Since ChatGPT was introduced to the public two years ago, people all over the media have been analyzing the potential applications (and dangers) of this AI chatbot across various corporate sectors and industries. Real estate is no exception.
However, while ChatGPT offers many advantages, it’s essential to understand its limitations and the potential risks of over-reliance. This guide will walk you through the benefits of using ChatGPT in your real estate business, as well as important warnings to consider.
What Is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by a company called OpenAI. It applies natural language processing and machine learning to create human-like responses and content. There are free and paid versions with different levels of capability.
How Does ChatGPT Work?
Based on the data it is trained on, ChatGPT attempts to comprehend your prompt before using natural language processing to produce human-like responses that it believes will best answer your questions.
ChatGPT was initially trained by professionals with feedback on the quality of its responses. Now users can hit a thumbs-up or thumbs-down button to continue its learning.
Are There Alternatives to ChatGPT?
For text generation, the most popular alternatives include:
- Google Gemini
- Microsoft Copilot
- Claude
- Perplexity
- Meta AI
- Jasper
- Copy.ai
Each AI chatbot has its own strengths, weaknesses, and use cases, so do some research on the right one for you.
Benefits of ChatGPT in Real Estate
Real estate agents have several potential benefits from integrating ChatGPT into their real estate operations.
Automated Lead Generation
ChatGPT can help overworked real estate agents by handling tedious but lead-generating tasks, like drafting cold call scripts and social media posts, allowing them to focus agent productivity on client work.
Marketing Ideas
It can also make some parts of your job easier. It can be your brainstorming buddy when looking for new marketing ideas. It can give you a starting point for gathering information, from finding keywords to market research.
Agents who have used AI in their real estate operations report achieving results like increasing listing views or social media impressions, improving lead generation, reducing communication response times, and more.
Limitations of ChatGPT
As with any service, there are limitations to what ChatGPT can accomplish. A common mistake people make when using AI-based chatbots is overestimating their capabilities, but there are also ethical and privacy concerns.
Inaccuracies
As users have found out the hard way, ChatGPT can hallucinate facts, invent research that doesn’t exist, and invent quotes from real people.
There are accuracy concerns even when you’re using the most recent information, but when you use the free version of ChatGPT, the information it’s trained on may be outdated. This means it can give you information that was accurate a few years ago but may no longer be accurate today.
As a result, you should always verify and cross-reference the information ChatGPT provides you with reliable sources.
Plagiarism and Quality Concerns
When you ask ChatGPT to do part of your job for you without critically reviewing it, you risk not only inaccurate content but also content that is partially plagiarized or out of legal compliance. Not to mention that the text produced by AI chatbots tends to look too generic, so it won’t accurately represent your brand.
A good rule of thumb is not to request complete blog entries from ChatGPT for your websites.
Privacy Violations
The privacy statement for ChatGPT makes it clear that after you input anything, your information is made public and is usable by other AI training systems.
Businesses should be cautious about how their employees use ChatGPT. Avoid entering private information, such as contacts or customer information, into chats.
How to Use ChatGPT as a Real Estate Agent
To get the benefits of an AI chatbot without running afoul of the limitations, many people struggle more with how to use ChatGPT than where.
Here’s how not to use ChatGPT: don’t prompt and post. It’s dangerous to go with an AI chatbot’s suggestions without stopping to judge the content for yourself.
When using AI chatbots for research, double-check any unfamiliar “facts” with reliable sources and don’t take anything it says as truth.
When generating content, keep in mind that AI chatbots can create text that has the wrong tone, leaves the wrong impression, or violates legal and regulatory requirements. It can also generate watered-down text that ultimately means nothing. That can leave the impression that you don’t know how to do your job.
The best use of AI in real estate is in generating options to pick and choose from. Here are a few ways it can be helpful for real estate agents to apply ChatGPT.
As a Brainstorming Partner
One of the hardest parts of being a real estate agent is that you’re on your own. The only ideas you have to go on are your own, and for some critical aspects of real estate – like marketing – that can put you in a rut.
ChatGPT changes that. It can help you generate ideas – whether you’re trying to devise a lead magnet or looking for keyword options. ChatGPT can give you a long list of options. Some will be inappropriate and some will be mundane, but some will spark new ideas to build on and new directions to try.
Improving Your Copy
Some of us aren’t wordsmiths – whether you’re writing emails or drafting call scripts, you can probably use a little help with some aspect of your writing.
Real estate agents can use ChatGPT to improve the clarity, brevity, and readability of text so that your message gets through.
Dressing Up Your Copy
The first time you wrote a property description, you might have been inspired; by the five thousandth time, you were probably tired.
ChatGPT can make things interesting, engaging, and fresh. Just make sure that the overall tone of the copy matches the property, or you risk straying into false advertising in the name of catching attention.
Appealing to Different Audiences
Marketing professionals know that it pays to speak directly to a specific audience in every campaign, but changing your message to appeal to a specific audience probably isn’t a skill you have.
ChatGPT has your back. It can pitch the same message in different tones and for different segments of your database.
Generating Multiple Variations
Another marketing secret is to test out multiple phrasings and see what performs the best – it’s called A/B testing. You can A/B test high-impact pieces of text like calls to action, email subject lines, and ad copy.
ChatGPT can help in the generation step – ask it to provide multiple options and pick the best two or three to try out.
Where to Use ChatGPT as a Real Estate Agent
Keeping the “how” above in mind, there are a few places you can use AI in real estate to boost agent productivity and efficiency.
Listing Descriptions
Writing property descriptions can be time-consuming and, in many cases, tedious. You try to find new ways to describe similar properties and make them sound appealing while keeping them accurate.
ChatGPT can be a great resource – provide basic details about a property and watch it go. Just remember to be selective in what you use.
Social Media Posts
Whether you’re brainstorming high-performing post ideas or struggling with copy, ChatGPT can help make your social media marketing a lot less painful…and time-consuming.
Email Marketing
ChatGPT can help you generate compelling email subjects to improve your click rate, modify copy for brevity, and help you appeal to different audience segments.
Personalized Listings
Every prospective buyer or tenant has different tastes and requirements for the property, but when you post a listing description, you’re probably trying to appeal to the broadest audience.
AI chatbots can help you generate personalized pitches for a property for each client. Provide property information and client preferences and get copy that emphasizes the features that will appeal to a specific client.
Scripts
One of the most time-consuming parts of real estate is writing scripts for films, virtual tours, and phone calls. ChatGPT can develop a script in a matter of seconds, whether you need one for a serious corporate presentation or an interesting advertisement.
Educate Yourself from Reliable Sources
As a real estate agent, you should always explore tools like ChatGPT for yourself and see how they can positively impact your career. However, you have to be cautious of the limitations and flaws.
As we’ve explained, one of the major problems with ChatGPT is that it’s not the most reliable source for acquiring information. That’s why it’s important to learn from a variety of sources, most of which are reliable.
As a well-established real estate training provider, our offer online pre-licensing and continuing education courses can help you tackle new subjects while earning credits accepted by your state real estate board.
Check out our catalog and start your journey today!
Written and Published by: VanEd
