How digital assistants are easing real estate transactions

Digital assistants such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are increasingly finding use cases in the real estate industry. Not only are they used to search for homes for sale, but they can also help to perform tasks like transferring money.

Now, some property managers want to even further and let tenants pay their rent using these voice assistants.

A deal struck this week between Zego and S2 Capital will link smart home devices to more than 30,000 apartments in the next three years.

“We have built a team of seasoned real estate professionals and technology visionaries to deliver a solution that is setting the standard for the next generation resident app,” Zego CEO Adam Blake told HousingWire, a mortgage industry publication.

Zego isn’t alone in the endeavor either. Another company, NTT Data Services, recently implemented an Alexa Skill specifically for mortgage companies. With it, mortgage officers can use voice commands to check on the status of loans.

NTT data services director of customer experience for financial services Megan Geyer told HousingWire that there are two kinds of skills that can be used with Alexa. These include informational skills, in which Alexa looks up specific information for the uers; and transactional skills, which involves asking Alexa to carry out a specific task, such as paying the rent.

“Companies don’t know if it’s too early to be investing in this, but right now they should be at least exploring how voice interface could complement their digital experience,” Geyer said. They should “see if there is a natural fit for voice interface to solve problems. If there is a natural fit then that’s where voice interface should be.”

As HousingWire predicts, it probably won’t be long until people can just say: “Alexa, get me a mortgage.”