Although it is true that the real estate industry has been slow when it comes to adopting digitization, it has somehow welcomed AI with open arms. Artificial Intelligence is a technological breakthrough for the fundamental shift we are witnessing now in the world and subsequently affecting the real estate sector.
With a market projected to contribute with $15.7tr to the global economy by 2030, Artificial Intelligence is believed to have a transformative impact on real estate sales. In fact, it is not only AI that is digitizing our world, but it all started with moving newspapers and magazines to online vlogs/platforms, giving up going to a store and shop to surfing the internet and having it delivered to your doorstep. The fear technology has implanted in real estate agents’ minds is undeniable, however it is evident that every real estate agent works on humanizing the journey of selling a house. The relationship between AI and real estate agents is a double-sided coin, one opinion believes that AI would replace real estate agents, but the other opinion strongly believes that adopting AI technological features will facilitate the selling process and act as a real estate agent’s assistant.
How would a real estate agent benefit from Artificial Intelligence?
No matter how eager an agent would want to close a deal, it is a hectic type of work to keep track of all the clients on a database without out-dating a client’s details. An agent would spend so much time trying to manually sort through a large database to identify trends and potential leads. AI lends a hand of help and supports analysing large databases and creating high quality leads.
- Predict market value
For many people buying a house is more of an investment than a need. An agent would not be able to solely predict the future market value, but an AI tool definitely can. How? by combining marketplace useful information, customer data, and public records that mark the interests of your buyers. A study held by NAR (National Association of Realtors) marked that 29% of respondents were completely satisfied with their broker provided level of technology, while 35% of respondents were somewhat satisfied. Several questions come to mind when it comes to the decision of purchasing a house, but no human can answer those questions with an analytical database that works according to personalized requests. - Personalizing the client’s hunt
Hunting for a home is an overwhelming experience for both the buyer and the agent, and it does not only depend on finding the right price. It’s about the whole deal and the many factors affecting the home-buying decision. Based on data, an artificial intelligence tool can seek potential clients and recommend different properties through facts and figures such as number of rooms, number of balconies, parking slots, and many other factors. AI has enough knowledge base that allows the decision to be driven towards success rather than a matter of chance. - The power of social media
Social media is not all about posting where have we spent our last summer vacation, or that recipe we found online and trying to cook it for dinner. Its power goes beyond that, where studies showed that 77% of respondents used social media for hunting a unit, 97% goes to Facebook, 59% as for LinkedIn and 39% on Instagram. There are few reasons behind using the social media platforms for real estate business, promoting listings and maintaining relationships with existing clients comes at first. - A tour without an agent
Nothing will ever replace the on-site visit where the client is accompanied by an agent, however digital content can ease the purchase process and the decision making. With these technologies, a client can have access to the desired unit 24/7, by using AI-powered bots you can search all day and all night at your convenience and even get an automated virtual tour. On behalf of an agent, an AI chat bot would reply to most of the inquiries, do the routine work and leave you the most valuable parts of the purchase process.
As technology continues to win considerable attention across all industries, a recent survey conducted by NAR (National Association of Realtors) on home buyers revealed that 50% of them bought their houses over the internet, while 28% were dependent on a real estate agent.
AI Real Estate Companies you should know about
- Zillow
Based in Seattle, is an online real estate database company founded in 2006 where the AI factor works on digital photos and portray it as property value estimates or as they prefer to call it ‘Zestimates’. Their system is trained to read millions of photos and home values, then transform them into listings. - Compass
From their office in New York, the AI tool in Compass focuses mainly on the customer relationship management platform, where the system nudges the real estate agent to contact their client when interest is detected. If a client is digitally active towards a certain unit, the agent gets a heads-up, and the platform is also capable of drafting emails. - REX
REX is an algorithm-driven platform that provides full-service real estate brokerage through AI, identifying buyers. The algorithms place property ads on social media, search engines and digital real estate marketplaces that target users based on metrics such as their recent purchase history or online surf history. - REDFIN
Is considered one of the fastest growing real estate brokerage websites that ever existed, recording more than 20 million monthly average visitors in 2017. Redfin uses machine learning and AI that allows the system to automate agent tasks such as tour scheduling and answering customer inquiries. Not just that, the app also captures the customer interaction data points, creates a profile where it is automatically placed on the AI matchmaking tool, trying to make the dream house come true and the minimum physical effort on the agent.
Many questions arise when it comes to adopting AI in the real estate industry. Is it truly boosting productivity? Is it impacting organizations and decisions? Is data really capable of replacing human force? No certain answers have been provided so far, however the key to remaining a good real estate agent is to keep a standard of quality in service and if AI is capable of speeding up the purchase process with high quality, then embracing it will get you ahead of the curve.
