Is ChatGPT an overblown fad or the latest & greatest AI productivity tool to be added to a tech-savvy real estate agent's bag of tricks? Or is it something in between? And if it can improve an agent’s efficiency and effectiveness, are there any concerns about the use of ChatGPT that real estate agents should be aware of?
To get answers to those questions and more, let’s start by having you listen in on an interview I had with ChatGPT about this very topic. (Author’s note: I was tempted to edit ChatGPT’s responses for brevity’s sake but felt there was value for you in seeing its answers unchanged and unfiltered.)
Chatting with ChatGPT
Human:
Can ChatGPT write an accurate property listing?
ChatGPT:
Yes, ChatGPT can write an accurate property listing by using the information provided by a real estate agent. However, it is important for the real estate agent to provide complete and accurate information about the property, including its address, details, style and design, neighborhood and community, images and virtual tour, and price and listing details. This information will help ensure that the property listing written by ChatGPT is accurate and comprehensive, appealing to potential buyers.
Human:
How do I provide ChatGPT with images?
ChatGPT:
You cannot directly provide images to ChatGPT as it is a text-based model. However, you can describe the images and provide details about the property that can be incorporated into the property listing. For example, you can describe the property's features, such as the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, unique features or upgrades, and so on. Additionally, you can describe the neighborhood and community, including nearby schools, parks, shopping, and other amenities. With this information, ChatGPT can write an accurate and appealing property listing that provides potential buyers with a comprehensive understanding of the property.
Human:
Should I be concerned about plagiarism when asking ChatGPT to write a real estate listing?
ChatGPT:
Yes, you should be concerned about plagiarism when asking ChatGPT to write a real estate listing. While ChatGPT has been trained on a vast amount of text, it is possible that its responses may include information that has been copied from other sources without proper attribution.
To avoid plagiarism, it is important to ensure that the information provided to ChatGPT is original and not taken from another source without proper attribution. If you are using information from other sources, it is important to properly cite and reference those sources to ensure that the property listing written by ChatGPT is original and free of plagiarism. Additionally, it is a good idea to have a plagiarism checker review the final listing to ensure that it is original and free of any plagiarized content.
Human:
Should I worry that Google might suppress my ChatGPT-generated property listing if it can detect that I used ChatGPT to create it?
ChatGPT:
There is no guarantee that Google will suppress a property listing generated by ChatGPT. However, it is important to understand that Google prioritizes high-quality, original, and relevant content in its search results. If your property listing generated by ChatGPT is seen as low-quality, copied, or spammy, it may not rank well in search results, regardless of whether it was generated by a language model or not.
To ensure that your property listing is well-received by search engines, it is important to make sure that the content is original, well-written, and provides valuable information to potential buyers. Additionally, it is important to follow best practices for search engine optimization (SEO) to ensure that your property listing is easily discoverable by search engines and potential buyers. This includes using relevant keywords, providing accurate and complete information, and using high-quality images and virtual tours to showcase the property.
In short, while using ChatGPT to generate a property listing is not a guarantee that Google will suppress it, it is important to focus on creating high-quality, original, and relevant content to ensure that it is well-received by search engines and potential buyers.
END OF INTERVIEW
Using ChatGPT
As you can see, ChatGPT can be fairly conversational, even if a bit repetitive at times. But, for real estate agents who don’t enjoy writing or who deal with writer’s block, it can quickly generate a listing for you that will serve as a great starting point.
Here are some more things to think about when using ChatGPT.
Facts Matter
Chat (we’re on a first-name basis now) is spot-on about one thing: The listings it will produce are only as good as the property details it is fed. The same features — square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, upgrades, etc. — that you’ve included in your traditionally created listings will need to be fed into your ChatGPT prompts.
Warning: ChatGPT isn’t particularly good about asking for more or better information; it just works with whatever you give it.
For example and just for fun, I asked ChatGPT to generate a property listing for my home, based on my street address and nothing more. I expected a request for additional information. Instead, I got a glowing listing for a house that is twice as big as mine and a whole lot fancier. The worst part about it is that now my partner wants an upgrade!
Morale of the story? Come ready with all the pertinent facts and figures about the property to be listed, and ChatGPT will weave that data into an attractive and accurate listing that will just need a touch of editing before publishing.
Perils of Plagiarism
My interview with our ai chat buddy surfaced a concern that plagiarism can be an unintended consequence of using its services. This is because ChatGPT draws from a vast pool of information — not always properly cited — that has been fed into it by its creators. And if proper citation is missing on the way in, you can be sure that it’ll be missing on the way out too.
While that admission might give one pause, just realize that the listing-creation task we’re talking about here has a very low plagiarism risk. But for real estate agents who want to be extra careful or hope to use ChatGPT in other areas of their business, several plagiarism checkers are available online at reasonable prices and in a variety of plans.
Here are links to three popular online plagiarism checkers:
Prompt Practice Makes Perfect
Whatever the project, when working with ChatGPT, you will occasionally need to ask the same question in different ways before getting something back that will work for you.
For example, you might find yourself wishing that a ChatGPT-generated property listing carried a greater sense of urgency or had just a touch of humor to it.
If so, say so.
“Can you rewrite that listing and give it a greater sense of urgency?” or “Can you rewrite that with a slightly more humorous tone?” are perfectly fine follow-up prompts that will likely get you the results you were hoping for originally.
Final Thoughts about ChatGPT for Real Estate Agents
I highly advise you to get comfortable with ChatGPT before jumping into the actual task of property listing generation.
Sign up for a ChatGPT account (free for now), and have fun experimenting. Try asking for different kinds of information in a multitude of ways. It doesn’t need to be work-related; it could be about anything. Request a few rewrites. Push the limits, and see what happens. Get comfortable with the interaction.
Then, when you’re ready, ask for ChatGPT’s help in generating several property listings before you publish any of them. (If you don’t have several of your own new listings to work with, just grab a few existing listings others in your brokerage have.)
The reason I suggest this is that you might find that ChatGPT can get repetitive in its property descriptions. And, if you’re not careful, they will all sound suspiciously alike.
Remember the property listing ChatGPT wrote for my home? In spite of the fact that it got most of the facts wrong (because I didn’t provide them), I was still impressed that it thought to refer to my kitchen as “a chef’s dream” and saw my backyard as “a true oasis” — that is until I discovered that it said the exact same things when describing another listing it generated for a Cedar Rapids broker who shared his ChatGPT experience online.
So, be on the lookout for that sort of thing, but don’t fret. You’ll be fine as long as you make sure to add a human touch to the listing before you put it out there for all to see.
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