AI Answering Service for Real Estate Agents and Teams
An AI answering service for real estate is an automated assistant that answers your calls and messages, in natural conversation, while you're at a showing, a closing or asleep. The calls that matter most in this business are short and specific: "What's the asking price on the house on Birch Street?", "Is it still available?", "When's the open house?" Talksy answers those 24/7 by phone, WhatsApp and Telegram, from facts you provide, and collects the details you need to follow up.
What do buyers and sellers ask when they call?
Most inbound real estate calls fit one of these:
- Sign and listing calls. Price, beds/baths, square footage, HOA fees, whether it's still active, open-house times.
- Showing requests. "Can I see it this weekend?"
- Seller inquiries. "What's my house worth?" and "What's your commission?"
- Renter inquiries, for agents who handle leasing.
- Everything else: other agents, lenders, inspectors, vendors.
An assistant can fully answer the first category from your listing data, start the second and third, and route the last one politely. What it shouldn't do is give a valuation, negotiate, or offer opinions about neighborhoods.
How does the assistant know about your listings?
Two places, depending on channel. On WhatsApp and Telegram, Talksy searches documents you upload to the knowledge base. A spreadsheet export works well: save your active listings as a CSV with columns such as address, list price, beds, baths, square feet, HOA, status and open-house time. Re-upload it when listings change.
On phone calls, the assistant answers from its written instructions rather than the uploaded files, so add a short current-listings block to the instructions:
Current listings (update weekly): 14 Birch St, $489,000, 3 bed / 2 bath, 1,650 sq ft, open house Sat 1–3 pm. 220 Lakeview Dr #5, $312,000, 2 bed / 2 bath condo, HOA $310/mo. 9 Orchard Ln: under contract, accepting backup offers.
That limitation is worth knowing up front: a large brokerage with hundreds of listings will find the WhatsApp side much more useful than the phone side.
Here's a typical sign-call conversation on WhatsApp:
Illustrative example, not a real conversation.
Buyer: Hi, I'm outside the house on Birch St with your sign. How much is it?
Assistant: Hi! 14 Birch Street is listed at $489,000. It's 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, about 1,650 sq ft, with no HOA. There's an open house this Saturday from 1 to 3 pm.
Buyer: Can I see it before then? Tomorrow evening maybe?
Assistant: I can pass that on. Could you share your name, a phone number, and a couple of times that work tomorrow? Dana will confirm a showing time with you directly. Are you already working with a buyer's agent?
Buyer: Sam Ortiz, 555-0188, after 6. No agent yet.
Assistant: Thanks, Sam. Dana reviews requests every evening and will reach out to confirm.
Talksy doesn't alert you when this happens, so build a habit of checking the Conversations page between appointments; every chat is saved and searchable there.
What fair-housing guardrails should the instructions include?
In the US, the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status and disability, and many states and cities add more protected classes. An assistant answering questions about homes and neighborhoods needs explicit instructions, because callers will ask questions a careful agent wouldn't answer directly:
- "Is it a safe neighborhood?"
- "What kind of people live there?"
- "Are the schools good?"
- "Is it a good area for families?"
Write a rule such as: "Do not describe neighborhoods, residents, schools, safety or crime. Say that you can share facts about the property itself, and suggest the buyer research schools and neighborhood data from official public sources." Then test it with exactly those questions before going live. This is a sensible baseline, not legal advice; your broker and local rules may require more.
Also avoid steering by property type ("this one's perfect for a young couple") in your listing descriptions, since the assistant will repeat what it's given.
Seller and valuation calls
Seller leads are valuable and the assistant should treat them that way, without overreaching. Instruct it to:
- Say that pricing depends on a comparative market analysis that you prepare personally.
- Offer your listing presentation process and how to request one.
- Answer general questions about your marketing (photography, open houses, online listing) from what you've written.
- Decline to quote commission rates if your brokerage prefers to discuss them in person, or state your standard policy if you publish it.
How do you set it up?
- Start a 14-day free trial. No card required.
- Create an assistant (the Sales Assistant template is a reasonable start) and write: who you are, the areas you serve, your current listings summary, showing process, seller process, and the fair-housing rules.
- Upload your listings CSV for WhatsApp and Telegram. CSV, PDF and TXT files up to 10 MB each are supported.
- Buy a local number in the Channels tab and put it on your sign riders, or forward your existing line when you're busy. US and Canadian numbers are instant: see US numbers and Canadian numbers.
- Connect WhatsApp, which many buyers prefer for quick questions; the setup guide covers the Meta app part.
What does it cost?
| Starter | Growth | Scale | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price per month | $19 | $49 | $149 |
| Voice minutes | 60 | 300 | 1,000 |
| Messages | 1,000 | 5,000 | 20,000 |
| Phone numbers | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Assistants | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| Knowledge base | 50 docs / 25 MB | 200 docs / 100 MB | Unlimited |
No overage charges: when you reach a limit, the assistant pauses until the next cycle. Solo agents usually start on Starter; teams that publish one number per listing agent use Growth or Scale. See pricing.
What Talksy doesn't do for agents
To set expectations clearly: no CRM or MLS integration, no calendar booking, no outbound follow-up calls or texts, no live call transfer, and no call recordings. If you want an inside sales agent who qualifies leads by phone and books showings into your calendar, you want a staffed service or an ISA. If you want every sign call and WhatsApp message answered accurately at any hour, start here. For property managers handling tenants rather than buyers, see the property management answering service page.