For decades, searching for a home online has worked pretty much the same way: choose a location, set a price range, select the number of bedrooms and bathrooms—and start scrolling. Nurit Coombe thinks that model is obsolete.
The Washington-area real estate veteran, who has closed more than $2 billion in career sales and was ranked No. 20 nationally and No. 1 in Maryland in the Wall Street Journal, is now bringing an alternative to the U.S. HouseMe.ai lets consumers search for real estate by simply describing what they want, combining conversational AI, live MLS data and real estate expertise to help them not only find properties, but understand them. After launching in the Greater Toronto Area earlier this summer, HouseMe.ai is now live in Washington, D.C., MD, VA, DE, PA, NJ, and WV, with plans to continue its rollout nationwide.
Built From Real Estate Experience
The idea for HouseMe came from something Coombe had seen throughout her career. People rarely describe the home they want as a checklist. They talk about wanting to walk to restaurants, needing a backyard for the dog, a shorter commute, space for their parents or a kitchen they won’t have to renovate. Sometimes they fall in love with a house but want to know whether the things they don’t like can be changed. Yet most real estate websites still ask them to begin with search criteria. Coombe, co-founder of HouseMe.ai and managing partner of The Agency DC Metro, didn’t want to build another Zillow or Homes.com. She wanted to start with the conversation.
Working with Ai developers, she brought decades of experience with buyers and sellers into HouseMe: how an experienced agent listens to a client, understands what matters, evaluates a property, and looks at value and opportunity. That intelligence was then connected directly to live MLS data. “No one has ever been able to search for real estate this way,” Coombe said. “This is a fundamentally new category, using Ai and real data to let buyers, sellers and agents customize their search around exactly what they need.”
A buyer could ask HouseMe for “a home with a big backyard, within walking distance to coffee shops, and a large, renovated open kitchen.” Or get more specific: “I love tennis and hiking. I want to be close to parks, with tennis or pickleball courts nearby. I also need a main-level bedroom suite for my in-laws.” HouseMe interprets the request and searches current MLS listings for properties that fit.
It reads intent, not just square footage,” Coombe said. “Bringing that to the U.S. market, and to my own backyard, is the opportunity of a lifetime.” HouseMe.ai made its debut in the Greater Toronto Area in June 2026.
According to the company, more than 40,000 unique visitors used the platform in its first three weeks, generating more than 300,000 interactions and viewing more than 15,000 listings. Those numbers helped accelerate plans for the U.S. launch. “That momentum is the foundation for the U.S. expansion,” said HouseMe.ai co-founder Peter Torkan, a Toronto luxury real estate broker who appears on Amazon’s Luxe Listings Toronto. “It’s the reason we’re moving to a nationwide footprint, starting with the Mid-Atlantic corridor.” Torkan and Coombe co-founded HouseMe.ai with Paige Torkan, broker of record at The Agency Toronto.
More Than Finding a House
Once someone finds a property, they can ask about comparable sales, whether the asking price makes sense, ownership costs, the surrounding market or factors that might strengthen a negotiating position. A buyer who likes a house but hates the kitchen can upload a photo and ask HouseMe what they could do with the space. The platform can create a visualization of potential changes, helping buyers see past what is there today. The conversational Ai is available in 97 languages.
Coombe sees another use for HouseMe among homeowners who may not be planning to sell anytime soon. Someone thinking about selling two years from now could ask what improvements are worth making today. HouseMe can look at the property, comparable sales and market data, then help the owner explore potential projects, costs and how the property stacks up against nearby sales.
It’s the kind of conversation Coombe has had with clients for years. Now, a homeowner can start asking those questions long before calling an agent. Coombe doesn’t see that as replacing real estate professionals. Ai can process an enormous amount of information quickly, while an experienced agent brings judgment, strategy, negotiation skills and personal guidance when a transaction gets complicated.
Starting in Coombe’s Backyard
Washington was a natural place to begin HouseMe.ai’s U.S. expansion. It’s where Coombe built her career and where many of the conversations that eventually led to HouseMe took place.
The platform is now live in Ontario and seven U.S. markets, with New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Nevada next on the U.S. roadmap, along with British Columbia in Canada. For years, consumers have had to learn how to search for real estate the way computers wanted them to. HouseMe.ai is betting they’ll prefer it the other way around.
“It’s Ai that has been taught how to think about real estate.”