The Biggest Thing Holding Your Business Back Is You


How real estate brokers might unknowingly be limiting themselves and their businesses by not realizing AI’s potential  

 

Over the last decade, AI has reshaped industries like finance, healthcare, and e-commerce—helping businesses move faster, serve customers better, and gain a competitive edge.

Now, it’s already changing the real estate industry too, and forward-thinking brokerages are leveraging it to handle more leads with less effort, enhance the prospect experience, and close deals faster. But while early adopters reap the benefits, many others remain passive—unaware of how AI will impact them, and unsure whether, when, or how to embrace AI.

The risk? Falling behind—and eventually, out of business. AI adoption in real estate is finally picking up speed, and 2025 is expected to be a turning point.

So the big question is: Is your real estate business keeping up, or are you getting left further behind? 


AI is Reshaping Real Estate Sales

AI is no longer a futuristic idea and waiting has real risks. The real estate landscape is shifting, and businesses that delay AI adoption will struggle to keep up.

For relatively new or under-resourced businesses, waiting means missing the opportunity to catch up with the leaders and allowing the capability gap to widen, potentially putting them out of business in the short-term.

Here’s what’s at stake:

🚨 Leads expect instant engagement—Slow responses lead to missed opportunities, deals lost to firms that respond faster and more effectively (no matter the day or time of the week).
🚨 Manual processes are expensive—AI automation cuts costs and boosts efficiency. Not doing it means agents drowning in repetitive tasks and not focusing on relationships and closings while competitors automate workflows and increase sales.
🚨 Tech-savvy competitors are raising the bar—Potential buyers and renters will gravitate toward faster, more effective real estate professionals and salespeople. Not using AI means an increasing gap between adopters and those still on the fence.

So, you maybe wondering, “If AI can make such a difference, why isn’t every real estate brokerage business using AI in their key workflows yet?”


The 5 Perception Roadblocks

Through our experience working with real estate companies and professionals, we have identified five key factors that shape perceptions and slow AI adoption:

🚧 1. Lack of Awareness of AI and Market Developments“Every year, there’s some ‘game-changing’ tech—why is AI any different?

🚧 2. Comfort with the Status Quo – “We’ve always done it this way and works fine.

🚧 3. Fear of Being Replaced – “If AI does my job, what’s left for me?

🚧 4. Uncertainty about AI behavior – “Can I trust AI to interact with my leads?

🚧 5. Assumed Product Friction – “Learning new tech tools is overwhelming.

Fortunately, awareness is increasingly permeating in the industry, and thus, starting to accelerate the pace of adoption.

Now, let's take a closer look at each of these roadblocks and how to overcome them.


Lack of Awareness of AI and Market Developments

Many real estate professionals are unaware of AI’s capabilities for business. They think of it as hype rather than a fundamental shift.

🤔 What’s happening?

  • Many don’t realize how much AI has evolved and what it can actually do.
  • They assume AI is just another passing trend.
  • They aren’t aware that leading brokerages are already leveraging AI to reduce costs and boost efficiency and conversions across the sales funnel.

The reality? Their competitors are increasingly using AI to move faster and close more deals

🚀 How to overcome this:

  • Stay informed—look at real-world examples of AI in real estate. The key concepts you need to understand aren’t technical or complex.
  • Follow industry leaders who are already integrating AI successfully.

Once real estate professionals recognize the impact of AI, their response typically falls into one of three categories:

a)       Justification Mode: Comfort with the Status Quo ("We're fine as we are") – They convince themselves they don’t need AI yet.

b)       Anxiety Mode: Fear of Being Replaced ("AI is a threat to my job") – They panic and resist change.

c)       Opportunity Mode: Competitive Attitude ("AI can help us skyrocket into the elite") – They see AI as a great source of advantage.


Comfort with the Status Quo – "We're fine as we are."

Even when real estate professionals acknowledge AI’s potential, many still hesitate to act. The most common reasoning? “Our current process works, so why change?”

🤔 What’s happening?

  • They believe their existing methods are "good enough."
  • They assume AI is expensive and only for big companies or tech-savvy firms.
  • They see AI as something to consider "later" instead of a competitive necessity today.

But here’s the reality: What worked well in the past and still seems to work today isn’t necessarily the best or most cost-effective way now.

📉 Lessons from the past:
Look at previous tech shifts in real estate:

  • Online Listings: Businesses who dismissed digital listings lost relevance.
  • CRMs: Many resisted them, only to later realize their competitors had an edge.
  • Social Media Marketing: Once optional, now essential for lead generation.

AI is the next shift. Those who wait risk being left behind by competitors who are already embracing it.

🚀 How to overcome this mindset:

  • Challenge the "we're fine" belief – Is your business actually maximizing efficiency, or are you just comfortable? How long ago were your processes and practices designed? Have you challenged the relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of tasks? For example, does each task add value? Could they be done in alternative, better ways?
  • Look at industry trends – AI adoption is growing, and waiting means falling behind faster.
  • Think ahead – Are you preparing for the transformative months ahead and the disruptive three years to come, or just maintaining what works today?

The key is proactive adoption—using AI before it becomes commonplace in the industry. Otherwise, by the time you “need” it, it might already be too late.


Fear of Being Replaced – "If AI does my job, what’s left for me?"

For some real estate professionals, such as agents, hesitation isn’t about comfort—it’s about fear. Instead of seeing AI as an opportunity, they see it as a threat to their job, their value, or even their entire profession.

🤔 What’s happening?

  • They panic at the idea of AI taking over their role.
  • They actively resist AI, dismissing it as "risky" or "not suitable for this relationship-based industry."
  • They assume AI means replacing people rather than empowering them.

But here’s the truth: AI isn’t here to replace real estate agents—it’s here to make them more valuable. A real estate agent's job involves a wide range of tasks, many of which can be automated with AI, while the highest-value ones are best suited for the human agent.

Think of AI as a powerful coworker or assistant. As a coworker automates tedious tasks, freeing up your time to focus on what real estate professionals, as humans, do best—building relationships, negotiating, and closing deals. As an assistant, AI can also support you in real-time when needed. It doesn’t replace your expertise; it enhances it, allowing you to maximize your strengths while it handles the busywork.

🤖 What AI can do:
Handle repetitive tasks (creating and publishing property ads, responding to inquiries, profiling leads, matching properties to needs, scheduling visits and much more).
Give real estate professionals 50%+ of their time back to focus on high-value activities such as negotiating and closing.
Provide instant, data-driven insights to help improve your business and sell more.

🤷🏻 What AI can’t do:
Build trusting relationships with potential customers.
Negotiate complex deals.
Provide the personal touch that drives successful sales.

📉 The real risk: falling behind
The risk is not AI entering the workplace but ignoring it. The agents who embrace AI early will outperform those who avoid it.

🚀 How to shift this mindset:

·       Understand that AI is not a competitor. It is not about replacing agents but about making them more efficient, productive and competitive.

·       See AI as a productivity multiplier, not a threat – It’s there to help you win more deals, not take them away.

·       Adopt the right perspective – Tech has always created more opportunities, not fewer. It is recommended that you upskill to take full advantage of your evolving role in this new reality.

·       Understand the importance of focusing on what AI frees you to do – More time to show the value of the properties, more relationship-building, more closings.

The smartest real estate professionals use AI to multiply their impact and that of their businesses, not fight against it.


Uncertainty About AI Behavior – "Can I trust it to interact with my leads?"

Once real estate professionals recognize AI’s value, some still hesitate. Their concern isn’t whether AI is useful—it’s about how it will behave or whether it can properly profile leads.

🤔 What’s happening?

  • They worry AI might misinterpret conversations or give inaccurate information, costing them losing leads and deals.
  • They fear losing control—"What if AI doesn’t sound like me or makes me look bad?"
  • They’re concerned about how much oversight is needed to ensure AI works as intended.
  • They doubt AI’s ability to ask the right questions and profile leads effectively.

Reality check: AI in real estate is increasingly smarter and safer; It can be trained and controlled. Its reliability depends on the specific AI implementation (i.e., the product or solution).

AI should not be a wild card, even with non-deterministic technology like Generative AI. Today’s AI solutions can be designed with guardrails, customization, and human oversight to ensure they behave professionally, accurately, and consistently.

·       AI should not just "go rogue" – It should operate within defined parameters, ensuring responses stay relevant and professional.

·       Trained for the industry – AI can be trained for industry-specific workflows and tailored to follow your specific messaging, tone, and best practices.

·       Built-in guardrails – AI systems can implement systems to avoid hallucinations (making things up), act appropriately and deliver relevant responses/information.

·       Notifications & controls – AI can escalate certain inquiries to humans when needed.

📊 Data shows that AI actually improves lead engagement and conversions
Some believe that relying on a “machine” prevents them from personally asking the right questions—considered essential for correctly profiling and filtering leads—and making a great first impression with a human touch.

However, this overlooks key trade-offs: manually engaging every lead can cause delayed or even missed responses, leading to lost prospects who expect immediate attention even outside of an agent's work hours. Additionally, many incoming leads may be just curious or unqualified, consuming valuable time that could be better spent on property showings, negotiations, and closings.

Research and analysis show that AI responds faster and more consistently than human agents while continuously collecting and enriching prospect details for data-driven profiling. This results in more engaged leads, fewer missed opportunities, and higher conversion rates—ultimately driving increased sales.

🚀 How to overcome this concern:

·       Test it out – Start with a trial or pilot and monitor AI interactions.

·       Customize it – Ensure AI reflects your workflows, business tone, and priorities.

·       Use AI for repetitive tasks—AI handles the heavy lifting, while humans drive deals with their expertise and personal touch. Avoid using AI for sensitive or high-stakes tasks where even a low-probability error could have serious business or personal consequences. If you do, ensure AI involves an authorized person or group to review, adjust, reject, or approve any response or action.


Assumed Product Friction – “Learning new tech tools is overwhelming”

Once real estate professionals see AI’s true value and believe it will behave well, some still hesitate because they assume its implementation and use will be complicated and expensive.

🤔 What’s happening?

  • They worry that AI will require technical skills they don’t have and learning them would be hard and would take time they don’t have.
  • They assume onboarding will be time-consuming.
  • They assume setup and use will be complex because they’ve had bad experiences with complicated software in the past.
  • They assume it will be beyond their budget.

Reality check: AI is becoming more affordable and easier, not harder and more expensive. Its cost and simplicity depend on the specific AI implementation (i.e., the product or solution).

Unlike traditional real estate software that requires manual manipulation of a lot of data, complex dashboards, and multiple logins, AI is enabling simple, intuitive, conversational experiences. And it can be accessed through tools agents already use, such as WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, email, and phone.

No need for tech knowledge – Seek for AI solutions that are designed to operate from a user-friendly interface and don’t require you to be tech savvy.
Minimal onboarding time – Some are also plug-and-play, meaning you can start benefiting immediately.

No need to learn new platforms – Instead of forcing you to learn new platforms, AI can integrate into your existing business workflows and can communicate with natural language (in contrast to multiple screens, menus and buttons of traditional software). And for “one-person” and small companies with little or no formal, consistent processes, AI-native solutions allow them to “instanstaneously” streamline operations.
💡 Think of AI as a digital Co-Worker or Assistant that is ready to deliver value and will be constantly improving by learning from you and the working environment, not another software that you have to learn.

Traditional CRMs and real estate platforms required users to log in, toggle through menus, and manually input data. AI flips that model by working in the background, automating tasks, engaging conversationally when necessary, and delivering results without disrupting the way real estate brokerages and agents already operate.

🚀 How to overcome this concern:

·       Try AI with familiar interfaces – AI-powered assistants that work within a conversational interface remove the need to learn a complex system.

·       Experiment with tools such as chatGPT or jump straight into AI solutions that operate from Whatsapp, Messenger or other where you can communicate naturally. 


3 Steps to Get Started

AI is here, transforming how real estate agents work smarter. Those who embrace it gain an edge, while those who hesitate risk falling behind.

🔹 1. Get informed
Learn how top real estate brokerages and agents already use AI to boost vproductivity.
Follow industry updates & success stories.

🔹 2. Shift mindset from Status Quo or Fear to Opportunity
AI eliminates tedious work and produces results in a way that human and previous technology cannot.
The best real estate brokerages and agents will be those who leverage AI effectively, not in 2 or 3 years, but now.

🔹 3. Test AI with quick wins
Start experimenting with AI tools and fundamental automations like lead responses, property matchmaking and scheduling.
Use AI in familiar tools (e.g., via WhatsApp) to minimize learning curves.


👉 Learn More on our Blog

💡 See AI in action, no hassle!
Try our AI-powered co-worker for businesses commercializing real estate at https://ungga.com

📢 Any comments or thoughts?

Share in the comments! 👇

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