As a real estate professional, it is your job to stay on top of market trends, pricing analysis, buyer and seller behavior, and tenant needs, and that includes new technology too. Like me, I’m sure you’re stretched for time and bandwidth, and the thought of having an AI-powered assistant to speed up certain tasks may seem like a way to automate your workflow. 

ChatGPT, the artificial intelligent chatbot, is all the rage right now. With 13 million active users visiting the platform each day, you may be itching to know if it is worth the hype. That question is up for debate, but many real estate professionals claim that it has the potential to change the way you work. While it is gaining popularity fast, it is important to recognize the limitations of ChatGPT too, as human touch is still needed in many areas. Below are ways that I believe ChatGPT can be most useful for property managers and landlords, as well as a few areas of which you should be aware. 

Ways that ChatGPT can be helpful 

ChatGPT is able to do things like write property listings, create social posts, draft responses to tenant emails, research land zones, and even calculate mortgage payment estimates for clients. You can also use it to generate scripts for YouTube videos, re-word complex communications with clients and tenants or leverage it for inspiration if you’re struggling with ideas for your blog or website.

While it isn’t perfect, it is a great starting point and has the potential to save you a lot of time. If you aren’t happy with the first response that you receive from ChatGPT, you can regenerate content or ask it to add more details, for example, you could ask it to update a property listing with a fireplace in the living room or make the tone of a drafted email response more conversational or formal. Here are a few examples of ChatGPT’s responses when my team asked for property listing descriptions, emails, and social media posts. You may be surprised by the type of content it produced! This can be especially useful if writing isn’t necessarily your strong suit, and you need some assistance.

Limits of ChatGPT 

Like anyone or any tool, ChatGPT is not fool-proof, and there are certain scenarios where you should avoid using it or at the very least practice close scrutiny. It can miss details, and critical information, like important appliances and features that should be highlighted in your property listings. These are features that only you or someone on your team would catch given your skill set and since you know the ins and outs of the property.

In addition, you should always review and edit tenant and public communication, like blog posts, and social media posts, before sharing or publishing. The current version of ChatGPT cannot verify sources in real-time, which is a downside, as you could receive inaccurate or outdated information. Finally, I recommend that you continue to work with subject matter experts for producing and sharing financial, legal, and regulatory documents, like lease agreements, addendum creation, legal documentation, or landlord-tenant laws or regulations. 

Final Thoughts 

AI is and will continue to be a hot topic in the real estate industry. Zillow has been using AI for 3D mapping, creating automatic floor plans, and for its Zestimate tool, which can scan pictures to see if a home has hardwood floors or stainless steel appliances to help with a price estimation. You can also expect to see other chatbots, like Google’s Bard, soon too.

Regardless, AI and chatbots should be on your radar, both for their benefits and challenges. As you can see from above there are ways that property managers and landlords can embrace this technology – and there are some scenarios where you should avoid using it. Either way, AI is here to stay and will become a big influencer, and you don’t want to be left in the dark. I suggest you learn, explore and incorporate some of the above best practices and test and learn to see how they can benefit you and your business.