I’m hooked on Redfin’s AI-powered search feature.

I get it; AI chatbots are popping up everywhere, and it can be frustrating. I’d much rather chat with a real person than a bot when I’m trying to track down a missing package. But there’s one area where AI really shines: real estate.

I have to admit, I’m a bit of a real estate enthusiast. I’m not actually in the market for a new home—especially with these interest rates—but I love browsing listings. It’s a mix of curiosity and daydreaming about what life could be like in a different house. What if I moved my family to a charming farmhouse in Iowa, or to a picturesque island in the Puget Sound? I can easily lose track of time scrolling through listings, imagining all the possibilities, and I’m always eager to check out new homes for sale in my neighborhood.

Recently, while browsing a real estate website, I stumbled upon a new feature: AI-powered search. It’s a fresh addition that’s currently only available on desktop or mobile browsers, not in the app. The concept is simple: you can describe what you’re looking for in natural language, and the AI will generate listings that fit your criteria.

I started experimenting with some prompts and got some interesting—if somewhat disheartening—results. I asked for two-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bathroom single-family homes in Seattle near public transit. The answer? A couple of options, both sold as-is and under $500,000. Not exactly encouraging! So, I decided to get a little creative.

The AI search has some built-in limitations; it won’t help you find haunted houses or a home in Los Angeles that resembles Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. It also can’t search the entire country in one go, so my dream of finding a Polynesian-themed indoor pool remains unfulfilled.

However, it performs well when you narrow your search to a specific city. The AI’s ability to understand context is impressive; for instance, searching for a “tiki bar” can yield listings that evoke a tropical vibe, even if those exact words aren’t in the description. And yes, I might be a bit obsessed with this as the days grow shorter.

Thanks to this AI search, I even discovered my dream home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, listed for a cool $3 million—just the price of three cozy craftsman homes in Seattle! The interior might be a bit overdone, but that stunning curved brick exterior and sunken living room? Absolutely dreamy.

On a more realistic note, I found exactly what I was looking for when I asked for modern-style homes with natural wood siding in Cincinnati, plus or minus a vibrant blue paint job. A beautifully updated mid-century ranch house backing onto a wooded ravine for under $500,000? Seattle can’t compete with that.

While AI is often tacked onto various services in questionable ways, the AI search on a real estate site feels genuinely helpful. After years of browsing listings—both for serious home buying and just for fun—I’ve become pretty adept at navigating these platforms. This skill, while not particularly useful in the grand scheme of things, has made me appreciate the convenience of natural language search. No more fiddling with filters and keywords; the AI handles all that tedious stuff for you.

That said, not everyone has had a great experience with AI search. Some have found it lacking, like a certain editor who reported that a car search site’s AI was less than stellar. Redfin’s AI isn’t perfect either; we might have different interpretations of what “fully updated” means. But overall, it definitely simplifies the process of sifting through countless listings.

Importantly, the AI isn’t claiming it will buy the house for you or handle all the paperwork—thankfully, there are still human agents for that. When it comes to making significant purchases, I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

But for the less daunting task of browsing listings? AI can be a real game-changer. If you’re like me and enjoy exploring real estate, it’s a fantastic tool—whether that’s a good thing or not!