A Rechat-FUB integration; new ‘pro’ and consumer AI search tools 

Editor's note: Technology is a driving force in real estate. From startups to established players, tech companies are constantly innovating, growing and forging partnerships. Here we highlight some of the latest news about the companies that help power the industry. 

Rechat's vision becomes reality through FUB integration

Agents' CRM and marketing tools can now exist in one place thanks to Rechat's new partnership with Follow Up Boss.

The integration — which can be set up in a couple of minutes, according to Rechat — enables a two-way data sync, where agents will find client contacts, messaging records and to-do lists updated simultaneously across Rechat and Follow Up Boss. 

Bringing these tools under one umbrella will boost agent productivity and organization by helping them manage clients and leads on the same platform where they create marketing and communication content, Rechat said in a news release.

The company's mission "has always been to deliver a true Super App experience for real estate professionals, and this partnership makes that vision a reality for every Follow Up Boss user," Rechat CEO Shayan Hamidi said.

Finding ways to elevate agent productivity is also key for Follow Up Boss, according to the company's CMO, Steve Pacinelli. "Integrating with Rechat makes that even easier by combining the power of our CRM with Rechat's marketing and AI tools in one consistent and highly productive workflow," Pacinelli said.

This is the second major integration for Rechat in recent months. In August, the company announced its integration with collaborative design platform Figma, a first in real estate marketing, Rechat noted at the time. 

New RealScout tool aims to 'let AI do the heavy lifting'

RealScout announced today the launch of AI Search – For Pros, a new AI-driven property search tool the company said was designed with "serious" clients in mind.

The tool allows agents to use natural language while conducting client-specific home searches — a tactic, according to RealScout, that will make it easier for agents to weed out listings that don't match their client's needs. The prompts can include basic requirements (such as location, square footage and price) and more specific preferences (like pools and HOA cost limits).

RealScout built the product "for professionals so they can run complex searches that simply aren't possible with other platforms," Co-founder and CEO Andrew Flachner said in a news release.

AI Search – For Pros is meant to go beyond other AI tools used in real estate, which RealScout CMO Seth Price said tend to be "either consumer-facing or a thin wrapper on an AI company's chat interface."

"We've taken the opposite approach: start with the structure and nuance of the MLS, honor the agent's workflow, and let AI do the heavy lifting in between," Price added.

RealScout customers who attended the company's Dec. 4 product launch webinar will gain early access to the product, and it will be available to all customers by the end of January.

Utah MLS debuts AI voice search

UtahRealEstate.com (URE) has also unveiled a new AI-powered home search function, but its tool is designed for consumers and will make looking for a home "easier than ever before," the MLS said.

Anyone who visits URE's website or MLS can now vocalize a home search prompt and see related properties pop up. The tool can understand natural language and won't get confused if a user needs to revise their prompt halfway through its delivery, according to a news release.

This latest embrace of new tech makes URE "one of the first MLSs to deliver advanced, AI-driven voice search capabilities," according to CEO Brad Bjelke, who said the tool gives the MLS's members and consumers "one of the easiest and most seamless methods to search for properties."

"This is just the beginning for our company in the AI space," Bjelke said. Next year, URE plans to launch other AI-powered tools that Bjelke predicted will "transform how the public and our real estate professional members search and receive data on properties."

During his time as CEO, Bjelke has leaned heavily into technology, investing in development and recently launching a separate data company. "We are not restricted by many of the limitations of 'out of the box' software providers, so we can rapidly institute a new feature or function that separates us from the competition," Bjelke told Real Estate News last year.