Former agent launches AI-powered home buying tool
Caspar Harvard-Walls, who has worked at both Foxtons and Black Brick, says his Oskar platform enables house hunters to find on and off-market properties for sale that fit their exacting needs.
An AI-powered tool has been launched by a former estate agent that, he hopes, will become an online alternative to the plethora of traditional buying agencies and agents who service London’s upmarket house hunters.
Oskar is the brainchild of Caspar Harvard-Walls (main image), whose background includes stints at both Foxtons and London buying agency Black Brick.
But for the past two years he has been building a professional property network called Oskar Prime.
While this is industry-facing, his AI-powered personal buying assistant for London house hunters – which shares the same name – is firmly aimed at house hunters, using data provided by his existing network of Oskar Prime member estate agents including off-market properties.
Oskar is the latest AI-powered tool to launch as platforms like ChatGPT and Claude become popular among house hunters. A recent survey by a property developer found that they like AI platforms’ conversational way of framing property searches. This is in contrast with the tick-box and ‘dropdowns’ approach favoured by traditional portals.
Another recent report, this time by GetAgent, found that a fifth of house hunters admitted using AI to find their next home, albeit usually pointing them towards an agent or portal listing.
Informal search
Like the big AI portals, Oskar also provides a more informal search method designed to capture each house hunter’s individual search needs – e.g. “please find me a three bedroom house in London with a south facing garden near a tube station but north of the river with a garage”.
Harvard-Walls says Oskar uses AI to help house hunters avoid the legwork and time needed to whittle down their ideal home including off-market properties. The service is launching in London but will alter expand across the UK.
As Oskar is a property finding and matching service only, buyers remain responsible for arranging viewings, negotiating offers and managing the purchase process directly with the relevant estate agent and other professional advisers.
He adds: “AI and intelligent technology allow us to understand much more of the nuance behind a property search than you can capture with a series of tick boxes, but the technology itself isn’t the point.
“The point is to make finding a home easier, more personal and more proactive.”
But Harvard-Walls is keen to underline that AI cannot replace estate agents. “The opportunity with intelligent technology isn’t to remove the agent from that process.
“Estate agents remain absolutely central to the property market. They know their stock, their sellers and their local areas.
“We have designed this to make it easier for an agent with the right property to connect with the right buyer. If they are about to launch a home and already know there is somebody actively looking for exactly that type of property, that is a useful connection for everyone involved.”
