Editor’s Note: The Playbook is an RISMedia biweekly segment centering on what brokers and agents are doing to ensure they not only survive but thrive in these challenging times. Industry professionals explain the strategies they’re employing and unique ideas they’ve formulated. Tune in every other Thursday for another addition to the series.
In a recent RISMedia Rocking in the New Year virtual conference session, sponsored by Lofty, the conversation explored how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to boost productivity in the real estate industry. Panelists shared their experiences using AI tools such as ChatGPT, which can help with tasks like writing listing presentations, creating blog posts and generating social media content.
The session, titled, “How Agents and Brokers Can Use AI to Boost Productivity” was moderated by Matthew O’Connor, COO, Terrie O’Connor REALTORS®. Panelists included Michele Bellisari, REALTOR®, Real Brokerage, LLC; Anam Hargey, Team Leader/Broker, @properties Christie’s International Real Estate; and Shelly Vincent, VP of Operations, Employing Broker, HomeSmart.
The panelists emphasized that AI is a tool that can enhance productivity and efficiency, rather than replacing real estate agents. They also discussed the importance of editing and reviewing AI-generated content to ensure accuracy and personalization, while highlighting the future potential of AI in the industry, predicting that agents who embrace AI will have a competitive advantage in terms of targeting markets and producing high-quality materials. The experts encouraged others to explore and experiment with AI tools, as they can be beneficial both professionally and personally.
“Obviously, AI is changing our industry, and there are so many tools that are coming out almost daily now,” said Vincent. “I have found that AI helping to write listing presentations is amazingly accurate. Also to start conversations where we had our old prompt chatbots. Now we have the large language model ones that are creating much more natural conversations. So I think one of the best ways that we’re seeing AI in our industry now is through productivity.”
Bellisari said that she uses AI “every day in my business, literally, since about December 2022. I use it for listing descriptions, creating hyperlocal blog posts, SEO and keyword search and content strategy, and also creating business plans and a variety of hashtags that are hyperlocal to my business and area.”
Hargey admitted that she’s been a tad late to the AI party, but has caught up and is a big proponent of it as she leads her team.
“I’d been hesitant to start using AI, but now find that it really helps me in the things that I struggle with,” she said. “It’s helped me make a plan for the whole year, when to post, what ideas to post, what hashtags to use and, of course, it helps me with my listings. The things it can help you with are endless.”
Just another shiny object?
O’Connor sought opinions on whether AI was for sure a permanent part of the tech future for real estate professionals or if it might be, as he called it, “just another bright, shiny object.”
“It is a bright, shiny object, but it really does work,” said Vincent. “Is it going to replace people? Is it going to replace REALTORS®? I really don’t think it is. It’s a great tool, and we have to go with the times that are changing and keep up with all the new technology. And AI is one of those things. In the future, it’s going to take over many things, and if we don’t know how to use it, or how to keep up, we’re going to fall behind.”
Flipping the switch, O’Connor asked about the drawbacks of AI, what it does that is not of use to agents and brokers, and how it might even be detrimental if used the wrong way.
“If you’re writing a blog post for example, and it’s hyperlocal, the information might not be up to date or correct,” admitted Bellisari. “So that’s something you have to be very careful of. And when you’re reading something, run it through a plagiarism app to make sure it’s not somebody else’s content. Another thing is that it’s really not a search engine, and it will come back and tell you it’s not really a search engine per se. And when you’re creating an email and it says, I hope this email finds you well, and I think everybody knows exactly what I’m talking about, you kind of need to get that off there. So there are some things that are a little repetitive and things that it doesn’t do well, but I’m sure it’s going to learn.”
The next topic of discussion centered around how much time AI saves industry professionals. O’Connor pointed out that everything produced by ChatGPT must be carefully reviewed, which also takes time.
“I do end up spending maybe 20, 30 minutes editing stuff, depending on how long of a thing it is, but it still has saved me the initial time of creating the entire outline or the whole basis,” said Hargey. “Going through it takes time, making sure we’re not plagiarizing, making sure that it is more my tone and not so professional. But as I get more practice with it, it still is saving me a lot of time in the end.”
Vincent added that it helps the creativity aspect of writing as well.
“I can’t think of how many times I’ve stared at a blank screen just trying to come up with a correct saying or just the direction I want to go, where AI can just spit it out so quickly,” she said. “But the editing is an extremely important part of the process in that we’re finding many different variances and inaccuracies. But it’s a much faster process to edit than to create.”
Bellisari provided specifics on how AI helps her save time and perfect online offerings.
“One of the things I like to do is blog, which used to be a two- or three-day process,” she said. “Now it’s like a two-hour process because I can put in my thoughts, I can put in the keywords, I can put in the SEO description and it spits it out for me. I can even ask ChatGPT to make suggestions on what kind of photos to use on the blog, which I use as a lead generator. So at the end of the day when we’re doing social media, we’re doing YouTube, we’re doing blogging, lead magnets, etc., we’re trying to build an email list and lead generate. And it has really helped me put together more succinct emails and responses to clients, potential buyers, potential sellers and even circling back with a buyer who may have ghosted you, coming up with very humorous ways to reconnect.”
Vincent puts a bow on the wow factor of something that didn’t even exist a few years ago.
“It’s almost daily that I find new ways that AI can help me in my business,” she said. “I just recently had it write out a 10-slide presentation for me. It was absolutely amazing just inputting the subject matter, the flow of it, the timeframe that I had. It spit out the subject matter of each slide, what it should be with graphics, and also you can get the AI to talk more in your voice.”
Like many things people don’t understand, getting into AI can be intimidating. This was initially the case for Hargey, who ultimately decided that it was too important for her career to not to at least give it a shot, and she recommends other newbies do likewise.
“I was really resistant with AI and, similarly, I was very resistant with social media and prospecting there,” she admitted. “One day I thought maybe I should use AI to work on my social media, so I just started playing with it. ChatGPT was something everybody hears of, so I tried it, and I was amazed at all the different things it could do. It’s still learning my voice and through that I’m kind of starting to learn my own voice. What do I like to post? Do I want it to be more professional? More friendly? One time I was having a really tough time explaining something, so I said, ‘ChatGPT, explain this to a fifth grader.’ And it did it in such a way that I could send it to my client. It worked out really well. So get out there and start playing with it. It’s not something scary or hard to use.”
Vincent cautioned that agents ignoring AI could fall behind when chasing listings and clients. Homebuyers and sellers usually want REALTORS® with state-of-the-art tech capabilities. Old school is definitely not valued by the new generation.
“Obviously, the big thing in our industry right now is AI, and it will not replace a real estate agent, but an agent using AI will,” she said. “And I see that to be more true by the day. The tools that I have, the content I’m able to create, the speed at which I’m able to do it, and the quality of the materials I’m able to produce are so much higher than an agent not using it that I believe you’re going to see a very fast adoption of it in our industry.
“We’re going to be able to spend much less money on advertising and be able to pinpoint those target markets so much better, so much more efficiently. That is absolutely a necessity as we move forward. We’re entering the next generation right now. We had the internet, then we had mobile applications, and now we have AI, which will revolutionize our industry just as much as the other applications did.”
5 key takeaways:
- AI is a tool that can enhance productivity and efficiency, rather than replacing real estate agents, so REALTORS® should embrace it..
- It is important to edit and review all AI-generated content to ensure accuracy and personalization.
- One drawback of AI-generated content, a blog post for example, is that the information is not hyperlocal, and hyperlocal is what you want.
- AI can save users a lot of time when they are struggling to be creative, as it provides almost instant leads and information.
- Agents should explore using ChatGPT even if they are not tech-savvy, as it is not just the future, but the present as well.
