to

their bionic colleagues. A human touch, though, is still needed to complete a deal.

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