—Colorado’s largest MLS increases accessibility to real estate listing descriptions for visually impaired home shoppers—
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo. – October 10, 2023–(BUSINESS WIRE)–REcolorado®, the largest multiple listing service (MLS) in Colorado, today announced its partnership with Lundy, Inc. to expand access to the state’s largest database of residential listings. With this technology partnership, REcolorado intends to break barriers and change industry norms to empower agents and homebuyers, especially those who are visually impaired, with another way to find and buy a Colorado home.
“This alliance with REcolorado is an example of the proactive role MLSs are taking to address difficult, pressing issues like fair housing and accessibility, particularly for the visually impaired population”
REcolorado is the power behind more than 75% of residential real estate transactions in the state. Real estate agents enter listings into the MLS to make them widely available on websites and apps. Now, with this technology, REcolorado MLS listings are available audibly on Amazon’s Alexa products, which enhances the home search process experience for those who are visually impaired.
“When Lundy presented a way to make the home search process easier and more accessible we wanted to take action and address this issue for our large population of visually impaired individuals in Colorado,” said REcolorado President and CEO Gene Millman. “We believe home search should be accessible to all. Technology that improves the real estate process for the visually impaired population is one way to do that. We are committed to making the dream of home ownership easier and more accessible for everyone.”
According to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 100,000 people in Colorado report blindness or severe difficulty seeing even with glasses. This population is challenged by traditional real estate search methods, such as websites driven by visual images and long, written descriptions. Through its partnership with Lundy, REcolorado has improved home search capabilities by adding voice skill software to translate its MLS listing data fields and longer form property descriptions into categorized audio narratives powered by Alexa, Amazon’s premier voice assistant.
“This alliance with REcolorado is an example of the proactive role MLSs are taking to address difficult, pressing issues like fair housing and accessibility, particularly for the visually impaired population,” said Justin Lundy, co-founder and CEO of Lundy, Inc. “Our technology, with the data provided by REcolorado, revolutionizes ADA accessibility of data by accommodating consumer search obstacles such as being able to access information through voice commands while multi-tasking or driving.”
To engage this technology, users can simply say, “Alexa, help me find a home” or “Are there any homes for sale near me,” and the Alexa device will deliver a set of homes that meet the buyer’s criteria. The system will give the user opportunities to refine search criteria, then provide in-depth descriptions of the available homes, painting an audible picture of each property.
Lundy and REcolorado have analyzed key data attributes about residential listings and created brief, informative descriptions that do not require images. Users can increase the search options by including the desired neighborhood and specific property address, or they can ask Alexa to narrow their needs by price, number of bedrooms needed, or other standard characteristics.
Lundy and REcolorado are committed to completely map every MLS field with its software and ensuring that all new listings entered will be immediately available for the Alexa voice program to communicate.
About REcolorado
REcolorado® is the largest multiple listing service (MLS) in Colorado with over 26,000 professional subscribers who operate throughout the state. REcolorado’s vision is to empower a trusted, cooperative, and comprehensive real estate marketplace to position customers for success by providing data, technology, and intelligence. The company is REALTOR® owned and serves real estate professionals including the members of Denver Metro Association of REALTORS®, South Metro Denver REALTOR® Association, Mountain Metro Association of REALTORS®, REALTORS® of Central Colorado, and Steamboat Springs Board of REALTORS®.
About Lundy, Inc.
Lundy makes real estate data accessible by syndicating it to voice on the Amazon Alexa platform. The company’s natural language processing provides a conversational interface to search for and learn about homes for sale. Lundy’s mission is to serve the blind and visually impaired while benefiting millions of consumers who want quick access to real estate prices and facts by voice, at home, or while driving. Co-founders Justin Lundy and Jim Grady combine real estate industry experience and technology backgrounds to bring the vision of shopping for homes by voice to life.
Contacts
Media Contacts
Alyson Austin
949-403-0484
alyson@gaffneyaustin.com