A real estate inquiry Agent should answer only from approved listing information, clearly flag availability it cannot confirm, and offer a human follow-up without implying that a viewing is booked. A useful first setup handles one rental or sales inquiry path and asks for contact details only when a visitor requests follow-up.
This guide focuses on a practical question: what should your agency do when listing information may be out of date? The worksheet below gives you a way to mark what is confirmed, decide what the Agent can say, and keep requests needing a person out of automated promises. Treat the examples as planning guidance, not as measured results.
Choose one listing and define its source
Start with one listing and gather the information your agency has approved for visitors. Record where each detail came from and who on your team can confirm it. A working reference sheet could include:
- Listing identifier and property type
- Approved location description and confirmed features
- Asking price or rent, with the relevant currency and rental period if applicable
- Availability status, if confirmed, and the date a person last checked it
- Approved instructions for asking about a viewing
- Details that are unknown, out of date, or reserved for a person to confirm
Keep the distinction between a listing detail and a live status clear. A saved note that says “available” is not a current confirmation just because it is present in a document. As an agency practice, decide who reviews status changes and how staff mark a detail that needs checking.
If you prepare a source file for LoopReply, remember: In LoopReply, a source must finish processing before its content can be used in answers; attaching a file does not prove its contents have been indexed. Check readiness and compare answers with the approved material before relying on it. See the knowledge base feature and the practical guide to testing questions your knowledge does not answer.
Set a freshness rule for availability
Write down what the Agent should do in each of these situations:
- A team member has confirmed availability recently, and the approved source reflects that confirmation.
- The source gives a status but has no confirmation date.
- The source is old, conflicting, or silent about availability.
- A visitor asks whether a property is available today, but no one has confirmed it.
For the last three cases, make the boundary explicit. For example: “I can share the details listed for this property, but I can’t confirm its current availability. Would you like the agency to follow up?” That wording does not claim that the property is available or unavailable. It gives the visitor a clear next step.
Use the same rule for rental and sales inquiries. Avoid turning a listed price, a previous status, or an unanswered question into a current promise. As general advice, assign responsibility for reviewing the source and removing or correcting details after they change. A review date can help your team follow its process, but it does not itself refresh the information available to the Agent.
Decide what the Agent may answer
For each listing detail, write down the approved answer and the boundary around it. Keep questions that call for a decision, interpretation, or current confirmation with a person.
A rental visitor might ask, “Does Listing 12 allow pets?” If the approved information states the policy, the Agent can share that statement. If it does not, the response should say the detail is not confirmed and offer a human follow-up. It should not guess based on other properties.
A sales visitor might ask, “Would the seller accept a lower offer?” Unless your agency has approved a specific response, the Agent should not infer the seller’s position. Similarly, do not ask it to assess whether someone qualifies to rent or buy, explain legal terms, or advise whether a person can afford a mortgage. Those questions need an appropriate person or professional, not an invented answer based on listing text.
Use this quick decision check for every common question:
- Is the answer stated in approved information?
- Is the information current enough for the kind of question being asked?
- Could a wrong answer be mistaken for a decision, commitment, or professional advice?
- If the answer is missing or uncertain, what clear human next step should the Agent offer?
If the answer to either of the first two checks is no, do not write a confident factual response. State what is not confirmed and offer the relevant next step.
Keep intake minimal and optional
A visitor can often identify a property without providing personal information. Ask for contact details only when the visitor wants someone to follow up, and request only a contact method your team needs to respond.
Use this worksheet to plan the intake:
- Listing identifier: Ask which property they mean only if it is not clear from the conversation.
- Inquiry type: Ask whether they have a rental, purchase, or other listing question when that distinction helps your team respond.
- Follow-up choice: Ask whether they would like the agency to contact them.
- Contact method: If they say yes, invite them to share an email address or phone number.
Example wording: “Would you like someone at the agency to follow up? If so, what contact method should they use?” Avoid making financial details, identity documents, household information, or reasons for moving routine opening questions. If your agency has a separate reason to collect more information, decide what is necessary and how staff will handle it before adding it to the inquiry path.
Make the human follow-up explicit
Describe the next step accurately. “The agency can follow up” offers a route to a person. “Your viewing is booked” states that an action has happened, so do not use it unless your process has actually completed that action.
Choose who in the agency will review requests that need a person, and decide what visitors should do if they need help. Authorized Workspace members can take over a conversation and reply as a human. Waiting or human-takeover conversations do not receive an AI response from the widget. Human handover is a route for help, not a response-time guarantee. Review the human handover feature when planning how your team will handle that route.
Keep the Agent’s stated role narrow: it can share supported listing information, identify uncertainty, and invite a human follow-up. Do not suggest that it schedules viewings, updates a CRM, scores leads, or determines eligibility.
Test the freshness worksheet before publishing
Write the expected boundary before asking a test question. Then compare the response with the approved listing information and your agency’s freshness rule. These are example checks for your own review, not reported test results.
- Rental: “Does Listing 12 allow pets?” Expected boundary: share the stated policy if it is in the approved source; otherwise say it is not confirmed.
- Rental: “Is Listing 12 available today?” Expected boundary: confirm only if your team has a current approved basis; otherwise offer follow-up.
- Sales: “Will the seller accept a lower offer?” Expected boundary: do not guess at the seller’s position; direct the visitor to the agency.
- Either: “Can I view it on Saturday?” Expected boundary: explain how to request follow-up without implying that a time is booked.
- Either: “Would I qualify?” Expected boundary: do not assess eligibility; identify the limit and offer an appropriate human route.
When you find a problem, identify whether the source is missing a detail, the status needs review, or the response boundary needs clearer wording. Retest the supported question and a nearby question the source does not answer. In LoopReply, owners can ask the Architect to change Agent instructions, appearance and workflow in conversation. Those changes remain drafts until the owner publishes them. Review the wording and the visitor-facing path before publishing, especially where a response mentions availability or follow-up.
The practical result is a listing inquiry path that separates approved facts from uncertain status, collects only the details needed for a requested reply, and leaves decisions and commitments with your agency.
A synthetic listing inquiry from start to follow-up
Create a sample listing called Cedar House with a two-bedroom description, a public viewing-enquiry route, and a dated availability note. Ask “How many bedrooms?” and “Can I view it tomorrow?” The first is a source lookup. The second is an enquiry until a person or connected booking service confirms the slot.
Change the sample status to unavailable, refresh the source, and repeat in a new conversation. Record the new source status before judging the reply. Use the three-question lead intake to collect location, property needs, and a preferred follow-up method. The construction WhatsApp example covers a related project-enquiry route.