Why I Was Wrong About Using ChatGPT in Real Estate (And What You Need to Know)

Dearest gentle readers… (I feel like I’ve been starting posts like this a fair bit lately!)

I must begin this post with an apology for my lack of posts last week.

I was mainly on the road, with workshops in Canberra and Brisbane, speaking in Melbourne, and launching a reimagined Digital Elite Agent.

It has been pretty hectic, to say the least, but at the same time, it’s been great to get out there, meet more people, get creative, and see a few brains explode 🤯 with some of the stuff in the latest version of the workshop.

But alas, my writing streak of about 100 weeks is broken, and I’m starting at zero again, so my dashboard tells me. That’s depressing, given that I fought so hard over holidays, overseas conferences, and Christmas to keep it.

And you might be thinking now, isn’t she supposed to be the AI guru? Surely there would have been some tool that could have helped with that?

Yes, I could have planned things better, and yes, I talk about consistency all the time. But like you, I’m human, and sometimes, it happens to the best of us. And that is the only excuse I have.

But in thinking about this, I’ve also been reflecting on the many things AI is and many things it isn’t.

That’s what I want to discuss today. It also makes it a good time for a reset here (scroll to the end if you want to know what that is!).

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I didn’t want to admit it, but I was wrong

When I first discovered ChatGPT, I thought, “Wow, this is amazing…. it’s free, and there is no learning curve.”

The original Harvard Business School study provides compelling evidence about AI's impact on productivity.

Researchers gave a group of BCG consultants access to ChatGPT for certain tasks and compared their performance to a control group without AI assistance.

The results were striking: ChatGPT helped level the playing field, allowing lower-skilled workers to produce results comparable to their higher-skilled peers.

At first glance, this seems like a win for AI. It suggests that tools like ChatGPT could be a great equaliser, helping less experienced real estate agents compete with industry veterans. And to some extent, that's true. AI can certainly help bridge knowledge gaps and boost productivity.

But while AI helped underperformers catch up, it didn't significantly improve the output of top performers.

How this might look in practice: anyone could input a couple of prompts into ChatGPT to help with marketing. Even though they may have limited prior knowledge of marketing the AI will help "figure it out" and produce reasonable-quality results.

AI models, while sophisticated (and getting more sophisticated by the second) are not autonomous in decision-making (yet) and rely on the quality and specificity of input from users.

Without a grasp on fundamental marketing principles, you risk producing content that is too broad or completely irrelevant to the target market - which is the current situation in the real estate industry with very few exceptions.

What I’ve come to realise

Whatever you are doing with AI or hope to achieve with AI, if you want to do it well, you will need some base knowledge of the topic or someone with that knowledge to get it right.

So yes, you could pop a few prompts into ChatGPT to give you some ideas on how to market your business (and goodness knows, there are plenty of them here on this website!)

To craft high-quality prompts, workflows, and even marketing strategies, you cannot fake it - you are going to need some deep knowledge of marketing and real estate.

Sometime late last Friday, on the drive down the M1 home, I realised my workshops about AI are really workshops about marketing, and the advanced prompting I’m teaching is to help you build a brand and win more business and this is what offers top performers the opportunity to take another leap forward.

Here’s an example

Generic Prompt: (Level 1)

• Example: "Write a property listing for a 3-bedroom house."

• This is actually the sort of prompt where ChatGPT might make something up and the result would be pretty generic - and lets ’s face it - awful.

Better Prompt: (Level 2)

• Example: "Write a property listing for a 3-bedroom house. Before you start writing, please ask me all the questions you need to to make the listing description compelling”

• This will give you a much better result than Level 1 above if you answer the questions that come back to you!

Advanced Prompt: (Level 3)

• Start with a range of buyer personas. Who is your target market for this property? Then prompt ChatGPT to write listing descriptions targeted to a persona.

• This will allow you to segment and get away from the adage that “if you try to appeal to everyone, you might end up appealing to no-one”. Side effects that you might also improve your overall return on ad spend (ROAS).

Level 3 is where things truly start to take shape. Recently, my workshop participants have discovered how adding these layers to their AI prompts can significantly improve the results with each iteration.

It gives me such joy to see the penny drop when these students realise that AI can really make you stand out from the pack—instead of trying to invent minor differentiators that still look the same in the eyes of the consumer.

Or maybe just a little bit different.

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AI is a tool that enhances creativity and efficiency, but it still requires users to know what they are asking for and how to direct the tool.

Ultimately, I was wrong to think that using ChatGPT for real estate marketing required no learning curve.

Yes, it’s easy to ask the model simple questions. Still, the results will only scratch the surface without a deeper understanding of the area you want to improve—whether that’s your market, your clients, or your overall strategy.

With the right knowledge, you can guide the AI to produce more targeted, impactful content that truly serves your business goals.

I guess that is yet another reason when using AI its an important thing to always to keep a human in the loop.

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If you’re ready to take that next step and learn how to optimise your use of AI, my course "AI Powered Agents" is designed to give you the tools you need to succeed. By combining your expertise - and mine - with the power of AI, you’ll be well-equipped to elevate your marketing efforts and stay ahead in the competitive real estate landscape.

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Finally, about that ‘reset’

I think the prompt-a-day idea, which was the original mission of this blog, may have run its course a bit.

The conversation around AI has changed from mere prompting - as most of us have gotten a hold of that. But I’ll continue to be the translator for real estate between all the AI noise and what you need to know.

I’ve decided to aim for two posts per week moving forward—one will be free for everyone, and the other will be for paying subscribers only.

As always, I will endeavour to offer as much value as I can to both groups so that I can get that writing streak up again! But as you would expect, I will dedicate a fair bit more time and effort to paid subscribers by providing more detailed tutorials, workflows and resources.

Let me know if there is something that you’d like me to write about or a burning question you would like answered. I'm happy to help where I can. Hit reply and say hi!

As always, big love and Happy Hunting 🚀