Artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology have been converging. Both are transforming the way real estate works.
AI is about to change the way we create (and look for) listings. It’ll change the way our brokers and lenders gather and use knowledge. And it will change the way investors crunch numbers and make profits.
AI: Real Estate Game Changer
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been in the works for some time. Yet only recently has general awareness arisen about its potential effects on the way we live and work.
Consider the real estate industry. Professionals can implement AI in their work in order to:
- Automatically glean key information from appraisals, loan documents, deed records, and legal instruments. With optical character recognition, AI can pull the needed details from handwritten notes and papers, blending them into data files.
- Double-check and cross-check loan applicants’ documents. Its ability to flag and reconcile errors in documents should mean fewer snags in the loan approval process.
- Automate dictations into legal documents through AI chat features.
- Identify mistakes, mismatches, embellishments, and copied-and-pasted material in listings or other text.
- Better predict future real estate values in a particular market (and get the analysis almost instantaneously).
- Analyze the property value potential (including rental value) of a specific home.
☛ Could an AI synopsis on neighborhood data amount to bias, or constitute steering? On the other hand: Could Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence Remove Bias From the Mortgage Process?
Small Investors Will Be Using AI to Compete in the Market
Imagine role-playing with a chatbot character to become a more powerful negotiator. Or getting answers you want, quickly, rather than spending precious time checking and comparing data from pages of links, articles, listings, videos and the like.
Imagine getting accurate quotes for renovations and fixes if you’re flipping a home. Imagine getting a quick briefing on your potential return on investment after the repairs, factoring in various holding times.
AI tools could put together all your needs and your desired outcomes. It could point you to the properties that best match your goals and needs. It could offer investment strategies that match up with your goals and your level of risk tolerance.
AI tools could prove themselves effective monitors for property maintenance needs. They could plan work to comply with local ordinances. They could time upgrades for optimal returns on the money invested.
And they could indicate the very best time to sell.
Meanwhile, Blockchain…
At the same time, blockchain is also restyling real estate investment approaches.
Blockchain technology is, to describe it simply, a digital ledger where assets and transactions are indelibly recorded. It lets us build decentralized stores of knowledge. It lets us keep transparent, stable records of just about anything that impacts the title and the value of a property.
Wise County, Virginia is using Amazon Web Services to adopt blockchain. The county is making a deed records database. When it’s ready, it will put blockchain and artificial intelligence to work, enabling push-button issuances of complex title opinions spanning decades. The county has enlisted a company named Bloqable to create the blockchain-based deed repository.
Blockchain also enables “tokenization” — the division of real estate into fractional shares. This means property values can be tapped into without the complexities and middle people that would make up a sale of the property.
And it brings new ways to capture, organize, and safeguard legal information.
A Word to the Wise Human
AI is considered revolutionary by many tech watchers, because of the continual learning it does as it ingests more and more data.
And yet, for all the capabilities it may acquire, it’s still a tool. When using it as a dictation aid, for example, it’s important to have a human fact checker and proofreader around. And it’s not be confused with the wisdom and understanding of experienced, socially engaged human professionals.
Supporting References
Florida Realtors®: News & Media – AI’s Biggest Impact Might Be in Real Estate (Jul. 5, 2023 reprint of an article by Brad Inman of Inman.com dated Jun. 27, 2023).
Investors Realty, Inc. June 2023 Newsletter: AI and Blockchain Technology Are Revolutionizing Commercial Real Estate – Here’s How (Jul. 7, 2023).
Deeds.com: Here’s What Citigroup Says About Blockchain for Real Estate (May 25, 2023).
Marc Rutzen (CEO of HelloData.ai) for the Forbes Technology Council: AI In Real Estate: Where To Start (Jun. 20, 2023).
Samantha Ankney for DealMachine LLC: How to Leverage Alma for Smarter Real Estate Decisions (Jun. 15, 2023).
And as linked.
Photo credit: Vlada Karpovich, via Pexels.