Agents can use Eden’s AI tools to compete for business on affordability, a unique advantage in a market that may soon see buyers having to pay agent fees directly
Innovation is Inman’s DNA — that’s why we’re excited about August’s event Technology and Innovation Month. We’ll kick things off by expanding our scope to celebrate the companies and individuals driving the industry forward Inman Innovation Award exist Inman Connect Las Vegas. We then continue our celebration of the brightest minds in real estate all month long.
Inman has learned through an exclusive press release that Eden Homes (Eden), a mobile home search app and buyer agent experience powered by artificial intelligence, has officially launched in beta on the App Store.
The app for consumers and agents enables aspiring homebuyers to enter a specific, detailed description of their home needs, save results, select and update to an ideal match, and tour homes upon request at a simple, affordable fee. Agencies can now test it and onboard customers to use it through the App Store.
Eden users can also work with an agent of their choice on their search, or choose to access the company’s in-house negotiation, escrow management and showing services for a simple flat rate.
Eden is not a discount brokerage, but uses artificial intelligence to reduce the workload and add value to agents working with buyers. According to the company, the app’s search capabilities are advanced enough, and its artificial intelligence learns quickly, to significantly reduce the travel burden and handheld operations that have long plagued buyer’s agents. The buyer can be given control of the search and the agent is not excluded from the relationship.
In turn, agents are able to compete for business on the basis of affordability, a unique advantage in the market that buyers may quickly find out if sellers refuse to offer commissions to cover the listing broker’s fees and buyer’s agent expectations. Agent fees must be paid directly.
“The industry is convening to try to hone their objection handling skills, rather than fundamentally trying to leverage emerging technologies to lower costs for consumers,” Eden CEO and co-founder Storey Barton said in a press release. “Eden’s flat fee The rate service enables ordinary customers to purchase a home at less than 1/5 of the cost of a traditional agent. “
Barton may be referring to coaches, agents and industry leaders speaking out about the importance of “communicating value” in order to earn paychecks directly from buyer clients, a byproduct of the industry-leading NAR settlement.
Buyers who work directly with Eden can use their savings to lower their interest rates, which the company will handle on their behalf.
“The average total cost of this streamlined process is approximately $2,000, a significant savings compared to the $15,000 average cost of the traditional model,” the release states.
The company said its algorithm for determining buyers’ home preferences relies in part on in-app user activity signals and responses to ratings. Eden also automatically reads listing images and finds matches based on favorite home features, such as “lots of land” or “family room with vaulted ceilings.” Houses that are liked or liked are rated and saved accordingly in the classified listings.
As technology continues to develop, home search solutions using artificial intelligence are rapidly emerging. At first delivered primarily through chatbots, the growth of LLMs has made it possible for consumers to have more human-like, contextual interactions with a search interface and, in the case of Eden, use it to conduct ongoing market research instead of merely initiating a search.
Lundy combines it with language input to help the visually impaired, while LocalizeOS applies it to lead nurturing and business analytics, among other emerging industry examples.
Eden’s leadership brings diverse industry insights. Barton co-founded land investment fund Peregine Land with Eden partner Noah Pape, a graduate of Stanford University’s mathematics and computational science program. Luke Mizell led business development and launched the technology accelerator program at Keller Williams, while Ben Richards served as an engineer at Affirm, where they refined Senior executive team.
Email Craig Rowe
