From automation to generative AI: The future of real estate agents

Automation: The foundation of innovation

The introduction of automation, built on traditional AI models, has provided real estate agents with significant efficiency improvements. Alongside the Netherlands, we are competing for the leading position globally regarding the number of transactions per agent per year. The extensive collection of data from multiple sources has created a solid foundation for innovative approaches. By gathering data from real estate broker systems like Vitec, Visma, and Websystemer, as well as websites, a seamless interaction is enabled, allowing for the automation of marketing, communication, and reporting. This frees up valuable time and resources, leading to increased customer satisfaction.

While AI has been increasingly prominent in society over the past decade, it wasn't until the introduction of generative AI last autumn that we truly saw the extensive changes unfolding in the daily lives of ordinary workers. After just one year, we are already witnessing its significant impact.

Generative AI: From vision to reality

Generative AI is defined as advanced artificial intelligence capable of generating new content, including images, audio, code, and text, rather than merely analyzing or acting based on existing data.

In other words, generative AI takes existing technology to the next level and opens the door to a world of possibilities in real estate. Like other machine learning solutions, this form of AI learns from patterns and structures in existing data but stands out by subsequently generating new data and materials with similar characteristics.

For instance, ChatGPT can produce text for prospectuses and property listings, Midjourney can use text to create realistic images, Pictory can generate videos from various angles, including virtual tours and interior details, and AIVA creates soundtracks for property videos and marketing materials.

Photo: With the help of generative AI, visualizations can be enhanced. Here, AI was asked to create "a summer cabin by the sea in Norway, camera angle from the garden towards the cabin and the sea, natural light and details, realistic." Furthermore, it was given the command to "remove clouds, add sunshine, and a sailboat." The left image is the original generated image, while the right one is enhanced.

Contextualization and value enhancement

An essential aspect of GPT-4 and other modern generative AI solutions is their ability to understand context and tailor messages accordingly. Less advanced models have existed for many years but often lacked the necessary context to comprehend what they were asked to do truly. Modern generative AI paves the way for more advanced and intuitive interactions, which can be of tremendous value to real estate agents.

Generative AI represents not just a change in tools but a shift in workflow and approach. Some tasks will change or even disappear, but simultaneously, the value and significance of other tasks will increase. By eliminating routine tasks, time and resources are freed up for more creative and strategic activities to enhance the buyer and seller's customer experience.

The real estate agent of the future

Generative AI signifies an exciting path forward for the real estate industry. It offers opportunities for expanded service offerings, increased efficiency, and improved quality in the services provided by agents. The "assistant" that generative AI represents will eventually evolve into a valuable collaborator, enabling the handling of more transactions per agent and creating an even better experience for customers.

Marketer: Leading AI-based real estate platform

Since 2016, Marketer has been interested in the intersection of technology and real estate and has long adopted various AI technologies.

- "In the future, we plan to complement our in-house developed models with generative AI. The goal is to automatically generate content our customers need, such as ad copy and property descriptions, and allow users to iterate on this text with a combination of user-generated text and instructions to the AI model. Everything will be enriched with the data we have, so the result is not only accurate and appealing but also optimized for what one wants to achieve," says Kaisa Eidet, COO of Marketer.

Marketer has taken the position as Europe's leading and only AI-based end-to-end platform for digital marketing and sales for both newbuilds and existing homes. Even with offices in four countries and customers in 14 markets, our largest customer base is still in Norway, where 40% of the existing homes market and 31 real estate chains use our services. Using new technology, we offer data-driven digital marketing services and conversion tools that automate sales processes, reduce costs, and improve results both before, during, and after the sale.

- "In a constantly evolving industry, embracing new technology and innovation is necessary. That's why we have been early adopters of machine learning models and will continue to experiment with the use of AI," concludes Kaisa Eidet.

Read the full article in Norwegian here