At the next open house you attend, Rex the Real Estate Robot might be the one answering your questions.
Robotics are just beginning to enter the real estate industry, but they are already showing homes to prospective buyers.
REX the Bot looks a bit like a rolling kiosk topped with an interactive touch screen. It is one example of robotics that can save agents time in showing homes, answering questions and collecting data. Instead of making multiple trips to homes they list, agents can talk to potential buyers through the robot’s screen. The robot can answer up to 70 questions about the property. Buyers even get access to the homes through a pin number texted to them when they arrive at the property.
It’s already in use in California, where busy agents with high-end listings are using it to save time on crowded freeways.
Another player in the real estate robot world is VirtualAPT. These robots do not greet customers and, in fact, customers never see them. Instead they are deployed inside homes before the listing at 50 cents per square foot. The robots take measurements, create floor plans and shoot 3-D video, according to The Wall Street Journal.
But will meet-and-greet robots play well in an industry in which the human touch means everything?
Time will tell, but REX robots don’t work for free. They charge a 2 percent commission on sales.
