Home search is moving into ChatGPT. Here’s what that changes, and what it doesn’t.

Zillow went first, in early October 2025. Redfin followed on February 6, 2026. Realtor.com launched its own on March 30, 2026. In six months, the three biggest home-search sites all put a front door inside a chatbot.

What you can actually do there

You can ask in plain English instead of ticking filters. Redfin describes its app as less about filters and more about conversation: you refine what you want without starting over. Realtor.com’s app leans toward the early questions: an affordability calculator, neighborhood comparisons, and help turning a vague idea (“something quiet, near the train”) into real search criteria.

What stays behind the curtain

• Listings shown inside ChatGPT are only a preview. For full details you’re sent back to the portal.
• The apps are designed to route serious buyers to tours and to agents on the portal.
• Realtor.com says MLS data is not used to train the chatbot’s model, and that it wants agents and MLSs to stay at the center of the transaction. That’s their stated design, not something you can check from the outside.

My read: these apps are front doors, not neutral advisors. That’s fine, as long as you know it. A tool built by a listing site will be good at getting you to a listing.