Inman

Speech recognition for real estate leads

NewportWorks Inc. has launched a new service that aims to assist real estate listing agents qualify and respond to prospective home buyer inquiries.

The company’s AnytimeOpenHouse tool gives agents key data on active buyers and their property interests, while giving those same buyers immediate information on specific properties.

Real estate listing agents are given their own toll-free phone number that they can place on for-sale signs, e-mails, printed flyers, or any other medium they choose. When a potential home buyer calls the toll-free number, the AnytimeOpenHouse system records their name and phone number.

Meanwhile, the buyer uses the AnytimeOpenHouse service to select a listed property through speech-recognition technology. The buyer simply speaks the address into his/her phone or selects a property from a list that is read to him/her. The system reads back to the buyer the general property and location information, and can also connect that buyer with the listing agent to ask additional questions or set an appointment to tour the property. In addition, the agent receives e-mail reports of the people who called and their phone numbers.

“Building on the established success of our AnytimeMLS service, AnytimeOpenHouse is yet another reliable tool that serves a real need within the real estate market,” said NewportWork’s CEO Ken Stockman. “We’re utilizing the tools that you already trust, the MLS, mobile phones and dependable speech technology to enable customers to make time-sensitive bidding and buying decisions more quickly and close more deals.”

NewportWorks’ AnytimeMLS service, first launched in 2001 and powered by IBM’s Speech Recognition technology, provides real estate agents with voice access to the Multiple Listings Service database.

Irvine, Calif.-based NewportWorks Inc. is a privately held company that builds voice-based applications and services around the needs of the mobile real estate professional. AnytimeMLS is a service provided by NewportWorks and is available to over 150,000 real estate agents in California, Arizona, Indiana, Texas, Florida, Portland, Ore., and Atlanta, Ga.

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