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.
💡 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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