HouseCanary, an AI-powered real estate brokerage, has announced a bold vision for its Google listings expansion, aiming to “work with every MLS” to get “every single home that’s for sale” on Google, according to the company’s chief revenue officer, Chris Rediger.
Partnership Goals
The partnership, which began as an eight-market pilot in May, is now expanding nationwide, with Google’s objective being “to do right by the consumer and do right by its advertisers,” Rediger explained.
HouseCanary’s goal is to bring transparency to real estate by showing its valuation where it’s permissible in the Google experience.
How Listings Get on Google
Once an MLS opts in to the HouseCanary integration, any broker who’s a member of that MLS will have their listings show up on Google, Rediger said.
For interested brokers whose MLSs are not yet participating, Rediger recommended working through a national MLS, such as My State MLS, which signed on early.
This way, brokers can put their listings in the national MLS and have them automatically syndicate to the feature, he explained.
Linked to Ad Services
Consumer search queries for homes on Google are geographic- and keyword-based, Rediger explained, and the new integrated search feature is part of Google Local Service Ads.
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Google prioritizes local content above everything else, and an agent with a Google Business profile can advertise on Google Local Services and pay a per-lead fee if someone contacts them from the advertisement.
The HouseCanary-Google partnership is not meant to replace other home search tools, but rather to provide relevant local content to users in a comfortable and familiar setting.
Data Protection and Compliance
The real estate data that HouseCanary is working with Google to display is not accessible through Gemini or any large language model, Rediger said.
The data is protected, and HouseCanary is contractually not allowing it to go into the LLM for training purposes or anything like that.
As for commissions, Rediger doubts that Google will change its current stance, as it is a large, regulated company and does not have rights or entitlements to any commissions.
HouseCanary has spoken with MLSs that believe the Google partnership is IDX compliant, while others think it’s “not quite there” and prefer using a custom contract, Rediger said.
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