Real estate property technology, or “Proptech”, has been years in the making.
Defined as the “intersection” between the real estate sector and technologies such as AI, virtual reality and blockchain, Proptech can be used to manage, market, sell, buy and transfer property, according to Ascendix Tech.com.
The sector continues to experience different consumer demands – and expectations around the methods for buying, selling and managing real estate.
“The access to AI products for the average person has become a game changer,” said Frank Morici, a Realtor at Morganelli Properties in Bethlehem. Morici works with residential, commercial and land sales clients throughout the Lehigh Valley.
Familiar Protech names include Zillow.com and Airbnb, though they’re the tip of the industry’s iceberg, said Dan Weisman, director innovative strategy National Association Realtors in Chicago.
“The concept of AI has been around for 70 plus years, and AI really hit the scene about a year and a half ago with Chat GPT,” he said.
Weisman oversees the strategy and innovation team at the National Association of Realtors. His group has been discussing AI integration for real estate professionals for more than five years.
Evolving landscape
Much of the personal tech used by consumers now has AI behind it, so while the concept of generational AI seems new, it’s not, Weisman said.
What’s different today is how consumers are plugged into using more powerful personal technology in their daily lives.
“People need to touch, feel and get their hands on things to understand them. It was a pivotal point,” he said.
Realtors are using Proptech in new ways, too, Weisman said.
Facebook ads, Chat GPT and OpenAI’s recent partnership announcement integrating ChatGPT with Apple products may once again shift how generative AI is used by consumers and real estate professionals.
These announcements “made us think more about the power of technology – specifically generative AI – and what it could do to support our personal lives and businesses,” Weisman said.
Who’s using it – and how
Previous generations had to drive around neighborhoods to get a sense of them. Now, real estate consumers can view detailed information about cities and towns on their own, like shopping, services, hospitals and school district information – before calling a Realtor for a new home search.
Weisman said consumers can use generative AI while scrolling through home listings on Zillow or Realtor.com. The software provides the most sought after information.
And ChatGPT can provide more detailed and concise answers to questions about real estate markets faster.
“I think that’s a benefit for consumers,” he said.
From taking on administrative tasks to data gathering and sorting, AI is a way to free Realtors from mundane and often tedious tasks, which take them away from serving clients face-to-face.
“NAR members are generally excited about this tech because it supports the day to day administrative tasks around the things they have to do,” he said.
Weisman said ChatGPT makes writing social media posts or Instagram video scripts easy and efficient.
That means tasks directly apart of clients can be done faster and with more efficiency.
“It starts to ease what can feel like burdensome tasks. Realtors can then spend more direct face time with their customers,” he said.
People-facing industry
Real estate has long been a “handshake business,” according to Weisman.
From meeting people to networking and helping prospective home buyers and sellers find their dream homes, the sector requires an individual and personal touch.
Proptech is simply one more tool – albeit a powerful tool – in the industry kit, alongside human interaction.
“Tech will never replace that aspect of the industry,” he said.
Evolving housing market
A perfect storm of low housing inventory, high demand, relatively high interest loan rates and fast-moving home sale turnover creates continued challenges for Realtors and buyers.
Weisman is excited in virtual reality and augmented reality platforms, supported by AI, to explore available housing and showcase product to potential buyers.
He said virtual reality (VR) platforms provide a way for a client to take a photograph of a home or specific room and upload it into software to convert it to another use.
“It could help home buyers visualize and re-imagine properties in ways previously unimagined. Augmented reality (AR) is where you can take a space and a sneak peak how it could look when you make it your own,” he said.
From REimagine home.ai to Virtual Staging AI.app these remodeling and staging platforms create more engagement opportunity for Realtors and their clients.
Social media and Proptech uses
Morici said social media continues to be an important and dynamic factor to find clients and market properties.
He uses AI to create baseline comps for a home before digging into tax records and doing “comp sales and the longhand approach to arrive at an accurate home value estimate.
“We use AI for inventory management and for searching inventory. You’re plugging questions or specific market types or distance, recently renovated, search by property age and layout. It breaks things down better,” Morici said.
Where AI lags behind is capturing renovations or recent home updates, which may not be reflected in any centralized database.
“AI may not capture all the information you want, so you may not be getting the whole picture” on a property. “AI is only as good as the detail it can find,” he said.
Younger agents may have an advantage
While adapting to fluctuations in housing markets and lending is an integral ingredient for a Realtor’s career success, Morici said younger agents who are “digital natives” may be more tech savvy than their older peers – creating a chance for better collaboration.
“Younger agents may have less experience as an agent, but they have more experience with operating systems,” he said.
Lead generation made easier
Mike Rohm said AI driven lead generation by third party firms for real estate market participants – like residential and commercial land developers – has become easier.
Rohm is director of valuation and advisory for Landmark Commercial Realty in Camp Hill, Cumberland County.
“Companies like CoStar make it a lot easier to find market participants and their contact information” saving hours of intensive labor to individually discover and source prospects, Rohm said.
ChatGPT can be used to help with appraisal creation, as neighborhood analysis both strength – and a software weakness because much of the information lags about two years behind real time.
“That’s a huge weakness across the board for stat related things because the ChatGPT isn’t current,” he said.
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