Hey Alexa, launch HAR.com

Late last year I was asked to speak at the annual conference for the National Federation of the Blind, Texas Chapter.  The theme was “Living the Life You Want at School, Work and Home” and I was honored to be asked to discuss the home-buying process by my client and friend, Norma Crosby.  Since Norma and I had discussed the schedule for the presentations that day, I knew the presenter before me would be Justin Lundy, Founder of Lundy .  What I did not know was how amazed I would be by his story and the beginning of fantastic new tools for both real estate agents and our clients. 

In preparation, I watched the (very short) HAR video describing this new Alexa skill created by Lundy, Inc. (“skills” are like apps for Alexa I learned today) Use Your Voice to Search Listings on HAR.com Via Alexa

While Justin and I chatted more, I learned the motivation behind this ingenuity.  Living in sunny San Diego, CA, Justin had spent many years as a real estate agent after moving out of the restaurant industry.  During his time as an agent, his mother-in-law enjoyed doing what most of us love to do when we get bored or just curious, and that is looking up multi-million dollar listings on Zillow and sending them out to those we feel should see them.  She would constantly send him pictures of unique kitchens or stylish homes.  On a personal note, my daughter does this frequently and I’ve spent many a Saturday afternoon gazing in awe at her phone as we swipe through mansion after mansion.  A few years ago Justin’s M-I-L was diagnosed with RP.  Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a group of rare eye diseases that affect the retina and cause cells in the retina to break down slowly over time, causing vision loss.  So as the RP progressed, she was no longer able to view the gorgeous, unique homes on Zillow she loved.  Justin shared with me that as he looked to find a solution, what he found was there was not much real estate in technology.  

According to the CDC, “Approximately 6 million Americans have vision loss and 1 million have blindness. More than 1.6 million Americans who are living with vision loss or blindness are younger than age 40."  Those living with vision loss or blindness are familiar with “screen readers”, although they can be difficult to use and understand and in some cases costly.  When speaking of this M-I-L, Justin noted, “What we realized for her was that the internet was gone."  But she had an Alexa and from there, a great idea was born.  

They hired an engineer to build the skill and took the prototype to the Nationa Federation for the Blind.  For a year they had people with various levels of sight test the heck out of the skill.  They learned that no matter the level of sight or familiarity with a screen reader, the vast majority of those looking for houses had a sighted person help them explore houses online. With all the abbreviations and nuances associated with a listing, it was too frustrating to rely on a screen reader, and that contributed even more to a lack of independence for these house hunters.  The goal was to solve a simple problem of accessibility.  What if voice access and voice descriptions could be shared via Alexa from the various MLS (multiple listing service) websites across the country directly to consumers?  Wah-lah, “finding homes” was born.

In early 2021 they built the first proof of concept and spent an entire year in focus groups and testing with the National Federation of the Blind.  Finally, in May of 2022, the Sacramento MLS was the first to buy in and share their data.  The goal at the time was to gain access to as many MLS sites as possible to increase access and exposure.  In April of 2023, HAR.com bought in and began to share their data via the verbal prompt, “Alexa, launch HAR.com."  In a communications release from September of 2023, “HAR has collaborated with Lundy Inc. to bring voice-activated home search technology to Amazon’s Alexa-powered devices.

To use your voice to search for listings, say, “Alexa, launch HAR.com.” Then you can search by:

• Property address,

• Zip code,

• Number of bedrooms,

• Price range,

• A specific property characteristic and more!

Consumers can even ask Alexa to connect them directly to the listing agent and get notifications when a new property is listed or when there is a price change. The possibilities are endless!” And it truly does only get better from here.  For now, “Alexa start finding homes” is the prompt anyone can use at any time to access information from over 14 MLS sites across the country.  Lundy, Inc. is currently collaborating with HAR.com to get their data into the “finding homes” prompt, although for now, local folks will have to use “launch HAR.com” for HAR.com-specific data. 

What comes next will be the revolutionary part…2.0.  While the original skill was built manually, it was cutting-edge at the time.  Technology moves at the speed of light these days though and with new AI advances and large language models like ChatGPT, the possibilities are truly becoming endless.  Amazon has Olympus, Apple is working on Ajax, and Google has Bard, to name a few.  As we approach daily use for large language models, the home search will become more conversational than specific.  Instead of using prompts like “show me homes with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms”, users will be able to describe their situation, and the search will learn and adjust from that conversation.  For example, in the future, you could say, “Hey Alexa, I just got a new job in Oregon, and my wife, 3 kids, and 2 dogs, and I need a house close to the Nike offices in a good school district. Also, our max budget is $800,000 and when my mother-in-law stays with us she can’t use stairs."  And just like that, only the homes that fit will be described to you.  Additionally, with the photo tags, folks will be able to search for even more specific details that they want in a property such as, “show me homes with long driveways lined with trees."  While “finding homes” is phrase-based until April, Justin said with the launch, “2.0 will include photo tagging that will allow you to find a home in a way you’ve never been able to before”. 

Real estate is important regardless of buying and selling, simply look at the stats for Zillow.  We have a fascination with looking at homes and the technology around accessibility for all has been lacking in this realm.  Don’t worry though, Justin and the team at Lundy, Inc. have us in mind.  As our conversation wrapped, he mentioned a quote from a blind gentleman that he keeps in mind along with his core mission of accessibility.  “When you solve for the hardest to serve, what you create for everybody else feels like magic."  Think about it.  Automatic doors may not have been created for you, but what a magical invention that helps us all.  Welcome to the future of home shopping and cheers to magical times ahead.  

Oh, and here’s the cheese…

Taleggio: pasteurized or raw cow’s milk, semi-soft, washed rind

CUSTARD-LIKE | PUNGENT | MUSHROOMY | DOUGHY

One of Italy’s most popular washed rinds, this orange, paver-shaped cheese dates back to at least the 13th century.  This cheese was born out of the remarkable pragmatism of early alpine cheesemaking, once made exclusively from the milk of the “tired” cows returning from the high mountain pastures after summer grazing in the Valtellina.  As cooler temps set in for fall and winter and cows consumed a richer diet of hay, the milk became exceptionally fatty and rich.  This luscious milk was unsuitable for the firm, long-aged cheeses typical of the mountains, but it was ideal for Taleggio, which is ready to eat after a minimum of 35 days. When ripe, this cheese has a blush-colored exterior that begins to slump (and stink!), yielding to a meaty interior the consistency of pudding. 

Serve with a Barbera or Nebbiolo wine.  Melt into creamy polenta, or top a mushroom and salami pizza.