RESO Fuels A.I. Innovation: How to Enter the U.S. Market Effectively

Restb.ai is a leader in real estate computer vision solutions, blazing a trail other PropTech firms outside the U.S. are likely to follow. Headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, the start-up leverages artificial intelligence (A.I.) to automatically tag and classify property photos with real estate-specific information.

Restb.ai technology is used by fellow RESO members Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) and TRIBUS, among others.

In a video interview, Nathan Brannen, VP of Product and Sales at Restb.ai, discussed the role that RESO plays in helping A.I. companies like Restb.ai enter the U.S. market effectively. Brannen revealed how A.I. start-ups and other PropTechs can speed up their development and understand how the U.S. market works by tapping into the resources RESO offers.

Restb.ai offers several different A.I. applications related to computer vision. "Our A.I. analyzes the property photos to extract things related to the real estate world and things that would be important to agents or/and buyers. So that includes things like room type classification, feature identification," said Brannen.

Features such as hardwood floors or stone countertops allow consumers to search properties listed for sale that have the kinds of specifics that consumers want.

Brannen noted that Restb.ai leverages its A.I. and computer vision in other ways, too, including analyzing the condition of the home – or even a particular room. He also said that Restb.ai can automatically determine with its computer vision technology if a photo is compliant with MLS rules. The goal is to make the home-buying process easier.

"RESO has been very helpful with the data standards and having the Data Dictionary," said Brannen. "We've seen how varied things can be in different markets." According to Brannen, the RESO Data Dictionary has served as "a kind of blueprint" of the features Restb.ai can tag. "What are they called? How can we translate it to all the sites that already exist? It just makes our life a whole lot easier. It's almost like someone did a lot of our work for us by getting all that in line before we got started."

As a European firm, attending a RESO conference helped Restb.ai better understand the U.S. market, Brannen said.

"Being over in Spain, we weren't too familiar with the different conferences that existed," he said. Attending a RESO conference turned out to be the best place for Restb.ai's leadership to understand how the U.S. system works, who the players were and, he added, "What are the unique things we need to do to work in this market? It's almost a community that has been so easy to get up to speed and to really understand what we need to do and what we need to build for the U.S. market."

Throughout this process, Brannen has become an advocate of RESO and would recommend RESO to other A.I. and PropTech start-ups. "It's really where a lot of the decisions being made on the future of this space are happening," he said.

Brannen noted that RESO is not only good for Restb.ai but for all new technology companies, including the competition. "It's like a rising tide lifts all ships, and I think that's kind of what RESO is helping do. They may be helping our competitors, but at the same time, they're creating this environment where there's competition and innovation. If you want to be on the forefront of that and see what's coming, you have to be here."

View the full 4:30 video on RESO's YouTube channel.