Propt Reviews HōmHub

I have an Miniature American Shepherd named Ranger. These are midsize versions of the herding breed. But as they say, size doesn’t always matter.

The unaffiliated should be aware that owning any iteration of an Aussie is tantamount to living with Heath Ledger’s Joker. Add to that him having access to a self-perpetuating supply of crystal meth that never dips in volume below the deadweight tonnage of a trans-Atlantic freighter, and you’re about there.

All versions of this canine revel in these traits, as evidenced by Ranger’s reaction when meeting a colleague. There’s a side-eye confirmation of near-future, inevitable skullduggery, like guys who pop their collars or knew yesterday to sell oil futures. It’s not innocent ass-sniffing, it’s war plans via Signal chat. Aussies are basically furry little members of Al-Qaeda but with the strategic predictability of a spilled bag of marbles.

Anyway, that’s what I thought about five minutes in to my conversation with Bobby Bryant, minus the more nefarious aspects of the metaphor. I recognized a mutually pent-up perspective on the state of the real estate industry. Specifically, its relationship with technology. We both want it to flourish but can’t yell loud enough about where it’s stumbling. Adoption. Feature overlaps. Data access. Apathetic leadership.

As Bobby said in a follow-up, “It’s cool to talk to someone who understands the pains of the game.”

Indeed it is. I hope to do it again soon.

It needs to be said that Bryant was almost a decade ahead of the market when it comes to voice-based natural language search. His demonstrable prescience no doubt gives him an advantage over legacy tools founded by teams only now ruminating on ways to leverage it. He’s basically AI-native.

I touted Ask Doss in 2017 but market traction slowed under the floundering smart speaker market. (Lundy’s Finding Homes was another early player. I’ll have more on that soon.) Bryant smartly stayed the course and the market caught up.

Now, he’s putting forth HōmHub, a kind of “everything for the home” B2B2C portal that centers around search with an ever-present AI thrust. There’s something for everyone here. Agents. Owners. Buyers. Vendors.

“It’s an AI-native, peer-to-peer real estate operating system, and it’s built to democratize the MLS,” Bryant said. “I have no desire to disrupt the MLS. I’m a part of it, I’m going to stay a part of it, but I do want a solution that gives me options on where to post, and I do believe we’re going to start seeing listings everywhere.”

He’s right about listings breaking loose from the MLS, despite its collective nail-tearing death grip. This point will become more evident as more associations agree to provide their data to ChatGPT and other AI platforms resting upon it. (The industry has to start thinking seriously about where this is going to lead.)

Users can engage HōmHub’s AI in up to 100 languages or manually dive into searches for homes, rentals, investment properties, land, new construction, and just about any property category. This should earn HōmHub attention from investors and atypical buyers, a good way to reach into less explored corners of the market.

Users can reimagine homes inside and out with an array of virtual renovation styles directly in the individual listing page and engage the AI to chat about the home being considered, just two of the ways HōmHub stays centered on the consumer search experience. The AI assistant saves chats on each home, too.

Listing results are mirrored after MLS pages but look so much better, reflecting a modern portal experience. Viewers can scroll around the Street View integration and peruse community insights. The agent commission field is there, too, in case anyone cares about this anymore.

There’s a $25 fee for 30 days of unlimited consumer access to HōmHub, which requires uploading an ID for verification. It also unlocks tour scheduling and direct communication with the seller or more likely their listing agent. A proof of funds statement is needed to activate the offer submission tool. The pre-approval and mortgage application experience do not require a fee, however.

Despite all his experience with AI, Bryant said accuracy is more important than speed when entering a new listing in the MLS, or in any related solution. I like this take. Efficiency shouldn’t be the goal of an AI implementation. It should be about empowering legacy data and unlocking latent human potential.

“I’ve been a Realtor® a long, long time, and it’s not about speed,” he said. “When I sit down to enter a listing in the MLS, doing it right and being detailed for my client, it takes me 15, 20 minutes, and I expect the same thing here [with HōmHub].”

Agents, owners, investors, and builders can enter a property through a pretty common workflow that mirrors MLS input experiences. Upload photos. Enter financing requirements. Link virtual tours. Easy stuff.

HōmHub is as much an industry resource as it is a consumer portal. Agents can register to list, help buyers, rent properties, and get leads. Adjacent vendors, such as inspectors, mortgage reps, photographers, and pretty much any other form of professional that works within the ecosystem can create a presence on the platform.

The site’s education center offers a series of helpful videos hosted by an AI-expert named Bailey. She seems nice. And she’s upfront about not being human, which is definitely a plus.

HōmHub is in beta as of this writing, and a number of features are not fully realized. Some bugs need to be squashed and updates pushed. All normal stuff. Bryant is hustling for a May 17 for a soft launch.

HōmHub offers quite a bit of value for the independent or new agent seeking flexibility to promote themselves and their sellers listings. It can never hurt to gain more exposure for a listing. They can become a partner agent and show clients how they can claim their house, collaborate, and stay up on market activity.

For Bryant, there’s merit in promoting it as a neutral resource that isn’t a nationwide entity at war with its competitors and practitioners. A new place to nose around the market.

He will need to bust his tail to get that exposure, though.

Consumers are exhausted on the housing market and growing weary of the economy. Nothing feels certain except uncertainty, and that’s never good for real estate.

I wouldn’t bet against Bobby, though.

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