Ex-Zillow exec unveils startup offering AI ‘listing coordinator’
Carey Schwaber Armstrong, former Zillow VP and Tomo COO, soft-pitched Truelist — an AI assistant with an agent-seller dashboard — via LinkedIn this week.
A former Zillow and Tomo executive came out of "stealth mode" this week to unveil her new startup.
Carey Schwaber Armstrong, a member of the so-called "Zillow mafia," took to LinkedIn on Aug. 26 to announce Truelist, a project she'd been keeping under wraps. The launch of the company's product, described on its website as "a wicked smart AI-powered seller dashboard," has not been announced, but Truelist is inviting interested agents to request early access.
Handling the 'busy work': The dashboard aims to help listing agents with routine but time-consuming tasks, Armstrong explained on LinkedIn. "Listing agents are arguably the most skilled and seasoned folks in real estate. But they're also the most underserved by tech, weighed down by busy work, and all too often underappreciated," she wrote.
According to the website, the product utilizes agentic AI to assist agents with tasks related to listing a home for sale, including scheduling meetings and events, coordinating with contractors and vendors, and managing documents. The company claims agents can save 5-10 hours per listing by using the dashboard, comparing its product to "having a listing coordinator, for a fraction of the cost."
The dashboard is intended to be shared with sellers so they have visibility into the sale process, reducing the back-and-forth many agents experience with clients.
The startup has no relation to other companies or apps with the same name, Armstrong confirmed to Real Estate News, though she declined to comment further on the effort.
A growing AI assistant space: Truelist is planting its flag at a moment when more agents are using AI to offload easily automated tasks so they can focus on human-centric priorities like prospecting and relationship-building.
In a conversation with Real Estate News in March, Luis Poggi, former Zillow exec and co-founder and CEO of HouseWhisper — a "24/7 personal assistant" — said "agents that do not adopt this new technology will be left behind" — a sentiment echoed by other tech leaders.
Pritesh Damani, the CTO of quickly growing Real Brokerage, has also focused much of his time on building tech and AI tools to support agents in their day-to-day business. Damani told Real Estate news in March that these tools help real estate professionals work more efficiently, but they aren't a replacement for agents.
"I think some portions of an agent's job can be automated, but the human touch is not going away anytime soon," he explained.
The 'Zillow mafia': Armstrong's announcement comes just a little over a year after she left her role as chief operating officer at Tomo, a mortgage-focused startup founded by Armstrong and Greg Schwartz, another Zillow alum. Armstrong and Schwartz are just two of several former Zillow executives — sometimes referred to as the "Zillow mafia" — who have gone on to find success with other tech or real estate-adjacent ventures.
Those include former Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff, who took the helm as CEO of Match.com earlier this year and has helped launch several real estate initiatives since leaving the portal giant. Rascoff co-founded the second home co-ownership platform Pacaso with fellow Zillow Group exec Austin Allison in 2020 and was a lead investor in the AI assistant platforms HeyLibby and HouseWhisper — both co-founded by former Zillow VPs.