Former Zillow Execs Launch Tomo Real Estate, a Next-Gen Home Search Portal Redefining Home Buyer Strategies

I-powered search, insider equity insights, and negotiation tips give home shoppers an edge in today's competitive housing market

STAMFORD, Conn., Feb. 20, 2024 -- Tomo, the mortgage startup founded by Zillow alumni that has raised $110 million, today launched a new real estate portal, Tomo Real Estate, designed to give homebuyers a strategic advantage. Tomo Real Estate's unique home search experience offers home buyers insider intel, transforming the way they approach negotiations and ultimately helping them land their dream homes.

Tomo Real Estate has built an AI-first platform that leverages OpenAI to power free-text search capabilities. Home buyers can simply describe their ideal home just as they would in a conversation, and the platform delivers accurate results.

The new portal augments Tomo's core business — purchase mortgages, offered through Tomo Mortgage. The company has spent the last three years building mortgage tech that shortens closing times and provides a better customer experience. Tomo is taking a major step forward in furthering its mission to support home buyers at every stage of their journey. The company is extending its commitment to better another critical, yet technologically stagnant, step of the home shopping experience: search and find.

Tomo Real Estate offers home buyers insider intel, such as home equity data and owner names, transforming the way they approach negotiations and ultimately helping them land their dream homes.

"Tomo's beginnings as a mortgage company set us apart in the real estate industry. We recognized that the mortgage process was the catastrophe of the real estate transaction, and tackled that first. Now, we're channeling that motivation into the real estate search," said Tomo Co-founder and CEO, Greg Schwartz. "Let's face it. The search and find process hasn't changed much since mobile phones launched. Home buyers have been stuck adapting to the technology and experiences available, instead of the technology and experience streamlining how people actually search for homes – which is far more nuanced than a zip code, bed and bath count."

At launch, Tomo Real Estate will be available in key markets covering 50 percent of real estate listings in the U.S. To better meet the needs of the next generation of home buyers, Tomo Real Estate has built an AI-first platform that leverages OpenAI to power free-text search capabilities. Unique to Tomo Real Estate, home buyers can simply describe their ideal home just as they would in a conversation with a friend or real estate agent — such as, "a Seattle home that has a top of the line kitchen with space to entertain, great views, and a spot to WFH" — and the platform delivers accurate results, making the home-search process more intuitive and efficient. Additionally, Tomo Real Estate is pioneering the use of computer vision to index photos, extracting over 200 attributes that go beyond standard property descriptions, including features like water views, fenced backyard, and natural light.

Home buyers will also have access to valuable information such as home equity data and owner names. Equity data is a game-changer, allowing buyers to gauge negotiation strategies based on a seller's financial situation. Owner names will be displayed based on public record data, serving as a resource to better understand an owner's motivations for selling.

"We're not just another listing portal," said Carey Armstrong, Tomo Co-founder & COO. "Tomo Real Estate is here to give home buyers a distinctive advantage with real, actionable insights — not overwhelming them with a buffet of information and ads to decipher alone. Think of Tomo Real Estate as your strategic partner, paving the way for home-buying success."

The new portal works in lock-step with Tomo Mortgage's existing purchase mortgage business, which has among the best customer satisfaction in the business. Tomo Mortgage regularly logs NPS scores that are 20-plus points higher than industry stalwarts like Rocket Mortgage, thanks to its tech and customer service center.

Start your home search with Tomo Real Estate at https://tomo.com.

About Tomo

Tomo is a fintech startup on a mission to digitize residential mortgages and vastly improve the home-buying experience through its two companies, Tomo Mortgage and Tomo Real Estate. With a unique perspective rooted in its founding DNA as a mortgage company, Tomo Real Estate is a next-gen real estate portal offering a comprehensive home shopping experience, leveraging AI, visual insights, and purpose-driven data to give home buyers an advantage and redefine the real estate industry.