The next real estate agent probably won't be a robot, but smart machines are “likely to revolutionize back-end operations in the real estate market,” said one observer. (Photo credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
For Ivan Estrada, ChatGPT is like his “smartest best friend.”
Beverly Hills real estate agents use this tool every day to research and write emails, blog posts, newsletters, and property descriptions in a fraction of the time they normally would.
“The ones that come back are about 90% complete,” Estrada said of the artificial intelligence tools. “This gives us more time and reduces the research process and the data generation part of our work.”
Moreno Valley agent Nallely Quintero uses AI to create posts on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, and at least four other social media sites.
“Right now, we don't have the budget to pay someone to do the marketing for us,” Quintero said. But with the help of AI, “you do it yourself.”
Over the past year, the real estate industry, like businesses in general, has embraced the latest AI tools in a big way.
There are many seminars and webinars promoting the benefits of AI. Brokers are investing heavily in “generative” and “natural language” AI. Lenders use AI to streamline the underwriting process.
This transformation happened suddenly in early 2023 with the release of ChatGPT and a new version of Google Gemini, formerly called Bard.
Proponents acknowledge that there are drawbacks to having machines read, write, and calculate.
You will need to double check your results. Over-reliance can lead to a loss of technical skills and, in some cases, the personal touch that humans provide. The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, February 13th that AI could soon threaten the majority of white-collar jobs across all industries. Last month, the International Monetary Fund estimated that nearly 40% of global jobs could be affected.
Even developers say they need guardrails to protect against “deepfakes” and misrepresentations. Left unchecked, AI could even become a threat to our species, they say.
Despite these concerns, advocates say new tools are helping humans do what humans do best, such as spending time with customers, holding their hand during times of stress, and explaining contract details. The company claims that it makes it easier to concentrate on the task.
Proponents say real estate professionals must jump on the AI bandwagon or risk being left behind.
“AI is not going to take away real estate agents' jobs,” real estate coach and technology analyst Chris Linsell told agents at the National Association of Realtors conference in November. “But people who use AI probably will.”
technology Lindsell said routine tasks such as data entry and listing on multiple listing services will be automated. This frees up agents to give more quality time to their clients.
“If the value to buyers and sellers is being able to schedule a listing or host an open house, that's a problem,” Lindsell says. “AI tools give businesses the speed and agility they need to focus on what matters.”
Democratization of data
Artificial intelligence is nothing new, having been around around the time Elvis recorded “Blue Suede Shoes.”
In the 1950s, scientists believed that machines could be programmed to think like humans, but computers at the time lacked the ability to perform significant machine learning.
Nevertheless, the use of AI has steadily increased over the past three decades. AI-powered chatbots emerged in the late 1980s.
Zillow began using AI algorithms to create Zestimates of home values in 2006, and virtual assistants like Siri arrived in 2011.
But until recently, AI was limited to engineers and programmers.
That changed early last year with the release of “general-purpose generative AI,” which allows users to instruct machines via natural language prompts. Now, anyone who speaks English (and many other languages) can program computers to analyze data, create reports, and create modified images without any technical expertise. You can now create .
“GenAI is really game-changing. It really democratizes access to data in the sense that users can ask almost any question, (and) the database can answer,” says the commercial real estate brokerage. said Or Hirch, Chief Data and AI Architect at JLL. He said this at the company's webinar in September.
JLL researchers have identified at least 500 companies around the world that are developing AI-powered products and services for real estate.
During the demonstration, Hirch used JLL's Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (GPT tool) to transform an Excel spreadsheet into a ranked list of comparable properties in an apartment building. This process took a few seconds.
Laurent Grill, an executive at affiliate JLL Spark, said AI will help commercial real estate brokers become more efficient in the face of rising costs and declining profits.
“The reality is we live in an industry that faces a lot of challenges,” Grill said. “More importantly, how can AI improve our work and enable us to serve our customers?”
industrial use
Like JLL, other companies are also embracing AI.
Compass has invested more than $1.5 billion to develop an AI-assisted technology platform that agents can use to search for properties, arrange showings, create brochures, create social media posts, and produce newsletters and videos.
“ChatGPT sits on top of this large Compass database,” said Mark McLaughlin, chief real estate strategist at Compass. “You could say create a property description for 123 Main St. Boom. It's there.”
Agents still need to use their knowledge and expertise to complete the description, but “they don't have to start from scratch,” he said.
“AI and ChatGPT will significantly reduce, if not eliminate, routine and mundane tasks,” McLaughlin said. “This replaces (repetitive tasks) and gives that time back to reinvest in customer relationships.”
Additionally, Compass uses AI to look for homeowners who may be selling their homes by analyzing indicators such as marriage, job changes, and children leaving the nest.
Other new AI products include Irvine-based Revive's tool that uses photos to assess the costs and benefits of renovations before putting a home on the market. This tool shows you in seconds how much your home's value will increase with renovations.
Dalip Jaggi, Revive's Chief Operating Officer, said: “AI is creating some amazing opportunities for how we can do more than just a number on a sheet.” Homeowners can “say, ‘Oh, great,’ and add a little more in their heads. It helps me put it into context better.'' It turns out that if my house looked like that, my $1 million home would be worth $1.4 million. ” ”
In December, Rocket Homes, a home search company affiliated with Rocket Mortgage, announced a new application to help homebuyers find homes while on the road.
The program uses the buyer's preferences and a list of homes they've already considered to surface properties in Apple CarPlay that are worth considering while the buyer is driving.
“You can continue (purchasing a home) while you're driving,” said Sam Vida, Rocket Homes president and chief product officer.
Reduce costs and calories
McLaughlin said the use of AI among Compass agents is increasing.
McLaughlin said when asked how many agents had used AI in a sales meeting three months ago, about a third of agents raised their hands. In February, about 60% of hands were raised.
Cyndee Haydon, a broker in Florida who teaches agents how to improve ChatGPT prompts, said she uses the tool to make her emails more personal and honest. She also saved $7,500 per month after leaving her email marketing company and learning how to leverage AI.
“I told them I didn't need their help because I could do it myself,” Haydon said.
In addition to using ChatGPT to write her listing description, Rachel Adams Lee, an agent in the Sacramento area, asked her to create a healthy, low-calorie meal plan. She lost 31 pounds.
“You can use it for everything from weight loss tips to how to write difficult emails to clients,” says Adams-Lee.
Estrada, a Beverly Hills agent who uses AI “in everything,” has experimented with an application that virtually stages, or “stages,” screenings. Another application uses AI to show buyers what a tired, dilapidated home will look like after renovations.
“They're not there yet. I don't think there's going to be any wow factor,” Estrada said of these new applications. But they are getting better.
However, AI also has its drawbacks.
“As we rapidly become dependent on these systems, we lose the institutional memory of how things are actually done,” says Lindsell, the real estate coach. “There are a lot of people who are jumping on this bandwagon and quickly abandoning their old ways of doing things.”
Experts still need to be wary of the perpetuation of the old dangers of redlining and fair housing violations.
“The problem with these tools is that they don't have an internal moral compass. It's just input and output,” Lindsell added.
And the accuracy of the technology that once told a New York Times reporter to leave his wife (whom he loved) needs to be double- and triple-checked before the results are shipped to clients.
There is also a risk of over-reliance on AI for “people businesses” like real estate, Teresa Boardman, a Minnesota broker, wrote in Inman, an online real estate news outlet, last October.
“AI is artificial and not intelligent at all. It's not kind or friendly or all that interesting. Customers aren't looking forward to interacting with it,” Boardman wrote. . “A good, experienced real estate agent knows all sorts of things that AI can't figure out. It's like the fuzzy logic used to determine how much a house will sell for.”
Estrada added that if agents aren't careful, AI could lead to plagiarism, or worse, deepfakes.
One agent posted a photo of a backyard with a pool and fire pit, but did not disclose that those amenities were added using AI.
“We don't want to catfish buyers and sellers,” Estrada said.
Regardless of how it's used, real estate coach Lindsell predicted that AI will become even bigger in the future and “will revolutionize the way real estate professionals communicate, the way real estate is marketed, etc.”
“Task-based AI applications are also likely to revolutionize back-end operations in the real estate market,” he said. “Right now, a person is responsible for inputting and verifying every measurable (fact) included in a real estate listing. Soon, it will be done by smart machines.”
