Will AI’s Replace Real Estate Agents?
What can real estate agents do to stay relevant?
3 min read
Today’s business landscape is evolving because of technology, and more often this evolution is happening faster than our growing understanding of it. This is especially true for those of us in property, where technology has had little impact for the longest time.
But now the property industry is on the verge of radical transformation on a global and local scale, and those most affected by this will be property agents and negotiators! Are they prepared for the changes that may happen during their careers?
With Property Technology firms spreading across the market, many property agents may soon find themselves unable to compete using traditional means.
AIs are Everywhere
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already part of our everyday lives. For example, take ride-sharing apps like Grab, which uses AI that uses factors such as your location, your destination, and drivers available nearby (processing) in order to tell you the cost of the ride and when your driver will arrive (response). AIs are used because it would be impossible to hire a team to manually access data and make judgements on a case-to-case basis.
But wait, isn’t this what real estate agents are doing? Manually getting to know the needs of a client. Developing an understanding of a property’s details and of its surroundings. Personally negotiating the deal and readying the necessary paperwork.
It took just a couple of apps to take down the taxi industry worldwide. What’s stopping tech start-ups from fully disrupting the property industry?
Case Study: Property AI Brokerage
American-based Brokerage REX is part of a fast-growing group of Property Technology start-ups using AIs and other technology that helps individuals and investors to buy and sell properties online.
REX’s AIs analyse over 100,000 data points to determine potential buyers and then targets them with computer-generated social media and web advertisements. Their AIs utilizes Machine Learning to understand the common traits of advertisements responders, and then pushes advertisements to other similar individuals (known also as Lookalike Audiences). The AI also automatically tailors ads by determining which features of a home and its surroundings increases its chances of selling faster or at a better price.
Adopt and Adapt
It’s only a matter of time before Proptech Brokerages become the norm across the world, but the day will come where traditional brokerages will be too slow and too ineffective for new demands.
However, this gap between early adoption and widespread acceptance means that real estate agencies and their workforce will have time to adopt AIs and other Proptech technologies. Real estate agents won’t become unnecessary overnight. Even companies like REX Brokerage still rely on a team of agents to guide clients on both sides through the closing process.
But we will begin see a great split in performance between agents who leverage AI and those who don’t. In fact, slow adopters will miss out on opportunities that they can’t see, and may lose what markets they already have to better equipped competitors.
The Take-Away
For the longest time, the real estate industry remained relatively untouched by new developments in computer science. This isn’t the case anymore.
The agencies and brokerages of tomorrow will need tech-savvy staff with the creativity needed to transform metrics and analytics into deals. However, they will require fewer agents than the number of agents operating today.
As such, today’s real estate agents must be ready to leverage AI and other incoming Property Technology as part of their skillset, should they wish to continue to be valuable in the eyes of agencies and consumers alike.
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