How AI Tools Like ChatGPT Can Benefit Commercial Real Estate Agents & Brokers
Specializes in providing actionable insights into the commercial real estate space for investors, brokers, lessors, and lessees. He covers quarterly market data reports, investment strategies, how-to guides, and top-down perspectives on market movements.
A major topic of recent public conversation has been the effect that artificial intelligence (AI) will have on the economy. The recent releases of OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot and DALL-E image creation models have caused an explosion of interest in the technology, with many industry leaders predicting massive disruptions.
AI, as a result, is poised to make a massive difference in the commercial real estate sector. New suites of AI tools, like ChatGPT, provide potentially limitless applications and opportunities for commercial real estate agents and brokers to streamline their workflows and increase productivity.
Here, we’ll talk about some of the ways AI tools can potentially assist real estate agents and brokers. We’ll cover some of the benefits and features that come with using AI technology and also discuss the risks.
#1 – Lead Generation
It’s common for commercial real estate agents & brokers to struggle with consistently generating new leads. AI tools can be used to follow up on leads via text or email. Natural language processing models can mimic human conversation and nurture leads to keep them in the loop.
AI can also assist in writing and creating advertising copy that brokers and agents can use in their lead-generating ads.
Once a lead decides they want to see a property, the AI can hand off the details to the broker, complete with a list of the lead’s preferences. As such, AI tools that handle remedial tasks such as these can allow agents & brokers to more efficiently spend their time.
#2 – Loan Modeling & Financing
Commercial real estate investing involves much in the way of creating loan and financial modeling to predict movements and create revenue projections. Brokers and agents always crunch numbers about real estate, but AI tools give them a new way to streamline this process of modeling.
Pattern recognition algorithms can analyze market data to create fast and accurate predictions so those privy to the data can invest funds more responsibly. In the past, this kind of modeling required specialized knowledge and advanced software.
The advent of AI can democratize these technologies, meaning access to accurate model creation could be available to investors of all backgrounds, funding, and experience, not just to institutional actors who have the capital to finance a team of professional analysts.
#3 – Data Analysis & Management
Wherever you have large amounts of data, AI has an application. Real estate agents and brokers comb through large amounts of data every day. AI tools can comb through listings to gather important information, such as asking rates, square footage, lease terms, and more.
Even better, you can use AI tools to create entire databases for comparing and contrasting property listings. Depending on the natural language processing software you use, you can make your results as coarse or fine-grained as you want.
#4 – Direct Communications
One potential niche for AI in the commercial real estate industry is direct communication with clients and tenants. ChatGPT, in particular, can create custom copy for listings, emails, and text messages and provide immediate, automated responses to client queries.
Offloading direct communications to an AI frees up hands to perform more complex management.
#5 – Broker Assistance
Another possible avenue for AI is broker assistance. The main role of commercial real estate brokers and agents was to find properties to show potential buyers. The rise of listing services has made it easier for buyers to curate their own lists of properties, but brokers and agents still remain necessary for higher-level decisions.
Modern AIs, however, are much more capable of complex decision-making. A recent 2016 experiment compared an AI against three human real estate agents to find the best property for a buyer. In all three cases, the buyer chose the AI-recommended property.
Of course, these experiments don’t mean brokers and agents are unnecessary. Agents and brokers, unlike AI, can assist with contract negotiations, viewings, and connecting the buyer with the right professionals. Tech-savvy brokers can use AI to find the best properties for clients as fast as possible, freeing up time to manage other tasks.
The Risks of Using AI for Brokers and Agents
AI has a lot of potential applications, but it also carries some risks. Below are some of the largest potential risks of using AI tech for your commercial real estate business:
- AI can produce inaccurate information, so it’s crucial to have a human on hand to fact-check all figures, data, and numbers. Additionally, AI-generated content might seem correct and authoritative, but you should always proofread for errors.
- AI tools come with their own intellectual property and copyright issues. AI tools pull from all types of sources to generate content, some of which might be copyrighted. You can be held legally and financially liable if your AI tools infringe on the work of others.
- AI can potentially disrupt your SEO efforts. Although Google says that their search algorithms don’t penalize AI-generated content as long as it’s high value, results can still be penalized if you use AI to intentionally game the algorithm. Regardless of how you generate the content, you’ll need a human to verify the final product.
If you plan on using AI as an agent or broker, tread carefully and always double-check the work it produces.
AI Is a Supplement, Not a Substitute
In the end, AI is not a substitute for expertise and knowledge but rather a supplement and tool that can be used to streamline operations. Commercial real estate agents and brokers that utilize these tools should also be aware of their shortcomings.
AI is certainly capable of amazing things, but ultimately, human intervention is still required. However, AI represents an incredible paradigm shift in the commercial real estate industry that will lower the barrier to entry for agents, brokers, investors, and many others to come.
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