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Source: www.cnet.com, June 2024
AI can get you started on your homebuying journey, but it can’t close the deal.
I found a real estate agent named Joy, but she isn’t real.
Joy is powered by artificial intelligence. Set to launch nationwide later this summer, “the world’s first AI real estate agent” will purportedly be able to schedule showings, negotiate offers, coordinate inspections and answer homebuyers’ questions. The company says buying a home with Joy will be more efficient and affordable.
Kyler Bruno, co-founder of Joy, wrote in an email that traditional real estate agents will have a hard time competing with AI-powered agents. “Real estate agents are human, and humans get tired, overwhelmed and make mistakes,” said Bruno.
AI already has a foothold in the housing market. Zillow, for example, develops personalized home recommendations and virtual property tours with AI. Mortgage lenders, like Rocket Mortgage, use AI to streamline the mortgage process by analyzing loan applications and automating underwriting. Real estate agents employ AI-powered tools to create marketing campaigns, handle basic inquiries and schedule appointments with clients.
But when you’re making the biggest financial decision of your life — buying a house — can generative AI offer you the right kind of guidance?
I decided to test the question by interviewing Jason Walter, a member of CNET Money’s Expert Review Board who has over a decade of experience as a real estate agent. For the sake of the experiment, I created a profile of a prospective buyer based on my extensive research of the current housing market and my background as a mortgage writer. I asked both Walter and OpenAI’s popular chatbot, ChatGPT, a series of questions to see if AI could outdeliver a human expert.
“Having the knowledge of a local market makes it well worth it to hire an agent,” said Walter. For example, Walter regularly posts on his YouTube channel about housing market news, giving prospective buyers real estate tips and insights.
A good agent, not a computer, will have experience, expertise, communication skills and empathy. And that’s precisely where automated technology fell short.
