The Stories We Tell About Home
Every home tells a story and that’s something I’ve believed for as long as I’ve been in real estate. Over the past 16 years or so that I have helped New Yorkers find where they belong, from the co-ops that were made before the war in Manhattan to historic brownstones in Brooklyn, I have come to see that people aren’t just buying real estate.
It takes more than just market data alone for me to help my clients see that they are buying into a future, a feeling & a way of life. It requires empathy, intuition & trust.
But now everything is changing as AI has entered our lives and data is everywhere. It’s changing the way we tell stories in real estate dramatically.
Where Data Begins and Where the Story Starts
AI gives us tools that once we could not even think of. These include predicting prices based on live market data, modeling the preferences of buyers, forecasting neighborhood trends & analyzing sentiment from the engagement that each listing gets.
These tools are very powerful and they leave no need for us to be guessing things which gives both agents as well as clients a clearer picture of what can be possible. I think these tools should be used to help shape a story, not tell it.
Just to give an example, a data set shows that a certain neighborhood has seen a 12% increase in value of its houses over the past year. But what the data can’t tell you is why that happened. The reason for this could be that a new school opened, or a local bakery became a community hub, or maybe people just started noticing the charm that locals always knew.
That’s where the human voice still matters and where the story really takes over.
Marketing Homes with More Than Just Features
Stating the facts in a listing was all there was to it like two bedrooms, one bath, garden view. Now, AI has made it so much more complex but also easy in a way that we can actually change the listing description according to what the buyer is looking for based on their behaviour and the things they engage with in real time.
It’s easy to see where the engagement becomes low with the help of click-through rates. That allows us to change our tone and refocus if the reason for lower engagement appears to be a generic listing. Data can show us what buyers in certain price ranges want in terms of features of a house so we can keep that in mind and highlight them when showing them houses.
But the thing is, data can only tell us the whats, the whys and hows we have to figure out ourselves. The few things that still need human touches include the art of writing a listing description that can create an image in the buyers’ minds of the lifestyle they could have in that house, or staging a home that invites emotion. AI might help in making catchy headlines but the connection can only be created through the story that can make someone feel like they’re home.
AI Helps Us Listen More Closely
One of the most important advantages of AI that is often not given much hype is how it enhances our ability to listen.
There are tools that help us process and analyze the natural language and behaviour, meaning that it has become possible to understand what clients mean even if they’re not directly saying it out loud. They can track all the changes, highlight uncertainty & surface hesitations in a buyer’s preferences over time. These things only help if we are also paying very close attention to our clients. They can be used as conversation starters and nothing more.
There was a client I once had who wanted a modern house with low maintenance and that’s what we were looking for but we also saw a warm apartment from prewar times that had original moldings. The moment she saw it, I knew she had fallen in love with it because I saw her posture completely change. No algorithm could have predicted her interest in or reaction to that apartment but it was my job to catch it and explore it with her so that’s what I did.
This proves that data can only give us direction, and it’s empathy that truly gives us the clarity we need.
Responsible Use of AI Means Staying Human
With the constantly evolving AI, it’s getting difficult to actually stop yourself from letting it take over everything that you do. It definitely seems really easy for everyone to let AI replace them in the tasks that they are responsible for like automating recommendations or dealing with the inquiries of buyers through chatbots etc.
But the disadvantages that it can cause us should not be ignored. Dealing with the buying or selling of a home is very personal and emotional, and should not be treated as simply a financial transaction only.
We should all be very careful about using AI in the most responsible way we can. It should be used to reduce bias in pricing tools, ensure that listings use an inclusive language, protect behavioural data privacy & to guide our clients in making their decisions.
Asking if the tool we are using helps people make better and smarter choices or if it is just a means to help us move faster is what ethical storytelling actually means.
A New Kind of Storytelling Is Emerging
Leaving storytelling behind is not an option, we’re just expanding it as best as we can.
The best real estate agents in this time of AI dominance will be those who can help their clients understand the true meaning of complicated charts and maps and data without making them confused.
AI gives us the tools but it’s still our responsibility to tell the story because in real estate, people don’t just want numbers, they want to be seen, understood & guided. And that is something which will always require the human element.
