HOUSE HUNGRY? THIS AI AGENT LISTS LAND
‘With this remote work option ... this trend is here to stay,’ co-founder says
The first time Kehan Zhou shopped for rural land on a thirdparty Multiple Listing Service site was a real eye-opener. It turns out cheap land is abundant, and that’s a problem. “You can’t filter down; it’s just so overwhelming,” said Zhou, a Wall Street trader-turned-tech entrepreneur who knew he could do better.
Zhou is the co-founder of Terrascope, described as the first artificial intelligence-based real estate agent to find and browse rural properties online. It comes on the heels of a booming pandemic-fueled housing market. Last year saw a 3% increase in land sales, according to the 2020 Land Market Survey by the Realtors Land Institute and the National Association of Realtors.
“With this remote work option becoming more viable, this trend is here to stay,” Zhou said.
Are you looking for recreational land? Terrascope relies on machine learning technology to sift through thousands of listings in California and the popular exit state Montana for ideal properties.
Forty acres of rolling hills studded with oak trees and several buildable sites, all within a scenic hour’s drive from Paso Robles in the town of Bradley, can be yours for $120,000. The listing shows it’s ideal for long walks, motorcycle rides and hunting.
How about a 12.5-acre lot on the shores of the Missouri River in Townsend, Montana? The going price is $180,000.
Results are based on the user’s feedback to questions like, do you want “land with a house?” Are you looking for a certain “type(s) of property?”
Location, price, acreage and specific features such as “utility access,” “waterfront,” “skiing,” “golf” and “good for horses” further help narrow down the results.
“A lot of our AI technology is incorporated into every single criteria that we’re talking about here,” Zhou said. “For example, our algorithm actually determines on our end if a property is good for hiking, boating or fishing. These are the data not out there that we’re generating ourselves.”
The results either earn a thumbs-up or thumbs-down by the user.
Terrascope plans to grow its listings into other territories and eventually lay down roots in San Francisco, where co-founder and “AI mastermind” Julian Compagni Portis now is based. Zhou currently works remotely from Montreal, where he Zoomed one morning in late July to talk about his startup. Q How did you come up with the search criteria?
A Based on our research, buying rural property is twice as complex as buying an urban property. Buyers need to consider things like access to utilities, water sources, land features — and all this is in addition to the structure itself, right? The way we approached the problem is to think, OK, what