Artificial intelligence is changing our daily lifestyle and work. It’s hard to find an industry not using machine learning in some capacity to improve business operations. While the real estate space has traditionally been slow to incorporate new technologies, AI’s offerings are turning heads.
Tech-based companies are forming to capitalize on the advantages of AI, and corporate brokers and investors are incorporating the technologies to improve customer acquisition leads, satisfaction and service, with the understanding that these programs reduce some of the routine employee tasks and can increase profits.
Artificial intelligence learns faster, thinks quicker, digs deeper and produces more accurate information and analytics. For a single investor or group, incorporating AI can provide an edge over competitors.
Three Ways Artificial Intelligence Can Lead to Smarter Buying And Selling
Fix-and-flippers looking for properties can use AI to help the search process. There are several AI services already on the market, and more will come. If you’re looking for specific programs, just ask Alexa or Siri.
1. Virtual Assistance 24/7
A chatbot is a program that interacts with a person through voice or text. These virtual assistants are designed to simulate how someone would behave in a conversation with another person. Through conversations with potential clients, chatbots collect and store data from human interactions, which real estate agents and investment firms can capitalize on to generate more leads and sales. For example, Austin-based OJO Labs is developing such technology and so far has raised nearly $70 million.
Bots can help to screen out unqualified inquiries automatically, instead of taking up valuable time to manually screen. They offer immediate and real-time answers to visitors for routine questions, instead of having to wait to connect with a human for the same response. And because chatbots collect data automatically, it makes follow-up conversations with qualified leads easier.
Perhaps the most significant benefit from bots is availability. This is AI, and it does not sleep — it continues collecting information during each and every interaction.
2. Ditching Pen And Pencil
Investors understand that the longer a property is on the market, the lower the profit margin. Tech companies are developing AI programs that automatically enter information into online databases about property specs such as kitchens, room types, basement status and more. In some cases, these programs can use photographs to gather this information.
With AI handling data entry, agents representing investors and contractors can work smarter, not harder, to increase sales and profit margins.
3. Finding The Right Property
Limiting the time it takes to find properties to buy and sell can increase profitability. Search engines have certainly made it easier for investors to find fix-and-flip prospects, but AI is revolutionizing this process as it collects data from previous searches to produce more accurate results.
AI’s analytic approach can help investors looking for a specific type of property find options and also potentially predict sites that will become available in the future. Opendoor, an online homebuying and selling company, and others like it use AI-backed algorithms to determine a price before purchasing a property. The result is more accurate information delivered faster, which provides the investor extra time to gather the necessary cash if they wish to move on a property.
Non-AI-Generated Final Thoughts
Artificial intelligence has a lot of upside for those of us working in the real estate space, just as it has benefited other industries. Its emergence, however, does not eliminate the need for human intervention. Investors will still need to ultimately select which properties best fit their portfolios, and in some cases, rely on living and breathing real estate agents to turn that fix-and-flip into a sale.
To capitalize on AI’s advantages, real estate investors and the industry have to accept that these bots are watching and listening. This is not done to spy — it is necessary for AI to provide more accurate results. Artificial intelligence is designed to learn, and the more it is used, the better its performance.