How OpenAI and Zillow Just Changed Searching For Property

Your marketing funnel is being quietly rewired

This week, Zillow became the first real estate app to live inside ChatGPT — marking a quiet but seismic shift.

The property search funnel, once a straight line from portal to agent, is increasingly resembling a loop that begins and remains in chat.

Hear me out.

Buyers in the US can now open a chat, type “Show me homes for sale in Austin”, and Zillow appears with live listings, maps, and the option to book a tour — all without leaving the conversation.

Zillow’s head of AI, Josh Weisberg, was clear about the motive.

“People are already using AI to make everyday decisions.

“By bringing Zillow into ChatGPT, we’re making it just as natural to ask about homes — and simple to take action on Zillow.”

That phrase — “take action on Zillow” — says it all. This isn’t just a cool integration; it’s a play for the consumer’s final click.

Zillow doesn’t just want consumers to browse — it wants them to complete the loop within its own ecosystem.

I haven’t had the opportunity to try this functionality, as I’m in Australia.

For agents, I suspect it’s more than a cool demo; it’s a signal that the entire listings funnel — from curiosity to contact — is being rewired.

From Browsing to Chatting

And that brings us to the heart of what OpenAI announced this week — the start of the ‘conversation era’ for property search.

OpenAI’s DevDay in San Francisco unveiled a significant shift: developers can now build apps directly within ChatGPT.

Zillow’s integration was one of the headline acts, joined by Canva, Coursera, and Spotify.

In practice, it means ChatGPT isn’t just a chatbot anymore — it’s becoming a platform. Consumers can search, watch, design, and now house-hunt in one continuous thread.

For Australian agents, this is one of those “watch-the-horizon” moments, because once the portals or CRMs here adopt a similar framework, every touchpoint — listing alerts, vendor reports, buyer updates — could live inside a chat window.

Search is less of a destination, more of a verb

To me, search used to be a “destination”.

I dream of the pair of shoes I want, so I search Google. I dream of living on the Gold Coast, and I search the portals. And magically, with a click, I am taken to a destination: the land of shoes or beaches.

But search is becoming less of a destination and more of a verb that happens wherever we already are. Think TikTok, WhatsApp, and now ChatGPT, Pulse, and shopping. What we are searching for finds us. Shoes are finding me right now; all of the algorithms seem to know somehow I’m going to an awards night this week.

Putting my buyer's hat on, I think consumers will want a conversation that remembers the previous conversation (as opposed to a new search form every visit).

Is it simply a case of whoever captures the intent and completes the action wins? Could ChatGPT’s memory be the new loyalty program….?

To summarise: Portals, socials, and chat all matter, but chat now owns the memory…

What changes for agents?

Well, if not already, your CRM provider is going to need to get busy.

CRMs will need to talk back to chat. Leads from Chat will need to sync each way, and AI follow-ups should actually personalise the response and not just send another template.

When buyers ask, “Can I tour this Saturday?” at 10 pm on a Friday night, you’ll be wanting your systems to answer before breakfast.

Going seriously down a rabbit hole… if your CRM can sync the moment someone starts searching for hardware, tradies, or removalists, will it alert you that one of your clients is on the move? That might be a nice new revenue stream for you in a different way.

But basically, the crystal ball suggests you’ll win by participating in the in-chat experience, which includes price guidance, inspection slots, virtual tours, and more.

This means your human relationships become even more important. Your clients aren’t just names on your database. Mark McLeod says you can’t build a relationship with someone you haven’t talked to. The win is still in those extra inches.

But I’m sure not everyone is convinced.

I’m sure there are pundits out there who would say that buyers don’t really want to talk their way to viewings, and a vendor won’t list through ChatGPT.

They might be right — for now.

Portals still control the data and the eyeballs. And after years of habit, consumers might prefer swiping through photos over chatting with a bot.

But even if only a slice of buyers shifts toward conversational search, the ripple effect will change how leads are captured, routed, and converted.

… which brings us to the tricky topic of trust

Every chat app that recommends properties is another opportunity for hallucinations, privacy breaches, misinformation, and biases.

If chat recommends suburbs, it will need to explain why. Fair housing rules will need to apply - albeit perhaps in a new format.

The bottom line?

Just as AI Search will sit alongside Google Search, Chat won’t displace the portals - but it will rewire the funnel.

The one long conversation might be the new home page.

Agents who plug into that thread—ethically, transparently, and with the right data — will thrive in a rearranged ecosystem.

Five Moves to Make Now

Whether I’m on the money here or not, here are a few things that wouldn’t hurt to take a look at:

1. Map your lead origins
List all sources of your leads — portals, Facebook ads, SMS campaigns, referrals, your website, and soon, chat platforms like ChatGPT.

Do you notice any patterns from month to month? How many of these turned into conversations, appraisals, or clients?

In a chat-driven world, quality of engagement beats quantity.

2. Meet your customer where they are with useful content
Don’t wait for buyers to find your listings — show up where they’re already asking questions.

Answer suburb FAQs on your site, create short explainer videos that surface in chat tools, or publish guides your AI assistant can reference later.

The trick is to create content that translates into answers, not just marketing.
If someone types “What’s a fair strata fee in Newcastle?” could your digital footprint help an AI pull an accurate, branded response?

In a chat-first world, your useful content becomes discoverable context. Agents who teach, not just promote, will be the ones who get surfaced when the conversation starts.

3. Clean your data
Ensure your CRM data — property info, features, floor area, body corporate fees, energy rating, location tags — is accurate and structured.

Imagine a buyer asking, “Show me homes with solar and low strata fees near a good coffee shop,” and actually getting what they want!

4. Open your calendar
It’s time to explore scheduling tools that AI can integrate with, such as Calendly or Reclaim.

ChatGPT’s agent tools should soon be able to book you for an appraisal or a tour right from the chat window.

5. Build up your internal intelligence
AI models still rely on public data, which isn’t always right.

Build a small library of verified, linkable content your team — or your own AI assistant — can safely quote.

Think suburb guides, FAQ snippets, or compliance blurbs, only you know from lived experience.

TL;DR

The announcements of the last few days are worth paying attention to because your marketing funnel is being rewired.

And that rewiring means building a connected, conversational pipeline that starts wherever the consumer is — and I hope, ends in your calendar.

Happy Hunting 🚀

PS - I resisted the temptation to add a point 6, which, of course, is learning more about how to create content and generate leads in an AI-first world. I have a new course launching soon. Jump on the waitlist for some cool bonuses here.