The rapid maturation of artificial intelligence is dominating headlines, driving business efficiencies, data insights and predictive analytics, client communications and has the potential to dramatically change how you work.
AI’s use in real estate includes an array of consumer-friendly, agent-empowering applications that are easy to learn and affordable. New licensees can expedite critical business tasks with a single prompt, reducing time to self-sufficiency with less upfront investment. Enterprise technology vendors are augmenting products with automated intelligence and PropTech startups are using AI to devise new, niche use cases earning millions in venture capital.
Let’s look at how real estate business practices are evolving under this new, AI-enabled ecosystem.
1. No More Writer’s Block: AI and Marketing Ideation
Real estate agents were initially introduced to AI via automated listing descriptions—an easy cure for writer’s block. Today, that use case is no more unique than a yard sign.
Marketing technology companies now specialize in using AI to carry out sophisticated, multichannel campaigns. They allow agents to execute online advertising plans and manage their Meta accounts.
If you need something even more cutting edge, “synthetic humans”—agent clones or personified chat assistants—are being used to deliver marketing messages, holiday greetings and CMAs.
AI has found its way into email marketing, too. AI can suggest engaging subject lines and develop original content. It remains imperfect, however—so follow best practices for cutting jargon and inconsistent style. Nevertheless, AI can remove that initial, highest hurdle—coming up with what to write.
2. Checking It Twice: How AI Is Improving Transaction Flow
Standardized industry forms come with the security of agreed-upon legality.
However, form redundancy leads humans to habituation, and thus, assumption and indifference.
These human conditions are unknown to AI, giving it the power to look for errors and omissions with automated consistency, as if seeing every document for the first time. It can learn new and updated documents faster, consider changes to regulations and ensure stakeholders never miss key fields, signature lines, dates or waiver clauses. Its use in document review is especially helpful now that fully digital contracts have hastened the signature process—zipping documents from inbox to inbox.
Further, inspection reports benefit from AI’s integration in ways that can measurably shrink the escrow calendar. It can access historical repair data, local labor costs, warranty information and even specific appliance manufacturer concerns. In turn, this helps quickly identify items in a home that are most at risk of failure or least likely to impact the buyer.
Inspectors are completing reports faster thanks to computer vision’s ability to use photos to pinpoint property irregularities. It can also complete field descriptions, recognize flaws and input repair conclusions and estimates in minutes.
3. Let’s Role Play: Prompt Your Way to Honing Sales Skills
The industry’s great coaches and sales consultants can still rest easy, but AI sales training is absolutely carving out a niche in the space.
Using essentially the same conversational models as common chatbots and lead capture automations, AI can now assume a number of industry roles to test and train agents. Companies are building training modules that replicate an array of personas, from the “stubborn seller” to “worried first-time buyer.” Responses are realistic, emotional and often frustrating—just like people!
4. Partner Up: The AI and CRM Team Approach
Agentic AI is making lead generation easier. Task-specific and largely autonomous, AI agents are emerging in CRM solutions, website calls-to-action and chat interfaces.is making lead generation easier. Task-specific and largely autonomous, AI agents are emerging in CRM solutions, website calls-to-action, and chat interfaces.
It can be used for lead capture, trained to hand-off a call or email thread at designated thresholds of interest. The AI agent can send emails, texts and even make outbound calls.
The days of having to disguise your AI as a human assistant are over. No more deliberate typos or contrived emojis. AI sales tools now identify themselves upfront, depending largely on the ever-increasing acceptance by consumers of the use of these digital assistants.
AI is not relegated to only new leads; it also works to resurface previous or reticent contacts. This is executed by active monitoring of a person’s recent activity, such as executing a home search or maybe making a mortgage rate query.
Most AI agents can craft their outreach around the activity type and person’s transaction history, as well as take into account price ranges, location and lifestyle needs. In essence, a lead-driven AI partner may soon be one of the most valuable ways real estate agents can leverage this technology.
5. Touch Up: The Rise of Computer Vision and Visual Marketing
Computer vision is a type of AI that interprets data from what it sees in still images. It’s the technology behind a lot of data capture for multiple listing services today. It expedites listing descriptions and empowers consumers to perform a home search by sharing an image of a preferred home type. It’s also being used by MLSs to meet image compliance.
With computer vision adopted nearly industry-wide, AI-based image editing is quickly becoming equally popular. Whereas agents used to (justifiably) spend a good deal of money on precise photo editing, AI is now a budget-friendly resource for decluttering, lighting enhancements and curb appeal updates. It can remove furniture, apply an entirely new interior design or merely stage a vacant room. is quickly becoming equally popular. Whereas agents used to (justifiably) spend a good deal of money on precise photo editing, AI is now a budget-friendly resource for decluttering, lighting enhancements, and curb appeal updates. It can remove furniture, apply an entirely new interior design, or merely stage a vacant room.
Marketers are realizing its power to create virtual tours from only a few still shots or emulate a drone’s fly-through effect to enhance digital listing visuals.
Adapt or Adopt?
Much of what AI is bringing to real estate is centered around efficiency for the sake of consumer service. But there are many ways AI can help improve your business’s internal operations, too, such as with the pace of responses and depth of insights. Buyers and sellers expect speed and decisiveness—and with the right AI tools at your side, agents are more equipped than ever to provide clients with exactly that.
Author
Sharon Love-Bates
Sharon Love-Bates is Director, Emerging Technology within the Strategic Business, Innovation & Technology group at the National Association of REALTORS®.
