Artificial intelligence has revolutionized virtually every industry, and real estate is no exception. Agents and brokers have jumped on the AI bandwagon to enhance efficiency, boost productivity, and ultimately take their businesses to new heights.
“I use AI all day, every day. It has increased all of my production by immeasurable amounts. It has personally made me smarter and much more capable than I could ever be without it,” said Andrew Fortune, brokerage owner and real estate agent at Great Colorado Homes in Colorado Springs.
Five ways AI is making life easier for real estate agents
Recently, many agents, brokers, and other professionals in the exciting yet increasingly competitive world of real estate have stepped away from the status quo and embraced AI in various ways. Let’s take a look at some of the areas where these tools have had the most significant impact.
Marketing
Every month, Fortune extracts market data from his multiple listing service (MLS) and turns it into videos with information about his agents. His agents then share these videos on social media to capture more attention from potential clients. “I use AI to support my videos with voiceovers, data interpretation, and copywriting,” said Fortune.
What once took him six to eight hours every month now only takes him an hour. Gone are the days when real estate agents have no choice but to spend hours upon hours on content creation and marketing.
Email management
Many experienced real estate professionals receive a flood of emails from clients, title companies, inspectors, stagers, and everyone in between. Fortunately, AI has made it much easier and faster to manage their inboxes.
“I task AI with reading my inbox, identifying important emails, and responding to them,” said Fortune. While he avoids quality issues by reviewing every response before it’s sent, AI tools handle the heavy lifting and dramatically speed up the time-consuming task of email management.
Administrative support
In the pre-AI era, real estate agents had to take time out of their busy schedules for tedious yet essential administrative tasks, such as property valuations and drafting listings or offer letters. Today, many of them have turned to AI to take some—or most—of their admin work off their plate.
“As a solo agent, I’ve been able to use AI to build my admin team,” said Steve Turner, a real estate agent at House Broker Realty in York, Pennsylvania. Turner explained that he has essentially replaced his virtual assistant, who cost about $6,000 per year, with AI bots.
Lead management
Generating leads as a real estate professional is only half the battle. Once you capture a lead, it’s your responsibility to follow up with them and ideally, convince them that you’re the right person for the job. Since this can be time-consuming, many agents struggle to turn their leads into clients.
Adriana Trigg, real estate agent and investor at Legionary REI in Tampa, was one of these agents. Fortunately, AI has changed that. “I’ve started using AI-driven chat and email automation to follow up with leads and keep deals warm, without it feeling robotic,” said Trigg.
Strategic planning
While most agents want to grow their business, many simply don’t have the time to. After spending most days meeting with clients, listing properties, hosting open houses, negotiating offers, and finalizing deals, their time is limited, to say the very least.
The solution? AI. Savvy agents are using it to evaluate competitors, assess real estate pros in other cities, and perform the research they need to help them get ahead (and stay there). “AI is the best partner I could ever ask for. It’s smarter than anyone I know, is available 24/7, and is not biased. It scans and interprets information at an incredibly high success rate,” explained Fortune.
Rachel Fiegler, a real estate broker at Pinpointe Group in New York City, said that she utilizes AI as much as possible to reduce the time it takes her to accomplish tasks.
Real estate agents reclaim their time with AI
In our survey titled “How do real estate agents use AI?”, which was specifically geared toward real estate pros, most respondents agreed with Fortune: AI can do wonders for listing properties and market analysis.
However, when it comes to lead management, the majority of real estate agents surveyed didn’t follow Trigg’s footsteps. They still prefer a human touch and, in turn, do not use AI to follow up with leads and clients.
As far as productivity is concerned, 50% of the real estate pros surveyed reported that AI has significantly enabled them to improve efficiency and check more items off their to-do lists every day. Thirty-five percent only saw a moderate impact, however, while the remaining 15% stated that AI had little to no impact on their day-to-day workflows.
At the end of the day, time is money. AI can give real estate professionals more hours back in their day, allowing them to focus on what robots simply can’t replace: strengthening client relationships and growing their business.
