Real Ways AI Can Help Realtors (Besides Just Property Listings)
Check out these insider tips on using AI to work faster and smarter — and boost your bottom line.
A few months ago, one of Kendall Bonner’s agents got a notice through Revaluate, a predictive analytics AI tool, that her clients who purchased a home the previous year were ready to sell.
“The agent didn’t believe it because they had been so happy, but she got in touch with them and it turned out they wanted to buy an investment property,” says Bonner, cofounder of the Kendall Bonner Team in Tampa and vice president, industry relations and strategic partnerships with eXp Realty. “So even though they weren’t selling, Revaluate picked up that they were ready for another real estate transaction that I could help them with.”
Bonner is a fan of predictive analytics, which flags data points, such as tenure in a home; changes that may trigger a move, such as a shift in household configuration; homeowners’ online searches for topics, such as whether they can DIY a home improvement project; and data that points to identify likely movers.
“If you get a lead that someone you know is a likely mover, you can just call them to check in and ask them about their family and their house,” Bonner says. “Naturally they will tell you if they are thinking about selling.”
Other tech tools she recommends include:
- QR codes on yard signs to provide information and capture leads.
- QR codes on listing brochures that link to agent reviews.
- Homebot for automated valuations.
- Fello for a smarter AI-enabled database.
- ChatGPT to search for relevant real estate news to share with clients.
- AI to automate responses to emails and texts, such as directing someone to a calendar with potential meeting times.
“AI is a powerful tool, but it’s not the only solution or the only thing to do,” Bonner says. “You need a good strategy about how you’ll reach out, how often and how to keep continually following up before you invest in tech tools that generate more leads.”
ChatGPT: More than just talk
Andres Asion, broker of the Miami Real Estate Group and an early adopter of ChatGPT, uses the tool for far more than property descriptions or social media posts. He finds the tool particularly useful for contract reviews.
“Every time I get a contract from someone, especially with an addendum that can be as long as 15 pages, I run it through ChatGPT,” Asion says. “I tell ChatGPT that I am the buyer’s agent for the contract, and I ask it to tell me if there are any red flags in the contract that might hurt my buyer. I still go through it and read it, too, but this points to sections of the contract that should get extra attention.”
ChatGPT is also a useful tool to evaluate investment properties for clients, Asion says. “Running a spreadsheet through ChatGPT can quickly analyze the rent roll and comps so you can advise an investor about a property’s income potential,” he says.
Kendall Bonner, with the Kendall Bonner Team in Tampa, also finds ChatGPT useful for analysis and information. For example, if your goal is to rank higher in Google searches, she suggests asking ChatGPT to compare your social media with your competition and offer 10 tips to rank higher.
Michele Lerner is a Washington, D.C.,-based freelance writer.