Zown transports AI into home buying process

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Real estate platform uses artificial intelligence to help home buyers move faster and smarter

Rishard Rameez had no idea how his life would change and for the better four years ago when he hit what would be a low point for anyone – forced to sell a first home only seven months after moving in due to crippling mortgage payments.

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What made it even worse, he recalls, was the fact he had to pay “roughly close to $70,000 in real estate commissions”, a situation that he complained about in a post on the social media platform Reddit. It read, in part, “on a single deal, both the agents combined are making almost five per cent of the house value.”

Rameez says the reaction he received – a million plus reads and 600 comments in only eight hours – led him to post this the next day: “After seeing all these comments, I’m seriously giving it a thought to build an app to replace realtors or at least the listing agents and automate most of the process. Not to forget, transparency on the bidding process. Seriously, if comment gets enough votes, I swear, I’ll quit my job next week and start working on this.”

With a PhD in nanotechnology from the University of Waterloo, he certainly had the technical smarts to do it, which is exactly what happened when after receiving 6,000 messages of support within 60 minutes of posting, he created Zown soon after. It is, he says, a platform designed to make the “home buying and selling experience more empowering and cost-effective.”

Launched in 2021, a Zown fact sheet says the firm uses artificial intelligence (AI) “to help buyers and sellers move faster and smarter. From predictive pricing to smart property matching and on-demand showings, the platform gives users a clearer picture of their options and what’s a fair move to make.”

Of note, is that qualified buyers can receive up to $25,000 “upfront toward their home purchase, no repayment required.”

Zown, says Rameez, earns commission just like a traditional real estate brokerage might do, but they are far less than the “crazy two-and-a-half per cent” that is normally paid out by either the home buyer or homeowner.

Much of that has to do with automation and with more and more consumers turning to AI. One recent poll found that upwards of 80 per cent of homebuyers using it during their home search, which he says represents a “clear shift in how people approach one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives, with more clarity, less stress and fewer surprises.”

Rameez adds that through AI and the amount of data that is available online relating to a real estate transaction, “we can easily predict the fair market value of properties. How many offers it will get, what will be the price, how much you should offer.”

“All that information is at a (buyer’s) fingertips, rather than having to call a realtor, have them do a comparative market analysis, send you documents in maybe two or three days about what the fair market value is. A lot of buyers are embracing this because it has made information far more accessible.”

In the past, Rameez says, realtors were the keepers of all information relating to the purchase or sale of a home, but “with the availability of AI you are able to find it in a much more accurate and unbiased way.”