Frontdoor, a national home service plan provider, announced Thursday it’s sharing its augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) communications platform with five real estate companies at no cost, as well as thousands of independent home repair contractors.
Rex Tibbens | Photo credit: Frontdoor
Streem, the platform the company acquired in 2019, uses AR, spatial mapping and AI to create a one-way video and two-way audio session, giving homeowners a new way to engage with real estate agents and home repair contractors.
“The pandemic has accelerated the transformation in the home services industry and created an urgent need for innovative solutions to protect the health and safety of the public,” Frontdoor CEO Rex Tibbens said, in a statement. “The Streem platform is user-friendly and powerful, and allows consumers to have access to essential services, remotely.”
“The real estate industry and small businesses such as independent home service contractors sustain our economy,” Tibbens added. “By equipping them with Streem for free, they’re able to safely provide their critical expertise and services to homeowners during this unprecedented time.”
The platform is being provided to agents affiliated with Realogy and Howard Hanna in select markets.
Agents can use the platform to connect remotely with a seller who can then guide them on a virtual tour of a home. The agent can then provide the homeowner with staging advice, or ask them to move closer to an area for inspection, all while making on-screen notes and markups for future reference.
The tour can also eventually be used as marketing collateral for the property.
For contractors, the platform will allow them to engage with the homeowner and guide them through a visual inspection of an item or appliance that may be malfunctioning. It can reduce the requirement of in-person visits and expedite the repair process.
“Now more than ever, our homes are our sanctuaries – they’re where we live our daily lives, and even work, as the COVID-19 crisis continues to unfold,” Ryan Fink, Streem president and general manager, said in a statement. “Streem is uniquely equipped to help keep families healthy and safe in their homes, and to allow service contractors, real estate professionals and others to continue to meet critical needs across our nation.”
He added, “We also know that the pandemic will have a lasting impact on how we live and work and believe that this technology will have a transformative influence on how business is conducted going forward.”
