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You’ve heard the rumors: The robots are coming for real estate
Realtors harness artificial intelligence to snag and bolster listings.
Ryan DeLisle’s buyers were moving back to Massachusetts from out of state.
They told him about a house they had always loved and were curious whether the owner was willing to sell. A realtor with Coldwell Banker Realty in Marblehead, DeLisle penned a letter to the owners on beautiful stationery, and within two to three days, received a phone call. But there’s a twist: DeLisle used ChatGPT, a popular AI chatbot that generates text, to develop the letter’s content.
You’ve probably heard the rumors: The robots are coming for real estate.
The owner ultimately decided not to sell, but DeLisle started using ChatGPT to compose letters to owners of a variety of homes he thought his buyers would like. So far this year, two of the homes he used ChatGPT to write letters for have resulted in closings, with a third in the pipeline.
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At a time when housing inventory is low, agents are getting increasingly creative in pursuit of potential listings.
“You can even say prompts like, ‘Put in homes that haven’t sold in this ZIP code for 20 years,’” DeLisle said. “It’s not as simple as I just made it, but those are people who at least want to know what their house is worth.”
DeLisle isn’t alone in his use of AI. From algorithms that forecast real estate trends to automated property management to content creation to virtual staging, AI is leaving its mark on the industry, and agents are paying attention.
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Meg Grady, a realtor with Lantern Residential in Winthrop, uses ChatGPT to refresh the listing descriptions for her recurring rental properties, likening it to a thesaurus.
But Grady said it’s essential to review the text.
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“It’s a framework. If you don’t check it and read it, that can be sticky,” she said, comparing the hesitation to embrace AI to past wariness of the internet. “That’s just as prevalent as AI is going to be from now on.”
In November 2023, McKinsey Global Institute reported that generative AI could generate $110 billion to $180 billion or more in value for the real estate industry. At the same time, it stated that “for all the hype that gen AI has received to date, many real estate organizations are finding it difficult to implement … and thus have not yet seen the promised value creation.”
Kate Ziegler, a realtor with Arborview Realty in Boston, agreed.
“I think we are too early to even conceptualize how AI will ultimately impact the world in general, but especially this industry,” Ziegler said. “And I think it’s going to go so much further than writing letters and writing listings.”
One of those further examples is REALM Global, a community of leaders in the real estate industry that uses technology and data to match clients to properties based on lifestyle, desired property attributes, and an algorithm in an encrypted environment.
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Ruth Kennedy Sudduth, vice chair of LandVest in Concord and Boston, is a member of REALM, and said she views AI in real estate as a tool to create relationships, not bypass them.
“REALM, in particular, began as a conception of a tech platform, and it pivoted to being a facilitator of relationships, because, fundamentally, it’s relationships that matter,” Kennedy Sudduth said. “Disruption is real, but you know, how can you use technology to really reinforce and deepen relationships?”
It’s that relationship with clients that most agents cite as the thing that will prevent AI from taking their jobs. Despite all of its potential capabilities, AI is a long way from replacing the bond between realtors and their clients.
“AI is a great tool,” Grady said, “but it doesn’t replace a true relationship — knowing a person, knowing their integrity.”
Send comments to [email protected]. Follow Megan Johnson on X @megansarahj and Address @globehomes.
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