Real estate chatbot: property search and a request to the realtor

Five template blocks: from the question to the request

In the editor the template looks like this: a “Message” with the buttons “Apartment”, “House”, “Commercial” → “Data collection” (budget and area in one line into the custom field budget) → “Data collection” (phone with format validation) → “Action” (add the tag подбор (search), notify the operator) → a confirmation “Message”. The trigger is /start.

The honest framing: this is not a property database or a feed import. The bot doesn’t pick apartments by itself — it takes over the realtor’s first five minutes of conversation, 80% of which go to the same questions, and hands over a request with the parameters already filled in. A person confirms the selection and the viewing time.

One flow for all channels: a Telegram bot with links from listings, MAX, a VK community and the widget on the agency website — the same chain works everywhere, and requests are collected in one “Conversations” section. Below is how to turn the template into qualification rather than just a form.

Budget: a number instead of free text

In the template, the budget and area are asked in one phrase — faster for the client, but such a field can’t drive a branch like “premium requests to realtor Ivanova”. Split it into two “Data collection” blocks.

• Budget as a number. The field is “Custom field” budget, format validation — “number”, error text: “Write the amount in digits in millions, for example 8 or 12.5”, attempts — 2. Be sure to turn on “to variable” — otherwise the value is saved only on the contact card and the “Condition” won’t see it.
• A “Condition” on the budget variable. Branch 1: more than 15 → “Action → add tag” segment:premium. Branch 2: more than 6 → segment:mid. The “otherwise” branch → segment:econ. Rules within a branch are checked as “and”, branches — in order from top to bottom, so put the highest threshold first.

An alternative without typing digits is buttons with ranges: “up to 6 million”, “6–10”, “10–15”, “from 15”. Each button leads to its own branch with a tag, then the branches merge into one block. Buttons are faster and prevent typos; a number is more precise and allows any thresholds. For resale, buttons are chosen more often; for new builds with fixed prices — too; for commercial — a number.

As a separate question with buttons — “Mortgage” / “Cash” / “Not decided yet” with the tags pay:mortgage, pay:cash. For a mortgage buyer the request goes to a realtor who works with banks — that is already a routing condition. Operator syntax and branch examples are in the help article on conditions and branches.

Area and property type: buttons, tags, channel limits

Area — 4–6 buttons with larger zones (“Centre”, “North”, “West”, “Suburbs”) plus “Another area” → a text “Data collection”. Each branch gets a tag area:center and so on. The property type is marked up the same way: type:flat, type:house, type:commercial. For new builds, add the question “Does the completion date matter?” — “Already completed” / “Within a year” / “Doesn’t matter”.

Limits to keep in mind when drawing branches:

• VK shows up to 10 buttons, 2 per row — more area options won’t fit in one message. Telegram and MAX are more flexible, but 6–8 buttons is the readability limit on a phone.
• The bot doesn’t send property photos in Telegram, MAX and VK — only text and buttons. A selection is shown as a link to a website page or a listing. In the website widget files can be sent.
• If you want different text for VK and Telegram, add a “Condition” on the channel, not a second flow.

The result of the markup is visible in “Contacts”: each lead has the tags type:*, area:*, segment:*, pay:* and fields with the budget and phone. A tag filter shows in a second, for example, all mortgage buyers up to 10 million in the north — a ready list for calls or a broadcast about a new development. CSV export is available. How to build a tag system you won’t drown in after six months — in the article on tags as segmentation.

Request to the realtor: a deal in CRM and conversation assignment

After the phone comes one “Action” block with several items, followed by an “Operator” block.

1. “Deal in CRM”. The title uses variables: “Search: {{type}}, {{budget}} million, {{area}}” (for this, also save the type and area “to variable”, not only as tags). The stage is “new”. In the “CRM” section this is a kanban board: new → in progress → viewing → … → won / lost; the realtor drags the deal card.
2. “Notify operator”. A text with the same variables and the phone — it arrives as a Web Push to all project operators, even if the account tab is closed.
3. “Operator”. The bot goes silent, the conversation gets the “operator” status and appears in “Conversations” in the unassigned queue.

Distribution among realtors is manual: a staff member opens the conversation and assigns it to themselves, or the administrator assigns it to a specific operator from the list. CHBT has no automatic “round-robin” rotation, but tags solve half the problem: mortgage requests go to whoever works with banks, commercial ones — to the specialist agent. Roles are granted in the “Access” section: owner, admin, operator. An operator sees conversations and contacts but can’t edit flows and channels — handy when an agency has staff turnover.

An email about a new request goes to the owner automatically on the first saved phone. If requests should go to amoCRM or Bitrix24, add an “HTTP request” to the same “Action” — a POST with contact fields and variables to Make, n8n or your own script; there is no ready-made “connect amoCRM” button. A comparison of the built-in kanban pipeline and sending data out — in the article on leads from a bot to CRM, and scenarios for returning the conversation to the bot after the realtor — in the breakdown of handing over to an operator.

Viewing booking, reminder and a follow-up

CHBT has no calendar with free slots, so a viewing is arranged the same way as in the booking template: a “Data collection” with the question “When is it convenient to view? Write a day and time, for example: Saturday after 12” into the slot variable. The realtor confirms or offers another time from “Conversations” — it has quick reply templates so you don’t type the same thing.

The reminder is built from a “Pause” and a “Message”: a 1-day pause (the countdown starts when the client wrote the time, not from the viewing itself — keep that in mind) → “Reminder: viewing on {{slot}}. Still on?” with the buttons “Yes” and “Reschedule”. “Reschedule” leads to the “Operator” block. Before the reminder — a “Condition” on the time of day so the message doesn’t arrive at night.

If there is no deal a week later, the flow can follow up by itself: a 7-day “Pause” → a “Condition”: the tag deal is set (the realtor sets it manually on the card when a property is chosen) — do nothing; otherwise — “New options have appeared in {{area}}, want to see them?”. After that it’s a person’s job; the automation has done its part.

Where to drive traffic from and what to measure

Three entry points that give the best return in real estate:

• QR codes and deep links on development ads. The link https://t.me/ваш_бот?start=zhk_sever on a billboard, in a listing, on a realtor’s business card. A “Deep link” trigger with a payload and a first block “Action → add tag” src:zhk_sever — that’s how you learn which billboard works. QR codes with the link are generated in the “QR campaigns” section.
• The widget on the agency website. One line of code before </body>, a proactive trigger by URL: on property pages, after 20 seconds “Find similar options in this area?” pops up. A pre-chat form with a phone is turned on in the widget settings. More — in the article on online chat for a website.
• A VK community. The same flow, with entry by the keyword «подбор» (search) or a button in the community menu.

There are no per-block counters, so effectiveness is measured with tags in “Contacts”: how many src:*, how many of them reached the phone, how many deals in “CRM” moved to “viewing”. “Analytics” shows messages per day for 14 days (incoming and replies from the bot, AI and operators), conversations by channel for 30 days and the total number of contacts. The free plan is enough for a test with the team (30 conversations a month, 1 operator); for a flow of requests from ads you need Basic — 650 ₽/month per bot, unlimited operators. Open the “Property search” template in your account.